Ours (non-bio sibs adopted age 4) have both been fully evaluated by a reknowned international adoption expert and neuropsychologist who has seen thousands of kids, written many books and articles, travels the world to conferences, and who adopted 7 kids himself (at least one with FAS)
In his experience 90% of us international adoptees will have children with problems that impair them, physically or mentally. Somehow we have to get them to adulthood and successful independence, Hopefully most of us will make it
Adolescence and hormones are hard enough without the baggage and unknown genetics these kids bring into our lives
My sweet precious attached loving little girl now 14 is morphing before our eyes, possibly a genetic organic mental illness cause that emerges in teens, making our autistic son look like the one who is going to be easier to live with
So- good luck and God Bless us all
> Ah, so you have been through the mill
As have you.
Everything you said is 100% spot on, spoken from real experience.
Hang in there!!
God will not give you more than you can bear, and I believe with all my heart that you will be blessed for your efforts in the end.
> My sweet precious attached loving little girl now 14 is
> morphing before our eyes, possibly a genetic organic mental
> illness cause that emerges in teens,
By the way, this is virtually a TEXTBOOK description of bi-polar disorder!
We also know this from experience.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that bipolar disorder is among the most treatable of all mental illnesses.
More good news is that it afflicts people of above-average intelligence. Once your child’s brain chemistry is balanced, you will find that she is rational, bright, and quite normal.
The brain is an organ, in the same way as the pancreas is an organ. If the chemistry of the pancreas goes awry, you will be diagnosed as hypoglycemic or diabetic. If the brain chemistry goes awry, you can be diagnosed as “bipolar”.
Untreated, bipolar disorder can present psychotic episodes, complete with paranoia (believing you want to harm her or worse) and even hallucinations.
With counseling and medication, bipolar disorder can be managed very nicely.