I am the stepmom to three adopted siblings…all of whom have special needs. They were adopted by my husband and his former wife, who decided she didn’t really want to be a mom to these kids after all. The kids were all born addicted to Meth, along with having fetal alcohol syndrome.

They are all in the “autistic spectrum.” The youngest two B9/G8 are higher functioning. The oldest G11, has a very underdeveloped frontal lobe and was the most affected by her birth environment. Currently all are suffering from Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) from the leaving of their adopted mom, which has caused a HUGE regression. They all have sensory issues and spacial distortion.

My oldest girl (11) was in the hospital four times her first year for failure to thrive. She almost missed learning how to speak, she didn’t start until she was almost 5. She was physically and sexually abused, but only has “emotional memory” of the abuse. She is currently going through puberty, which is a whole other can of worms.