My sons, Lee and Aiden, are out-of-control, aggressive.
Do you want me to punch you?
My older son, Lee, says he wants to kill everybody.
My son, Aiden, is more hyperactive.
Stop touching me.
Having the two of them together
in the same room is awful.
They'll go from zero to 60 in less than two seconds.
After my husband passed away,
Ariana had to step in as the parent
and take care of helping with the boys.
There was a lot of responsibilities.
I wanted to, okay?
Stop!
I started to see major changes in their behavior.
More aggression, defiance.
Aiden thought it was fun to climb out
on the roof of our house.
We'd have to call the fire department.
He also jumped out of the second-story window
'cause he wanted to go play with his friends.
My son, Lee, is a Debby downer.
He hates everybody, wants to stab everybody.
When you're talking to him,
he will not look at you in the face.
Why are you drawing machetes?
'Cause weapons are the one thing
I'm good at drawing.
At least once a week, I'll get a phone call
from Lee's school.
He'll say he's trying to kill somebody,
or he wants to shoot up the school.
(Lee screaming)
I'm terrified that Aiden, with his lack of impulse,
he'll do something that he doesn't really mean to do,
but it'll be tragic.
In my heart, I don't feel that they would.
They're my boys, I love 'em.
But in my head, I see their behaviors,
and it scares me.
My son, Lee, has told me he wishes that I was dead.
I don't know why they act this way.
I think it might be genetics,
but it might be my parenting.
Leave me alone!
Then stop.
And I question that, too,
because my daughter, Ariana,
she's a beautiful, smart, stable girl
that I didn't have any issues with.
I give everything for those boys,
but they push me over the edge.
Get that away from me!
Okay, it's good to meet you.
Do you recognize that these boys
are suffering from severe behavioral issues?
Yes.
And you said it may be genetic,
and it may be your parenting.
So which is it?
What's your theory?
I feel in my heart, it's genetics.
But I also know that I'm not a perfect parent.
There's probably some things that I do that I could change.
But I do feel it's genetics.
And what's the genetic,
where does this come from?
Was their father violent?
Was their mother-- Their bio mom and--
'Cause I know you adopted the boys.
Yep, their bio mom and their bio,
both their bio dads have issues.
And you lost your husband
to a car accident five years ago.
Correct.
Very sorry for your loss.
Thank you.
By the way.
And that was difficult for you, right?
Left a huge void.
Huge, huge void.
He was the breadwinner, he was everything.
He was my support.
He was an amazing man.
He took in three kids that weren't his,
'cause none of my children are his.
And he did it without question.
Did you grieve the loss at that point?
Or have you grieved that loss yet?
I wonder if I haven't completely grieved it yet
'cause after it, after it first happened,
we both had our, all of us had our little issues
that we had to deal with here, there.
But I felt like I needed to be the strong one
immediately after it happened
and be there for my kids.
But then I went into a depression
and wasn't a parent.
What were you doing instead of parenting?
Doing what I wanted to do.
Which was?
I'd go out and have fun
or just lay in my room and not do anything.
Let 'em kick and scream and punch and.
Not answer the door.
And you left that.
Yes.
To her to handle.
Yes.
Why was this her job?
She was the only one there.
But she was 14 at the time.
I know.
So you left it to a 14-year-old girl?
You didn't know how to handle it, right?
No.
What makes you think a 14-year-old kid
would know how to do it? I know she couldn't.
Have you put too much on her?
Yes.