Couple Told Not To Adopt Girl, Dad Quickly Learns Why

They Didn’t Listen

Everybody told them that it was a bad idea to adopt the girl. However, regardless of the countless warning, they did it anyway. They fell in love with her almost instantly, and all logic and reason went out of the window.

It was quite a lengthy process, but it was worth it because after a couple of months, she was finally part of their family. But it wouldn’t be long before disaster struck.

Perfect Timing

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Dean and Melissa Hawthorne wanted nothing more than to change a young girl’s life as well as their own through adoption.

For as long as they could remember, they wanted a little girl to join their family. They had four adult sons, and Melissa knew it was the perfect time to adopt a girl. Providing her family with such a simple suggestion would cause them a lot of problems.

Lacking Something

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Dean and Melissa tied the knot in their early twenties, and after twenty years of marriage, the couple had a big beautiful family. They had four sons, all of who have left the home for college.

They were very content with their lives, but they could not help but feel as if something was missing. Despite having everything they desired, they were missing out on one thing.

It Was Time

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For as long as they could remember, Dean and Melissa wanted to have a daughter. They spent years trying to conceive a girl but it was unsuccessful. After many failed attempts, Melissia suggested a solution that would fix their problem.

All of their sons graduated from high school and Melissa thought that it was the perfect time to look into adoption. However, she had been thinking about this for a while but kept it to herself, as she did not know how her husband would respond.

Opening Up

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When their sons left for college, it was almost eerie how quiet their house was. Melissa saw this as the perfect opportunity to share her desires with Dean. His eyes glowed brightly, as they often did when he was enthusiastic about something.

After three months of intensive research, they finally felt like they were ready. The adoption agency invited them to an event that would alter their lives permanently.

The Perfect Daughter

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It was their first adoption event, and they connected with so many children. However, their attention was grabbed by a black and white photograph of a girl who couldn’t make it to the event.

Melissa reflected on the experience, saying, “It was more than your typical love at first sight. When we saw her in the photo, we knew she was the one right away.” However, they would soon be unable to adopt the child due to a complication.

Don’t Do It

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Dean and Melissa expressed their intention to adopt the girl, but the adoption agency urged them not to. “All of the adoption agencies, caretakers, and orphanage directors insisted that the girl was problematic,” Dean told the local news.

“They claimed she’d gone through a lot in her life and that at her age, it was best if they put her to a mental hospital instead,” Dean explained, adding that their house seemed lonely when their four kids left for college. This gap would be filled by the girl.

They Had To Keep Trying

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Despite all odds, they were determined to bring the little girl, Ana, to their home. After what felt like an eternity, they were finally her adoptive parents. She was everything they ever wanted.

However, as time passed, it became clear that the people who had attended the adoption event had not deceived them about Ana. The Hawthornes would learn that soon enough.

Trouble

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After a week with Ana, the Hawthrones began noticing problems. When they first met her, she was a reserved seven-year-old who kept to herself.

But as she grew accustomed to her new surroundings, she showed them who she truly was, and that alarmed the Hawthorns.

Who She Really Was

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In every interaction with her parents or brothers, Ana would lash out at them. Then, she would growl at them. If they approached her too closely, she’d scratch them.

After doing this for a week, she began scratching at the walls of her room at night. In addition, she would occasionally yell and wail. However, there was something even more horrifying about her.

It’s Worse Than They Thought

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With everything happening to Ana, one thing made the experience even more chilling. “She couldn’t form words, let alone speak, despite her age,” shared Melissa.

“This alone heightened everything as we couldn’t tell what was bothering her. It was even scarier when we realized why she was doing all this.”

Being Scared

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“She was doing all this because she was scared,” shared Ana. She and Dean had rushed Ana to the hospital as soon as her episodes worsened. At first, they’d thought she didn’t like her new family, but the doctor told them she’d had many traumatic experiences that she was still fighting through.

The news shocked Dean and Melissa to their core, but they couldn’t help but love their daughter more. They knew they had to make her feel safe with them. To do that, they’d have to dig into the horrors of her past.

Looking Into Her Past

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When Dean suggested looking into Ana’s past, he didn’t want to stab through his daughter’s still healing wounds. He and Melissa needed to know what could be so terrible that the seven-year-old girl still suffered nightmares and phobias.

They found out that Ana had been rescued by an officer on the other side of their city. As with everything with Ana, the news was shocking. But it would get darker the more Dean dug into her past.

A Dark Reality

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Ana lived in neglect with a single mom who didn’t care about her. The girl never learned the basics of human interaction that would help her express herself since she didn’t have friends or relatives.

She and her mom also lived in a derelict house that exposed them to the elements, making it a miracle that Ana survived such an ordeal. Even the officers offering the report suggested the Hawthorns surrender their daughter back to a mental institution.

What To Do

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Dean and Melissa uncovered all they could about Ana. But they would never give up on her. They enrolled her into therapy, both physical and mental, and helped her go through the motions of her trauma.

As the years went by, Ana became less violent and even learned a few words of language like mom, dad, and bros. At the moment, she’s still going through therapy, but she’s come a long way from when the Hawthornes adopted her. Keep fighting, Ana!