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The Foundling: The True Story of a Kidnapping, a Family Secret, and My Search for the Real Me
This is the inspiring and “page-turning” (Booklist) true story of a man who discovered that he had been kidnapped as a baby—and how his quest to find out who he really is upturned the genealogy industry, his own family, and set in motion the second longest cold case in US history.
In 1964, a woman pretending to be a nurse kidnapped an infant boy named Paul Fronczak from a Chicago hospital.
Two years later, police found a boy abandoned outside a variety store in New Jersey. The FBI tracked down Dora Fronczak, the kidnapped infant’s mother, and she identified the abandoned boy as her son. The family spent the next fifty years believing they were whole again—but Paul was always unsure about his true identity.
Then, four years ago—spurred on by the birth of his first child, Emma Faith—Paul took a DNA test. The test revealed that he was definitely not Paul Fronczak. From that moment on, Paul has been on a tireless mission to find the man whose life he’s been living—and to discover who abandoned him, and why.
Poignant and inspiring, The Foundling is a story about a child lost and a faith found, about the permanence of families and the bloodlines that define you, and about the emotional toll of both losing your identity and rediscovering who you truly are.
In 1964, a woman pretending to be a nurse kidnapped an infant boy named Paul Fronczak from a Chicago hospital.
Two years later, police found a boy abandoned outside a variety store in New Jersey. The FBI tracked down Dora Fronczak, the kidnapped infant’s mother, and she identified the abandoned boy as her son. The family spent the next fifty years believing they were whole again—but Paul was always unsure about his true identity.
Then, four years ago—spurred on by the birth of his first child, Emma Faith—Paul took a DNA test. The test revealed that he was definitely not Paul Fronczak. From that moment on, Paul has been on a tireless mission to find the man whose life he’s been living—and to discover who abandoned him, and why.
Poignant and inspiring, The Foundling is a story about a child lost and a faith found, about the permanence of families and the bloodlines that define you, and about the emotional toll of both losing your identity and rediscovering who you truly are.
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Published April 4, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 20, 2025
Disappointing. For me it was entirely too long. Also I really had to wonder why he wanted to pursue his family when they weren't interested in him and when he was finding out such difficult things about them. I'd have run back to the mother and father that loved me even if they weren't my biological parents. Sad really.
June 4, 2025
I finished this weeks ago...
It's very good and real and painful. This is very much what it means to go digging looking for your "real" family. All the elements are there, the slogging, the dodging, the digging and the praying. I hated being on this journey and I couldn't put the book down.
It's very good and real and painful. This is very much what it means to go digging looking for your "real" family. All the elements are there, the slogging, the dodging, the digging and the praying. I hated being on this journey and I couldn't put the book down.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews