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I have written previous posts over a year ago regarding an adopted son with discipline issues. The issues have continued mainly with petty theft inside the home, at school, and one store incident. This child has been officially diagnosed with conduct disorder with antisocial and narcissistic traits (traits, he has not been formally diagnosed with these disorders since his is still an adolescent. With his first legal issue he was placed on 6 months unsupervised probation, community service, restitution. Since being on probation, he now has 2 more petty larceny changes. Two of the thefts have taken place at school so he has also had suspensions for those incidents. He is also on probation with the school board, which was to end 10/31/2012. So as of now he has 3 pending petty larceny charges (the first charge was pending his probation conditions being met) that will require different court hearings and a school board hearing. The school board hearing will be his 3rd. The first one was back 2 years ago for fighting too often. The 2nd school board hearing was the end of last school year for his first school theft. And the next school board hearing is for this last school theft. His other theft issue took place out of the school setting. He has admitted to multiple other successful thefts and he has stolen from everyone in the home.
We are being told by the police officer who works with the juvenile courts that he will most likely get many more slaps on the wrist.
Now I have heard all the suggestions of he needs counseling (done), parent training/counseling (done), reward charts (done and totally insulted him because he isn't 8), taking things away, encouragement, all those things that everyone claims is what is needed. It is obvious that this is all related to his past experiences. That has never been debated.
Now realistically speaking the courts have and will continue to require restitution (comes out of our pockets because by law we are required to make sure it is paid and he cant have a job because of the theft issue), community service (which is becoming more and more difficult because when they find out it is due to larceny charges the say no; however, the courts have informed us we will be held accountable if we don't find some place for him to serve). Of course now they can impose more counseling, although 6 years of various therapies to no avail. So basically, the consequences continue to be ours (lost wages, missed days at work, family time disrupted, financial burden due to the legal expenses, etc.)
So realistically speaking our family is exhausted from what is required of us.. Time taken away from the other children. They have to quit their activities they have earned through good choices so that his probation requirements can be met and if other sanctions such as more therapy is imposed even more time we have to pull from somewhere and give to this situation on an already depleted schedule.
People say love, hugs, positive words. Realistically speaking frustration, tears, other children feeling slighted, escalated stress levels...
Where does a family go from here? And I am asking for realistic suggestions. I understand what the ideal answers are which are parents who can be superhuman and overlook everything and siblings who can also do the same, but that is unrealistic as we are not superhuman. Everyone in this home has needs.
Although I understand why courts and school systems will say more therapy, more diversions, more community services because they don't want to give up and see another child go down the wrong path, but I also know it is because they have nothing else to offer and in the meantime the other children in the home are left confused wondering why others allowing them to continue to be unseen victims.
Two working parents, 3 other children in the home..all with homework, all with social woes of some sort, all with goals and desires...Ideal would be have a parent quit work or tell the children they will need to sacrifice their successes and earned rewards for the sake of another. Realistically, none of that is feasible.
So where does a family go from here?
Thank you for your thoughts.
I am adopted and I work with people who are dealing with the justice system. The void is huge for people who haven't had the truth regarding their ancestry.
How old is your son? Has he had information given to him about the circumstances surrounding his adoption? Has he been to a counsellor who is literate in the issues of abandonment?
Has anyone validated his pain? Have you told him everything you know about the birthfamily?
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I would echo Murphy - I know you have done the counselor thing and feel it did not work - yet sometimes it does boil down to adoption related feelings and some counselors have no knowledge or specific training about it. Far too many stories from adoptees whose counselors looked everywhere but being adopted as the problem.
Kind regards,
Dickons
Actually he was adopted in July 2011 when he was getting ready to turn 15. He had been in foster care since he was 10. He is very aware of the his birth family's circumstances. He does have some vivid memories and some are suppressed. He admits in order for him to change he has to admit he has a problem and he is not willing to do that. He also admits when he was in therapy previously he would make sure he spent most of the time "BSing" with the therapist because he had no intentions of dealing with anything from his past.
Has any of his therapy been EMDR type of therapy? That was the type that helped my daughter the most.
But my daughter is like your son and doesn't want to work on the painful memories of the past, there was only a year or two in the 13-14ish age range where she tried hard in therapy. Then it helped a lot, but now that she is 16 for a while already she has not wanted to revisit the memories.
My daughter loves watching TV shows like Steve Wilcos where the man yells at parents for being horrid to their children, and she loves the shows that have teens spending time with special families that make the kids shape up, and she loves shows with the kids going to some prison program where the prisoners tell them how horrible it is and how stupid they are if they keep doing things that will cause them to wind up in prison.
Does your son like any of those shows? I feel like my daughter uses them as a sort of therapy. For a long time she tried to get her bmom to go on the show with her.
Is there any kind of mentoring program your son could sign up for and maybe get a man who went through the same stuff and could give him good advice and understanding, but without accepting any ...gee I am drawing a mental blank on any word that is useable on the forums!
I had an adopted daughter ( dx bipolar, narcissist, attachment issues, etc) that drove me to the brink.
I say 'had' because I swear she is a different child now. The regular once a week therapy wasn't working, even with a therapist very knowledgable and experienced with foster children and the issues many share.
What did the trick for me was finding a quality residential treatment facility with an in-house therapist that listened to me, then held my daughter's feet to the fire. No longer could my daughter snow the therapist, or waste the hour of therapy blowing smoke. She was there 24/7 with no way to escape facing the feelings and memories that were destroying her.
They also had neuropsychiatrists and did a few brain scans. The result was my daughter being placed on anti-seizure meds along with some mood stabilizers.....no more highly controlled psychotropics, no more stomach aches, weight gains, etc.
She was there for six weeks before my insurance forced her out ahead of when everyone was comfortable. She had a hard time adjusting when she came home (missed having the HIGHLY structured environment filled wi mental health professionals) and after she returned home she came to me within 2 weeks and asked to be taken to the hospital. She spent about 3 or 4 days before coming home a second time, and has not been back.
Swear to God, this facility saved her life. She still goes to therapy once a week with a wonderful therapist, but now asks that I attend with her to offer support and I can see her working so hard to healthy. Best of all, she is now open to loving and being loved and actually cares about making me proud of her.
This probably sounds disjointed and rather sappy, but I cannot tell you what a difference this place made.
My daughter will be turning 16 this month, and her time in the facility was almost 1 year ago. Had she not gone, I don't know where she would be now..... Her issues were sex, drugs, self mutilation and running away.
Feel free to pm me for their info, if you are interested. They get kids from all over the country and are located just outside Austin, tx.
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Mentoring has already been tried, on more than one occasion not to mention several men who are part of the youth staff at our church have also tried reaching out.
As far as the those shows, his behaviors leave him without TV time because we certainly will not be rewarding poor choices. However, we have let him watch a couple of those shows and he laughs and enjoys it as an entertainment process. He constantly says he wont end up in jail. So it has no effect. None of our children have TVs in their rooms and we are quite cautious about what we allow any of them to watch.