Waiting for the Fruit to Ripen: One Adoptive Family’s Experience With Beginning to Heal the Invisible Wounds of RAD and PTSD

Two little boys are living with their grandfather. They are neglected. They are abused. Their mother and father? Incarcerated. The boys are adopted into a loving family. Everyone lives happily ever after… Not quite. Not yet, anyway. The boys’ traumatic memories and attachment problems were not left behind when hey began life with their forever family. These problems, hidden at first, became overwhelming very quickly. Emotional turmoil spread to the adoptive mother too. Parenting these extremely troubled children would prove to be a nearly impossible task. The healing begins, but not before difficulties arise and mistakes are made. Join the boys’ mother as she recounts the pain, confusion and constant struggle for hope during their first two years together. This book tells the story of the discovery of attachment and trauma problems from an adoptive mother’s perspective. As the story unfolds, a greater understanding of Reactive Attachment Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder develops, but not as a result of textbook definitions or clinical terminology. The author details her experiences from legal battles, to the realization that her children were suffering from RAD and PTSD, to the challenges of daily life. The emotional toll is evident as she discloses her feelings of inadequacy and admits her regrettable actions. Her unrelenting determination, however, conveys a message of strength and hope.