Julie linked this very distressing story about mental illness and children.

I’m the mom of an adopted child who’s been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder; she’s been residing in a psychiatric hospital for nearly four years now.... more

I could blog a billion posts about the unexpected facets of older child adoption, nearly every day I’ve encountered something I didn’t initially bargain for when I first set out, years ago, as a fresh-faced, so naïve, adoptive mama.

I did not set out to adopt children with medical needs. It’s hilarious to consider that since I’m squeamish about blood, cuts and injuries yet I have 21 rough and tumble sons, plus 18 athletic daughters.

By adopting sibling groups of older children I’ve ended up mothering a daughter with no fingers on one hand, another daughter... more

In parenting 39 children the one thing I can say I’ve learned with absolute certainty is that children want and need limits. I’ve already survived raising many teenagers, I have ten of them right now in our house, and I am one strict mama.

If I don’t teach them accountability and responsibility, then they’ll have to learn it the hard way. Jail time is always an unacceptable, but sometimes necessary, option.

In the adoption of older children it is not uncommon to have birth parents in jail or in prison. And worse yet is the lack of shame... more

This is my grandson, his mother adopted from Honduras by me in 1987, his father here from Mexico, and holding this baby makes me all the more sensitive to the plights of other children in the world.

Today I read about a baby dead in a dumpster, two other young kids murdered by their mom just down the highway from where we live, and I’m heartsick... more

Amazingly enough, after not having heard from 18 year old Joey in a month or so, he emailed me today.

In the previous post, Home Alone All Too Often, I described the four children I’d adopted from criminally neglectful circumstances, briefly mentioning Joey.

This was a child who was repeatedly restrained at the Boy’s Ranch for terribly disruptive behavior; heavily medicated, he could still rage with the strength of a lion on methamphetamines.

I’d adopted him and his three younger siblings eight years ago and embarked upon a rough journey.

He initially lived with us for two years, getting kicked out schools... more

Two children, ages 3 and 6, left home alone for several days during Christmas. The full story has not yet emerged, but the older child lapsed into a diabetic coma during this time. I’m using this story only to set the stage for another one.

Several of my own children were found this way by police when concerned neighbors, who’d fed the kids many times before, called law officers. The police... more

. I believe I’m going to continue, for a few posts, to reference this particular article, so taken was I by its very stark truths.

Living through these truths however is a lot more painful and difficult. Dr. Alexander says, “I tell every adoptive parent who contacts me that they can't approach raising their child in the way as parents raising a birth child. Rather, I tell them to conceptualize their role as... more

Yesterday I was reading all the blogs for today on this site, and then I began to dig around, to see what all I could unearth here. I discovered this insightful article, must reading for all adoptive parents. Dr. Alexander managed to immediately, and concisely, say what I’d been trying to say for years.

He wrote about genetics, how many adopted children are born to parents who have a history of impulsive behaviors.... more

I will never run out of adoption blogging ideas, my source of material here, within my home, is virtually unlimited. Walk into my house at any time and question any particular hole in the wall, “Who did that?” one might ask, only to hear a colorful recounting of a specific rampage by a raging older adopted child.

I’d been looking, on my other blog, at the referral clicks. It led me to a foster care message board where someone suggested to another person that they go read my writing for some understanding of why adopted kids act this way.

She’d... more

Do not tell me I can’t possibly raise 39 children, because I’m doing it, and doing it as a single parent. This can be done and I have fifteen grown children that are happy to back me up in this boisterous claim.

Adopting older children in sibling groups quickly makes a family grow. I chose to adopt school age children since back then I was the school library media specialist. As a single mom we certainly needed my paycheck.

Working while raising 10, 20, even up to 30 children was challenging, I’d decided on early retirement when the numbers were bumped up to 35 as five new children from one family joined us in 2002.

In the 1980s and throughout the 1990s most of my... more