Pam Slaton’s heart goes out this week on OWN’s Searching For as she struggled to put together the missing pieces for Dottie Malan. At the age of 15, Dottie found herself pregnant and hid it from the world. Having no clue what to expect, she ended up delivering her OWN baby late one night at home…while her father slept in a nearby room. I can only imagine how scared she must have been and how shocked her father was when he discovered the secret. After passing out from the blood loss with her baby in her arms, Dottie’s father entered the room. With blood everywhere…he must have been terrified. From the beginning, Dottie always wanted the best for her daughter. To bring her home, she knew she would have had to drop out of school and figure it out all on her OWN. Wanting to give her daughter a better life, Dottie gave her daughter up for adoption…and still struggled with that decision today.  

For the first time ever on Searching For, Pam actually traveled to see her client in her hometown. Pam had wonderful news….she found her daughter, Kari, who only lived 20 minutes away. With the support of Pam and her sister, Dottie made the call only to have to leave a message. Several days went by and Dottie didn’t hear anything. She decided to take Pam’s advice and write Kari a letter. Within six days, Dottie received a letter back from Kari.

Although the letter stated Kari wanted to take it slower, she stated how grateful she was that Dottie made the decision to place her up for adoption. Kari shared that she had always carried in her car the senior pictures of both Dottie and her biological father. When Kari was old enough to really understand, her parents made her aware of her biological mother. The letter made Dottie hopeful, but I was still worried about the the taking it slower part. You can’t get much slower.

As the segment grew to a close, the show informed us that Kari ended up deciding she no longer wanted to be in contact with Dottie. I can’t help but wonder…since Kari knew about Dottie early on, maybe she knew all she needed to at this time. Hopefully in the future, Kari will find a comfortable place where she can allow Dottie into her life…at least long enough to get to know her and help them both to find peace.