I'd give it an 8 for it's accurate portrayal of the mom's experience. I'll call her "Bad Parent", as in the Good Cop, Bad Cop scenario.
I was the "Bad Parent" in our own personal story. Fortunately we did not have to deal with animal killing or torture, but there were an awful lot of fights at school, lying, theft and drugs toward the end. There were also incompetent/uninformed therapists, which speaks to RAD not being very well studied or assessed.
However, for portraying such an easy "cure" - (a big hard hug) for RAD, I'd give it a 2. There is no fix or cure, only learning to cope and survive until the child is out of the house. A child with RAD will likely grow up to be either a psychopath or a sociopath. The checklists of signs and symptoms for RAD, psychopathy and sociopathy are remarkably alike.
I hate painting such a dismal picture of foster parenting disturbed children, because bouncing around the system does not help them, but it was wrong of the Social Worker to hide Carl's medical history from Mom the first time around. Sometimes, as Dee Wallace's character said, "Love is not enough".
For those of you who have lived this experience and weren't fostering for money; (folks fostering for money DO exist), it may be easy to see your own situation. Find a support group like Carl's family did and be willing to admit that this may be bigger than you can "fix". Also, good luck recovering from the experience. It's been 10 years since J. left the house, but there are still many feelings surrounding the entire experience.
I was the "Bad Parent" in our own personal story. Fortunately we did not have to deal with animal killing or torture, but there were an awful lot of fights at school, lying, theft and drugs toward the end. There were also incompetent/uninformed therapists, which speaks to RAD not being very well studied or assessed.
However, for portraying such an easy "cure" - (a big hard hug) for RAD, I'd give it a 2. There is no fix or cure, only learning to cope and survive until the child is out of the house. A child with RAD will likely grow up to be either a psychopath or a sociopath. The checklists of signs and symptoms for RAD, psychopathy and sociopathy are remarkably alike.
I hate painting such a dismal picture of foster parenting disturbed children, because bouncing around the system does not help them, but it was wrong of the Social Worker to hide Carl's medical history from Mom the first time around. Sometimes, as Dee Wallace's character said, "Love is not enough".
For those of you who have lived this experience and weren't fostering for money; (folks fostering for money DO exist), it may be easy to see your own situation. Find a support group like Carl's family did and be willing to admit that this may be bigger than you can "fix". Also, good luck recovering from the experience. It's been 10 years since J. left the house, but there are still many feelings surrounding the entire experience.