How much to tell you?

We spent two hours reading and talking about the file. Most of it, unfortunately, is documentation from his first year in care. There are pages and pages documenting in painful detail what was done to him and how and what ways he acted out. It was pretty overwhelming. It is clear that if they were asking us about him when he was 12 we would not even consider him.

We have anecdotal evidence that after he was removed from the environment where he was being hurt, he stopped acting out. We have some school records: very good grades; excellent attendance; no disciplinary problems. We have a social worker telling us that people at the group home think he is the coolest kid they have seen in a while.

What we don't have is a report from someone we know has been closely involved with him since he was 12. We don't have official evaluations and assessments that are not three years old. We hope they exist, but we have not seen them yet. I have a photo. He is only fifteen, but he really does look more like nineteen. He is too good looking for his own good. Seriously. Roland and I are feeling pretty positive about it. We are not going to make any decisions until everything is in, but we are feeling good.