Customer Reviews

Losing Jessica

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Yesterday I read "Losing Jessica" and I cried. It is so heartbreaking that a little girl (and her parents, Robby and Jan Deboer) was taken away from her loving family. She had a big, loving family and was so close to especially her mother.
I have at little boy, who is 2½ years old, and I can't imagine how he would feel, if he had to move to another home just like that. I have been so sad since I read the book, and I think a lot about how Jessica feels today. Does she remember her parents and her early years? Is she happy? etc.
I can really recommend this book and will never forget it. I keep thinking about it all the time.
If anyone knows how Jessica is today, and also how Robby and Jan Deboer are doing, I would very much like to know: arh@oncable.dk
Is it possible to write to Robby and Jan Deboer?
Maria L. Fenge, Denmark

This story gripped the nation. It had every parent wondering what they would do in a similiar circumstance. I remember when this was happening. I reside in the Detroit area, and this was at every angle, every newspaper and every tree had a ribbon to support the DeBoers.
This case was a terrible miscarriage of justice for this family.That child was tormented for a long time over this matter. I remember being out and about and that was the only thing that people talked about, and the night before the transfer, reporters decended upon us....everywhere...
I think that the DeBoers should have been able to keep her, as they were the only ones that raised her until that point. She was their daughter, and the way this was handled was just sickening.
I am an adopted child and I think that is why this hits home for me. I kept all the clippings of the stories from 1993, that warm August day that any Detroiter will NEVER forget. God bless the DeBoers for what they went through, but the cost to them was far more than most realize. Their lives collapsed after this happened, and suddenly nobody was around to help them. This book is a great story that hopefully will help for laws to be changed to prevent this from happening again.

After reading the book, seeing the movie and reading the reviews. I have to wonder. What were the authorities thinking. Here we have adopted parents, who went into this with good intentions. Than you have a woman, who lied several times and whoeveryone forgives for causing all this. Than there's Dan Schmit, who is lied too and forgives Cara. Okay so he made mistakes, haven't we all. This child should have been taken immediately and placed in a foster home till things were worked out. But the authorities allowed the Deboers to keep and nuture her.
Now both couples are divorced and there are three children being raised by single parents. Go figure!

This story is so so tragic. I really felt for the DeBoers. I have only read this book and know nothing of the movie or what has transpired since. I felt torn as this child was from the only parents she knew. I think Cara and Dan should have left it alone and let Jessica stay where she was. I am sure she is or seems to be okay now but the trauma that child had to bear was unnecessary. This book is really touching and makes you look at yourself and wonder what you would have done. The story is well written as Robby DeBoer writes from her prespective she does not unfairly treat Dan and Cara. Recommend this book!

Very happy story in the beginning and then very sad ending. It was a very well written book. I was irked that Cara Clausen Schmidt kept referring to the adoption as "legal kidnapping." It wasn't, but the reversal, the giving her back to Cara & Dan Schmidt was in fact LEGAL KIDNAPPING!!!

As a single woman desparetely yearning for a family of my own, I felt the joy the DeBoers had when they got their baby and nurtured her. It broke my heart when she was taken from them, so cruelly.

I am a lot younger than my brothers and sisters and became an aunt when I was 10. Through my teen years, my nieces and nephews were a MAJOR part of my life and I had fun making memories with them like my siblings had with me as a child.

When I was about 20, my brother and his wife moved 2000 miles away with their 5 children. At the time, that was literally 1/2 of my nieces and nephews. Their oldest was 6, their youngest was 8 mos.
The night before they left, their mother had left some of them at my mother's due to last minute things she had to do. I got them up and gave them breakfast. How many times had I done this before, it was a normal thing, yet I fought back the tears. After hugging them goodbye at the airport and watching them board the plane, it was like someone had taken a part of me along with my heart. In the coming days, weeks, and months, it was an actual physical pain adjusting to life without them.

They were just my nieces and nephews, NOT my children. I can imagine the DeBoers pain and grief due to my own experience, but I know theirs went deeper than mine as they were Jessica's parents.

I pray and sincerely hope that she will read this book someday and visit them one day.

As a single woman desparetely yearning for a family of my own, I felt the joy the DeBoers had when they got their baby and nurtured her. It broke my heart when she was taken from them, so cruelly.

I am a lot younger than my brothers and sisters and became an aunt when I was 10. Through my teen years, my nieces and nephews were a MAJOR part of my life and I had fun making memories with them like my siblings had with me as a child.

When I was about 20, my brother and his wife moved 2000 miles away with their 5 children. At the time, that was literally 1/2 of my nieces and nephews. Their oldest was 6, their youngest was 8 mos. It was a literal physical pain watching them board the plane and then adjusting to life without those precious children.

The night before they left, their mother had left some of them at my mother's due to last minute things she had to do. I got them up and gave them breakfast. How many times had I done this before, it was a normal thing, yet I fought back the tears. After hugging them goodbye and watching them board the plane, it was like someone had taken a part of me along with my heart.

They were just my nieces and nephews, NOT my children. I can imagine the DeBoers pain and grief due to that experience, but I know theirs went deeper than mine as they were Jessica's parents.

I pray and sincerely hope that she will read this book someday and visit them one day.

When a bio father doesn't know that his child was given up for adoption, there is a problem. These people created their own problems. It reminds me of Baby Emma Wyatt (www.BabyEmmaWyatt.com) who was kidnapped by an adoption agency (A Act of Love) and the "adoptive parents." Selfishness prevents these "parents" from giving the babies back, but they do return home in the end.

I bought this book when it was first published. I was going through infertility and couldn't bear to read it. Thank goodness I didn't! My kids are 13,11 & 9 and I finished it with tears streaming down my face late last night. Such a complicated, sad story. Robby DeBoer is no writer, but her story of her life with Jessi is unforgettable.

I just couldn't believe how Jessica's best interest was overlooked! The book clearly shows the contradicting the testimonies of both Dan and Cara. I hope Jessica forgives Dan and Cara for the pain that they caused her! I'm sure she loves both Dan and Cara for caring for her, but it's obvious from reading the book that her best interest would have been to stay with her parents that she had known Jan and Robby DeBoer. They truely loved her and Cara didn't file a petition to get Jessica back UNTIL AFTER THE PROBATION PERIOD! ..., it was not the fault of the DeBoers but it was the fault of Dan and Cara for putting their own selfish interests before Jessica's! Jan and Robby had grown to love Jessica and to have her ripped away from them was painful for all three of them, especially Jessica since she thought she was still too young to understand why she was taken away from her mommy and daddy! The DeBoers were not the cause of it. Someday Jessica will meet up again with her adoptive and thank them for taking care of her when she was a baby. She will thank them for loving her and giving her the best home while she was in the years of vulnerability! I'm sure hope that Jessica is living a wonderful life with the Schmidts, I hope that Jessica (now Anna) adjusted well.