I have a son who is now 20 years old. For 12 years he has been in foster care. I know this is a long time, & I wanted to ask how I handle this. Every thing I  have tried(going to visit him), having my own home, then losing it,asking for help from the foster care worker to get him home, has been long & they don't help me. I did nothing except make the mistake of thinking I could not handle Matthew(ADHD). I put 5 of my children in foster care & all but Matthew are out. I don't know what I can do about this. I don't have housing now because I lost my house in 2004. This is very sad.

Sharon

I am new to this site. I have a 7 year old girl that can be very sweet at times but when she hears the word "no" or is told to do something such as this am" go to the table and art breakfast" she loses it.

She was thirty minutes late for school- because she had to eat, dress, and then leave. Eating for her has become very important. She lost 5 pounds being on Adderal XR for what they thought was ADHD, now the doctor thinks she might be bipolar.

When she loses it, she spits, kicks, hits me, throws breakable things against the wall,destroys the house. We have tried different behavior plans , which never work- she rebels more.

She never has  huge ideas like she can fly or she is "an animal" or such. SHe never seems manic except being hyper and cannot settle down for hours.

I would like anyone to share their experiences when their child was first diagnosed, some of their behaviors, age at diagnosis.