Chair of the charity MATCH (Mothers Apart from their Children)
This is a book for women with deep, hidden scars who may have been searching,intentionally or unconsciously, for help in healing them. This is also a book for therapists, counsellors, general practitioners, health practitioners and others looking to help such women. Look no further. You’ll find it within this compellingly written self-help book underpinned by a profound compassion for, and deep understanding of, all mothers apart from their children across a wide range of circumstances. The impetus for this book came about because of Sarah Hart’s own painfully acquired personal experience as a mother apart which later impelled her to acquire impressive professional andacademic qualifications.
Sarah’s eminently practical, therapeutic advice reflects an astonishing depth of feeling for mothers apart. Her deeply loving, tender approach will help to begin a journey back to happiness and one that people might not believe could ever take place. It will not be easy but it will not be lonely with Sarah to guide you each step of the way. If you ever doubted you’d ‘find happiness living apart from your child’, read Sarah’s dynamic and positive approach to re-evaluating and re-thinking your life.
I wish I’d had this book in 1996 when, as a newly divorced, newly apart mother of four children, my then twelve-year-old daughter asked of a court welfare officer, ‘Can I divorce her, too?’ Searching through my doctor, initially, for individuals or organisations who might offer help, advice or consolation through shared experiences, I foundnothing and no one.
Crushed and isolated in the long, harrowing days ahead, with physical and emotional energies becoming diluted by fighting a losing battle in the courts as well as with my ex for the right to remain in my children’s lives, I became convinced I was ‘the only one’, the only mother in the world not living with her children and whose children had rejected her.
Since those far off isolated days, through life-changing, life-affirming experiences, but still apart from my children twelve years later, I’ve finally found that longed-for peace and unexpected happiness deep within myself. But, oh, how I wish I’d had Sarah’s book then to give me hope, inspiration and strength when my motherhood was discredited. It would have made my own healing journey so much easier, perhaps even shorter.
If you’re newly apart or have been apart for a long time after family breakdown, whether your child or children have been adopted or fostered, whether your child has been abducted abroad or whether your adult child has rejected you after a family row, you’ll find tender understanding, practical help and insightful advice from Sarah. Hercompassionate tutoring will help ease your sorrow, enabling you to finally reach that place of peaceful harmony within yourself. With Sarah’s help, if you want to, you’ll acquire the skills and knowledge needed to find that happiness you richly deserve.
In my newly apart days when the internet was still relatively in its infancy, one had to be tenacious in searching for help from professionals, self-help groups or through books. Like Sarah, it wa
