Many adopted children who have been traumatized, whether through abuse, neglect, or other form of trauma, are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). When a person has PTSD, he is vulnerable to triggers in his life that cause him to remember a prior trauma. This is true even after doing lots of healing work.

I just went through this yesterday, when I saw that my husband had taken our seven-year-old child out onto the roof to help him paint a window. I don’t think I am going out on a limb to assume that the vast majority of adoptive parents would agree that taking a seven-year-old boy with impulse control issues out onto a slanted roof is a bad call. However, most adoptive parents probably would not have reacted quite as strongly as I did.

I was diagnosed with PTSD several years ago. I have worked very hard to heal from the PTSD, but I am still vulnerable to triggers. Seeing my precious child up on a roof was a huge trigger for me.

When I was around six or seven, my then-four-year-old sister and I witnessed a young child fall from a deer stand.