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Abandoned in the Maze

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Michael Berg was born to write this book - utilizing his extensive background within state sponsored child care systems and his work with at risk youth, he paints disturbing picture of life inside a foster care home, where children become pawns in a cruel game of shift, shuffle and ignore.

The novel is set on a future stage where abortion has been outlawed in the United States and pro-choice advocates look eerily similar to the radical pro-life activists of today. Demonstrations, attacks on pro-life supporters and bombings are all part of the new pro-choice repetoire. Cheryl Cobb is a single mom, a full time waitress and a supporter of the women's civil rights orgranization known as Pop-Con. When Cheryl is arrested for her involvement with the pro-choice group, her two daughters, seventeen year old Irene and twelve year old Rita, become wards of the state and are sent to the Trench Center Group Home. Set up more like a maximum security prison than a foster home, no one leaves the Trench unscathed. The sisters are immediately separated and the hope of being reunited quickly fades as each must find a way to simply survive the physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

A sobering account of child welfare programs that are overburdened, understaffed and ill equipped to respond to the growing needs of abused, neglected and high risk youth. Adding fuel to the already intense fire is the blatant corruption occurring on every level that has reduced children to statistics, their value determined by the amount of medication and number of services that can be prescribed. The author has woven the controversial abortion issue into the fabric of the story, by presenting various angles and the possible ripple effects of certain choices. It's human nature to recoil from things that make us uncomfortable and there's no denying this is a difficult read. Although you can't help but hope for a "happily ever after" ending, it never materializes.

The author's passion and heart-felt convicitons are easily discernable and there's no denying his desire to make a difference in the lives of young people. Opening long closed doors and shining a light on the darkest of scenarios, Berg's motives are genuine and admirable. There are a few problems with the writing- failure to utilize pacing to convey urgency and emotion causes the dialogue to fall flat at times and the characters aren't fully developed and often appear weak. However, the subject matter is so moving, the reader is carried past these literary pit-falls and into center of the disturbing reality of the Trench Center. Abandoned In The Maze is an eye-opening and heart breaking view of the foster care system and the horrific abuse suffered by the most needy among us.

In a time where abortion is illegal, two sisters, Irene and Rita Cobb, are forced into the
foster care system when their mother is arrested for working for a pro-choice operation. The book is told from the perspective of seventeen-year-old Irene, who finds herself incarcerated at the Trench Center, a holding pen for youth like herself. The center serves primarily as a money-making operation, whereby its residents are diagnosed with a mental disorder and the state is billed for the medication and "therapy." While Rita is "fortunate" enough to find a foster home, Irene must endure the brutality and incompetence of the staff, until she turns eighteen, with the support of only one adult. She loses track of both her sister and mother and must rely on her wits to survive the system. Unfortunately, there is no happy ending to her story.
"Abandoned in the Maze," is a ringing accusation against a system that, in a preface, the author describes as abusive and deplorable. While there are some flaws to the book, such as sketchy character development and awkward dialogue, the subject matter is engrossing enough to keep readers turning to the last page.

If you are searching for a shocker to push the limits of your comfort zone, then look no further than Abandoned in the Maze by Michael Berg. Berg's unsettling story takes place in a future that is more suggestive of a parallel universe. In Berg's future, abortion has been outlawed and underground organizations operate under the surface of the law. The tables have been turned as pro-choice activists stage bombings and attacks on prominent pro-life advocates.

Seventeen-year-old Irene Cobb and her twelve-year-old sister, Rita, are forced to watch their mother being taken away in handcuffs for her association with an almost militant pro-choice organization. When Irene and Rita are driven away by indifferent "social workers," they have no idea that they are being taken to a prison of their own, a children's home known as the Trench. The Trench of Berg's imagination is a maximum security orphanage for victims of a corrupt political system. The sadistic overseers of the orphanage ensure that the few residents who manage to escape its realms do not do so with their innocence intact. Just when it appears the characters can't possibly suffer any further injustices, their wills are tested again and again by greedy captors hell-bent on their own elevation at the expense of the displaced children.

This book was my initial introduction to Michael Berg, and I will definitely be looking for more of his work. I read this sociological thriller in one sitting, eager to discover what surprises were waiting around the corner. It seems a bit of an exaggeration to call this novel a thriller, but Berg has such a talent for keeping the reader guessing and on the edge of their seat that labelling it as merely fiction seems to do it an injustice. Inspired by Berg's own experiences in the Florida child care system, Abandoned in the Maze is a roller coaster ride of emotion and controversy that looms dangerously close to reality.

This fictional story is about a seventeen-year old girl, Irene, and her sister who were put into the custody of the state when their mother was arrested for working with a pro-choice abortion group. From the beginning to the end, there is nothing positive to be said about the system. The Trench Center was a corrupt state-run facility where the children were medicated because the system pays more for medicated than non-medicated kids. Irene never had a chance.

Although Abandoned in the Maze is presented as a fictional story, Michael Berg has drawn upon his extensive experience of fifteen years providing prevention, intervention and treatment services to adolescents with drug, gang and severe behavioral problems. He is currently employed as a Prevention Specialist assigned to an area of schools to oversee everything that encompasses school safety. Prior to working with the school board he was employed as a supervisor of a group home in charge of the well-being of ten adolescent children, and the novel is based upon his experience of working in group homes. Many of the incidences in this story have occurred throughout South Florida in other group homes and foster homes.

Michael is a good writer. The book is well-written and edited, and the story gives the reader some poignant insight into the problems in our systems. The author has presented this information in a realistic, touching manner, and I appreciate that he has taken the time and effort to bring the truth to the surface. You won't be disappointed, and I highly recommend his book.

Reviewed by Kaye Trout - November 29, 2006

This book should be required reading as a warning to all parents who are thinking about doing anything illegal or otherwise, that may get America's Family Services system involved with their family. It should also be required reading for all teens who are considering doing anything they know might get them into trouble, for the same reason.
Stick it out through the first two chapters which set up the story, and you will be rewarded with a hard to put down read.

Abandoned in the Maze provides a look into a world where abortion is illegal. It takes you from a single mother raising her two young girls to her children being tossed into a state-run facility rampant with lies, abuse, and betrayal. This book depicts how the system fails to help the two sisters and provides a disturbing account of how the older sister eventually ends up in the same troublesome situation as her mother. While it evokes a nearly overwhelming sense of anger toward the possibility of what could happen to a child, I found it to be a great book from start to finish and look forward to Michael Berg's next book.

I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting, well written and thought provoking. I look forward to this authors next book. Highly recommend this to all my friends.

In the United States, abortion is illegal, which has led to a further split in the classes. The affluent upper class send their pregnant daughters to Europe where they obtain a legal (in Europe that is) prescription for the abortion pill. Those less fortunate Americans give birth, obtain illegal abortions or perform dangerous self-abortions. Thus the prison industry is booming with women incarcerated, mostly with minorities who make up much of the poor.

Cheryl Cobb raises her two daughters, seventeen years old Irene and twelve years old Rita by herself. She works full time as a waitress and as liaison at the women's civil rights group Pop-Con. When Cheryl is arrested and handcuffed in front of her children as a dangerous lawbreaker for her Pop-Con work, her daughters are forced into the state run Trench Center where they are separated and retrained. Irene never sees momma or Rita again as she is treated as a state prisoner, who must be drugged at all times because the facility makes more money for medicated than non-medicated. Irene's only hope is when she turns eighteen; the state will dump her on the street as human waste.

This is not an easy book to read as Michael Berg extrapolates the position of the pro-lifers by going after the mothers rather than the doctors. Using the current jurisprudence system that cannot arrest people for a "crime" performed in a country where it is legal, Mr. Berg makes the case that outlawing abortion will mean only the poor will be punished. The story line also assaults the state run social service systems that make decisions based on money not need as the child once born becomes ABANDONED IN THE MAZE by those who claim life is sacred. Readers will squirm throughout this well written realistic satirical fictionalized social commentary.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by April Sullivan for Reader Views (3/07)

Michael Berg has something to say about the state of the child-care system in America. "Abandoned in the Maze" is Berg's statement. With fifteen years of experience in the area of adolescent services, he has been a supervisor in a group home and knows the in and outs of the system well.

The topic of foster homes, group homes, and children becoming custody of the state is way out of my frame of reference. So I was eager to read Michael Berg's book and get educated in the way this system works. I was shocked and saddened by what I read.

"Abandoned in the Maze" is a fictional story based on some realities. Set in Florida, in a future where abortion has been outlawed, two girls are taken into state custody when their mother is arrested for being part of a subversive abortion rights group. Sent to the Trench Center group home, Irene and her sister are immediately separated and go through months of sexual abuse, violence, and emotional torture.

Reading what the group home staff, caseworkers, and foster parents do to Irene, her sister, and the other innocent boys and girls that have become wardens of the state is almost too much to bear, yet I could not put the book down. Michael Berg's writing is straightforward. His passion for the topic is evident and he does not candy-coat the issue. He wants to make sure the reader gets the message loud and clear. Berg kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the book. I stayed optimistic for a happy ending all the way to the end. I did not get it. I am still optimistic that there are people in this line of work who are the good guys with Michael Berg being one of them. His efforts to shed light on this subject are admirable.

Now that I know that these horrible things are happening, what can I do? After thinking about it, I am first glad that I have been educated. My second step is to recommend this book to others. If more people read "Abandoned in the Maze", maybe we can become a collective voice for change.

Received book free of charge

The Trench Center is a fictional state run facility dealing with childcare.
The story takes place in the future.
Irene, seventeen and her sister Rita who is twelve are propelled into the family service system after their mother Cheryl Cobb is arrested for being involved with Pop-Con.
Pop-Con is a woman's civil-rights group, formed after abortion is outlawed, Cheryl and others are activists for the organization.

After watching in horror as their mother is dragged away, and with no other family member to look after them, the girls are taken to the Trench Center.
Once there, the girls are separated according to age...little did Irene know that would be the last time she would see her sister.

What Irene goes through in this corrupt facility is truly heart breaking. But she toughs it out and is released from the "prison", only to put her trust in someone who deceives her and she falls into the same fate as her mother.

An excellent novel by Michael Berg I know it's a fictional story but given Mr. Berg's background I am sure some of the things that went on at the Trench Center are pulled from his own personal work experiences.
I applaud the fact that Cheryl Cobb was arrested for fighting for something she believed in and not for being a drug addict...

A highly recommended read which will make a great discussion for book clubs.

Locksie

ARC Book Club Inc.
Star Rating *****5.0