They’d had the kid since he was three years old. I wonder if black culture had any influence on him? He’s got a nice upper-middle-class family, but in cases such as these there’s always a tendency to gravitate toward “their own kind.” I think that played a major role in the development of our current president, who hasn’t stabbed anyone directly, but has stabbed millions by proxy.
I draw from this story more conclusions about race than about adoption.
By the time a child is three, a lot of behaviors have been laid down. Babies are born with their brain only partly programmed. In the first two or three years, some things happen to that brain which cannot easily be modified. We adopted a little girl when she was 2 1/2. She had been abused. She now is very functional and I love her but she was a challenge to raise.
What you are saying is the kid was probably hanging out on Sand Road a bit. (Sand Rd is a section of Westwood that shares Westwood HS with Washington Twp. Actually Westwood HS is in Washington Twp.)
“there’s always a tendency to gravitate toward “their own kind.”
Example: Barack Obama
Totally identifies with this black half - disses the white half.
So you’re saying rich white people don’t commit murder?
I’ve adopted 3 kids, at the age of 9 months, 3 years and 13 months. The two who were adopted at the younger ages bonded more readily. Those two have a bright future ahead of them and are close to us and to their extended family. They have several close friends.
The one adopted at 3 years has been our most difficult to raise, and now that he is an adult he wants little to do with his family and has few friends. He has grown increasingly self centered after he left home, and because of that has difficulty in all areas of life. Those first few years of life are huge. If the baby cannot effectively attach to a loving adult then, chances are they will have difficulty attaching to others afterwards.
This was going to happen anyway, but perhaps it would have been less likely to occur if there had been a second black or minority boy at home or within the family circle of contacts. Some teen boys start at age 13 looking for a group to identify with. The lucky and wise choose school or a lucrative job to give them a new adult persona, the unwise may choses gangs or gang type behavior as acted out in videos. Terrible tragedy. Appearances can deceive or not tell the whole story, but that boy looks disturbingly vacant and disassociated. Some teens don’t open up when something bothers them, you have to wait a study their behavior, unless the parents recognize the clues of depression or paranoia.