BBM.
I am familiar with the phenomenon of RAD, but I don't know when it became recognized as a diagnosis. JS would have been that street-living feral child over a quarter of a century ago. Would a disorder as severe as RAD have been recognized then by child advocates, and would his adoptive family have been prepared for his emotional needs and the possibility that intensive longterm therapy would be required for this child? Would an adoption agency even have known how to do that preparation so long ago?
His adoptive father made a comment to the effect that JS had been trouble from the moment they adopted him. If the family, no matter how willing and generous, was untrained in how to nurture a profoundly disturbed child, that would point to their not knowing the extent of services JS needed to become a healthy, functioning, non-disturbed adult. And it might point to those services not even existing or being accessible at that time. In which case, what an all-around tragedy his impoverished beginnings have brought about for this well-meaning adoptive family, for the neglected and likely abused little street child that JS was, and for all those he has terrorized and visited harm on in his adult years, including the wholly innocent victim in this case Linda Stoltzfoos, and the family and wider community who love her. MOO.
Edited to add: another tragic case involving an RAD-afflicted adoptee, who tragically killed both of his adoptive parents while still a young child, is the Eckert case in New Hampshire.
NH - James and Lizette Eckert ; shot to death by their adopted son . I really do wonder how troubled JS' post-adoption childhood was, despite the dedication and love of the Smoker parents.