The "hot sauce mum"

I don't usually comment on the hype surrounding the challenges with adopting older children from orphanages in Eastern Europe, but every now & again, something touches a nerve & I feel like I cannot ignore the latest news. There has been a lot of talk in the media about the mother that appeared on the Dr Phil show recently. I saw the link to this video on another blog this morning and it made me cry, it's not easy to watch. I can tell you that I have been in similar situations before and know how frustrating it is to think you cannot get through to your children, but I know above anything else that treating children this way is never going to change them and will have the opposite effect to what you want. In this particular case, this family adopted two boys from Russia when they were five and so the Russian government is now involved and the International Adoption community is watching it carefully. Charges have been brought against the mother and who knows what the outcome will be. The whole situation is very sad and should never have happened, but how to avoid it? Nothing can prepare you for how to deal with these situations and no amount of research can predict what your situation will be. We read a lot before adopting, but I can admit that I thought "that won't happen to us". Most importantly, there is very little support for families that are in similar situations and unfortunately no-one can truly understand unless they have been in the same situation. I can sympathize with the mother, but can't condone what she was doing, this is just blatant cruelty to a child that clearly needs love and understanding. Most of all, what kind of person would go on National television and talk about this rather than asking for professional help?