I NEVER intended for this blog to become a "RAD blog". I had no plans to be the author of one of the most widely-circulated
adoption disruption stories on the internet. www.bringinghomezeke.blogspot.com/2011/02/adoption-disruption-down-and-dirty.html
This is NOT the type of notoriety an adoptive mother longs for when bringing a beautiful new child into her family.
I simply shared my son's agonizing story and it resonated with more than 50,000 readers. I poured out my heart in that post for catharsis but primarily because I had turned over every stone online and in the professional world of adoption-focused literature looking for help in the painful choice of whether or not to disrupt this child's entire world for a for a fourth time and all I found was ridicule and
criticism.
I read articles regarding disruption and the comments under the articles scared the confidence right out of me.
". . . treating a child like a pet . . . "
" . . . what if he were biological? You can't give him back them . . . "
" . . . should never have been allowed to adopt in the first place . . . "
" . . . should have ALL her children taken away . . . "
" . . . should be put in prison for abandonment . . . "
And I knew some of YOU must have been in that same desperate place hoping to find some kinship after that Reactive Attachment Disorder diagnosis darkened your world.
No warm, safe place existed for a family struggling with whether or not to disrupt a failing adoption. No listening ears and sympathetic hearts were available to the mother who simply could not spend one more night sleeping with all her children in her master bedroom except THAT ONE and the door locked for fear that he might come in and harm them. No gentle encouragement for the couple who's marriage is in tatters because THAT CHILD has triangulated them in the worst way possible and they blame one another all the way to court while the child sits, satisfied, on the sidelines and enjoys the show. And he is not to blame. He is broken from the inside.
I wanted to be that place. And after I hit "publish" on that article in February of 2011, I had no idea how my world would change.
You came, meekly at first, asking me if it was okay to email privately about your children. You broke my heart and drove me to my knees before God with your stories. I prayed for you. I wept for you and I wept for your broken children. You trusted me, a virtual stranger, with sacred parts of your hearts because there was not one other place in your life where it was okay to talk about how you really felt about that child you adopted. Your in-laws had already said "I told you so" one too many times. Your church friends told you over and over how "lucky" you are and how "cute" he is and you wanted to shout "I CAN'T STAND HIM" and run from the building. . . I get that.
And I want to say "thank you" . . . to every Mama who wrote me a private note and thanked me for the risk of my post. THANK YOU to every person too afraid to sign an email in which you bore your soul and asked for help. Jesus knows every intimate detail, Anonymous Mom. . . He cares and He loves your family, even when it doesn't feel like it.
I took a gamble that talking about "the 'D' word might just fill a niche left open by everyone too afraid to mention it.
"You've never thought of disrupting your adoption? Yeah, me neither . . .just thought I'd ask . . .crazy question . . . I must be tired"
And if you followed my precious son's story, you already know that our gracious, good, kind Heavenly Father brought healing after six years of brokenness and acting out by our boy. I would love to promise you that if you can just hang in there for six years, your child will receive healing, too.
But it doesn't work that way. Some children are healed and some stay broken. In THIS life.
For those of you reading this who have seen great improvement in your children, I am BLESSED to hear those stories, too.
Remember to show mercy to those Mamas who are still in the throes . . .
For those who are still trudging along the painful path of RAD, waking up in the morning wishing it was bed time already, you have my ear, my heart and my deep gratitude. You are still walking, even if you feel dragged, you're doing it . . .
For those who have chosen to disrupt and are living with the pain of wondering if that child hates you, remembers you, understands that you did your best . . .for YOU I pray the most often. The Enemy loves to accuse you, doesn't he?
But our son CAME to us from a Mama just like YOU . . . from a family that wanted so much to help him but became paralyzed by his gigantic needs. A family that wanted to make the world a better place and give an orphan a home but got swallowed by his pain and anger and needed an escape hatch. I have to believe someone, somewhere wants to thank you for giving them their miracle.
I thank both of my son's disrupted families here and now. I know you read this. Thank you "M" and "E" and your families.
I pray you have no guilt about the life of this boy.
He is one of my my treasures!
He was worth those six years . . . and then some.
It took a long time to be able to say that with such certainty but I say it now.
He is a prize. He belongs here, with us. He is ONE OF US. He is mine . . .
He just took the long road...
