Carolyn Forbes is the mother of teenager Eric Manning and kidnapped boy Adam Forbes.
Background[]
Carolyn was previously married to Steven Manning and had Eric with him before they divorced and arranged for shared custody in their settlements. Carolyn remarried to Peter Forbes and had Adam with him. After several years, she and Peter also divorced, with both of them fighting over custody over Adam.
Coerced[]
Carolyn was getting Eric ready to see his grandmother for her birthday while discussing the legal procedure with peter over the phone. Eric was told to get Adam, who was revealed to be missing from his room, the window screen being cut revealing he was kidnapped. With the window screen originally appearing to be cut from within, it seemed like a familiar kidnapping. Carolyn blamed Peter, who missed his court date and turn the cab he was in toward Carolyn's house after hearing about Adam on the news. Peter blamed Carolyn, and the detectives had to go through process of elimination with the parents' lawyers present, Carolyn represented by Michael Kelly. Even Eric was briefly suspected, but he said he heard Carolyn say he'd hid Adam from Peter to keep him to herself. Carolyn said she wasn't meaning that literally and denied involvement with Adam's disappearance.
The screen was revealed to be backwards in the window, meaning it was really cut from outside and was a stranger kidnapping, easy access to Adam since he wanted a cold room every night. Kevin Walker, a released mental patient with schizophrenia who was stalking Adam, assuming he was Kevin's estranged son Tate, was revealed to be Adam's kidnapper. Kevin was arrested after stabbing employees at a grocery store where he lived, and when threatened with his life by manipulating his psychosis, Adam was returned safely to his parents. (SVU: "Coerced")