I guess this is a good place to start???

[rachelxxxxsmith]

One of my sons friends has been a friend of our family since about a year or so ago.  He lost his mother to Leukemia last May.  This boys history from my view point and by a lot of discussions with his Father are as follows.  The boy is 15 now and is part of a family that adopted him as an infant.  His Mother and Father that adopted him also have a son that is now in college and by what I have heard is a great kid, graduated, works goes to Texas A&M and is now getting married and as the Father says they have never had these types of problems with him as an adolescent.  As far as I know the boy also doesn't know anything about his biological parents.  He never has brought up the fact that he was adopted being a issue in his life, but I often wonder if it does give him a feeling of not knowing where he is from and maybe another underlying problem.  

Anyway, I am trying to sum this up here but want you to understand the main details also.  Well from what I can see is his mom fought Leukemia for five years.  I know they loved the boy very much and I think they let him by with a lot because he had that sickness and the dreaded end to face someday.  So in the meantime during the five years I thing it just escalated in letting the boy get by with anything and giving him things to compensate or not to make him have to think of the reality of his moms health.  Specially during the last year where she was having to be really spent a lot of time with and the older brother was in school and working and the boy didn't have many adults looking after him.  I think that is when a lot also set in.  

After she died he met a girl and they have been in the most unhealthy relationship you can imagine.  The boy and her  have had sex and they are not very careful they are constantly manipulating each other.  If he wants to hang out with his friends then she wants to break up and if she wants to hang with her friends he threatens suicide.  It is way more dramatic  than I can even tty and explain here in type.  

HIs Father tries but not hard enough.  He still buys things and does things for him to make the boy emotionally "better."  He hardly disciplines him, never grounding or taking away things.  The boy runs away when he doesn't get his way.  His dad has had to take all the knives and guns out of the house.  The boy has managed to find a knife recently and I have personally seen scratches on his throat from his "attempt"  I have also witnessed him try to walk in front of an oncoming car just to see if he would hit him.  I know he has "said" he has taken pills but never has had to be taken to a hospital or shown signs that he actually took the pills.  Just today when I called to check on him his dad just got back from cutting a rope from around his neck but he was just standing there with a rope tied and his dad thought he either wanted his dad to come do that or he was in hopes his girlfriend would see him.  He called me at 1am this morning wanting my advice and tells me I am like a second mom to him.  He also said he was running away from his dad and going to his moms grave.  Of course I called his dad and told him what was going on.  

The Father has taken him to some counseling and has taken "some" of the advice given but the dad is scared to be to abrupt with the boy.  The counselor has also seemed to think that he wasn't suffering from any depression.  So I guess what does one think of a boy that constantly threatens suicide even though it seems a cry for attention and probably is but they say to never take an attempt lightly.  

Please let me know any thoughts or even maybe a better help he could use.  By the way if it helps we live in the area of Tyler, Texas.