Sudden-onset urinating and defecating in his room

[sheltons4]

Our adopted son has suddenly begun use his own room for a bathroom.  He urinates on the carpet (out in the open), and he defecates--but does try to do it in places we will not see immediately.  He cleans himself up when he defecates--So far I have had him clean up the messes and talked calmly to him --I tell him we are worried about why he is suddenly doing this.  He sometimes denies it--and other times gets very angry and tries to keep us from locating the spots.  When we have asked him about how he feels or why he is doing this, he cannot explain it--he will say something I suggest (like he didn't have time to get to the bathroom or that he is trying to trick us).  The symptoms of Anger against authority syndromes don't seem to fit his behavior at school or at home.  He does like to be right and will argue about whether or not he is right about something, but this behavior has not been really disturbing.  

The other new thing in his life right now is that he has been staying home with me (mother) after having spent most of his young life in child care.  He seems to really love being at home.

Our son is not biologically related to us; his mother has been a drug user off and on all of her adult life.  We began to care for him when  he was 20 months old and adopted him when he was four.  

[althepal39]

I think he needs a therapist.   Adopted children often have many emotional/psychological problems that they need to work through.  Just being a nice loving home as you sound like you are providing for him is not enough sometimes.  They still carry the scars of being in their past situation and also of being taken from their biological parents - no matter how terrible they might have been.   Defecating in his room is definitely a sign of him dealing with some type of emotion he cannot fully express to you.  There are great therapists that deal specifically with these types of problems - he needs to see one of them.