Molly

Molly was adopted at age 6. She came with her biological brother, from a very rough beginning.  Much of what happened to them before joining our family, we still don't know.  The way those wounds manifested in her behaviors gave us a child who was belligerent, entitled, violent, destructive, dishonest and... shall we say... physically inappropriate?  She needed her own room, with an alarm on the door. We had security cameras all over the house. She was almost always in my line of sight.  And still, somehow she continued to kick holes in walls, rip wallpaper, make obscene phone calls to strangers, make false allegations, and endanger others.  Eventually the hard decision was made to send her to a boarding school for girls with severe behavior issues stemming from reactive attachment disorder.  She and I flew out in May of 2013 to take her to her new residential school in Mississippi. By the first of July, the girls in the school had banded together to make false allegations of abuse against the school staff and the school was shut down... we all had to go get our girls immediately.

Molly admitted to me immediately that none of what they told the sheriff or the child protection social workers actually happened... but the older girls told her if she said what they told her to, she'd get to go home.  And what do you know? It worked.

In early December 2013 the school reopened (the case the state was making against the school was dropped for lack of evidence... many of the girls had written statements renouncing their original accounts.)  Molly's behavior had continued to escalate, and the family was not safe with her here.  So once again, she and I made the trek to Mississippi. And again... in the beginning of July, I got a phone call... "come get your daughter."  According to the school staff, despite their decades of experience with these kinds of girls... MY daughter was beyond their help.  How's that for a badge of honor?  My daughter got kicked out of a boarding school for behaviorally challenged girls because she was too much for them to handle.  She isn't welcome back.

I flew to Mississippi to retrieve her, scared of what I was going to encounter, deeply concerned about how I was going to handle her by myself. 

But the truth is... despite some nasty preteen moments, and a bit of lingering entitlement that will probably always be an issue... since returning home, Molly has been my easiest child.  Granted, a few others have gotten exponentially worse in the past year or so... but Molly has matured and grown and I honestly believe her boarding school helped her... even when they thought she was beyond their help.  I enjoy this kid now!  I'm glad she's home.