Returning Adopted Kids: Unthinkable?

responsibility-project.libertymutual.com ^ | January 26, 2010 | Kathy McManus

[lowbridge]

Return unused portion for refund. It’s the traditional safety net when a product fails to please or perform.

But should returns be allowed for adopted children?

The Tulsa World reports that parents Melissa and Tony Wescott want to return their 11 year-old adopted son to state custody because they say he had severe behavioral problems not disclosed prior to his 2007 adoption, including reactive detachment disorder, disruptive behavior disorder, major depressive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and fetal alcohol syndrome.

The Wescotts say that soon after the adoption, the boy attacked a neighbor child with a board, killed and injured animals, began regularly running away, and hid butcher knives and lighters in his room. “He tried to burn our home down,” said Melissa Wescott. “The note read: ‘I’m sorry you had to die.’”

State documents described the child as “polite and well mannered.”

Because the Wescotts can’t afford the lengthy legal process of having the adoption “dissolved,” they are asking the state to enact a law allowing adoptive parents to return children under certain circumstances.

[Chickensoup]

They think enacting a law like this won’t be a “lengthy process”?

But it will be affordable in a way that hiring a lawyer is not.

[momtothree]

I think the most amusing incident occurred when the Social Worker asked us, “Will you tell your daughter that she is adopted?” (um.... we’re white and she will be Chinese?!!) My husband and I just looked at each other and said, “NO, absolutely not. We plan on keeping it a secret for as long as we live”. The social worker said, “I have to ask that question...” (what she didn’t know was there was no way to answer it without sarcasm!!!) LOL!!