Flying chairs were just the beginning. Their adopted son has tried to harm himself and others, and doctors say he’s unsafe at home — but refusing to take him back could cost the parents custody of all their children.
A Jacksonville mother said her family is in crisis — trapped in a system where there’s no safe or simple way out.
She and her husband adopted two children in need, hoping to give them a better future. But now, after their teenage son’s repeated suicide attempts, psychiatric hospitalizations, and dangerous behavior, she said they’re out of options — and Florida law could put their entire family at risk if they try to get him more help.
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Action News Jax is not naming the boy or showing his face, and we’re not using the family’s last name to protect their privacy. But we are identifying the adoptive mother by her first name: Rachal.
“This is a psych evaluation from last year where the doctor said he showed early signs of sociopathy,” Rachal said, flipping through a thick binder of reports.
The boy is 13. Since April 2025, he’s been Baker Acted 7 times. This year alone, he’s attempted suicide 6 times.
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Florida’s Baker Act allows law enforcement to involuntarily commit a person to a mental health facility for up to 72 hours if they’re deemed to pose an immediate threat to themselves or others.
A thick stack of documents outlines years of troubling behavior.
A letter from a psychiatrist painted a troubling picture of the boy’s sexual abuse against his younger biological sister, and sexually aggressive behaviors with male and female peers.
Rachal and her husband adopted both children — now ages 13 and 11 — back in December 2018. But now, doctors warn it’s unsafe for the boy to remain in the home.
“Being in our home, he had made it clear he will continue to try to harm himself and continue to try to harm other people,” Rachal said. “We need outside-of-the-home help.”
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But getting that help could come at a devastating cost.
Rachal said if she refuses to bring her son back home after psychiatric care, Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) could charge her with child abandonment — and potentially remove her other children, including her two biological sons, who are 15 and 11.
Adoption attorney Jeanne Trudeau Tate, with the law firm Tate Healey Webster, which specializes in adoption and surrogacy law, explains how that could happen.
“If you’re abandoning one child, it can lead the state to pursue other abandonment charges or neglect charges as it relates to other children in the home,” Tate said. “DCF would be the entity that would levy those charges against this family.”
Rachal said her adopted son has made it clear: he won’t stop his destructive behavior unless he’s removed from their home.
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According to Tate, this isn’t an isolated situation.
“From time to time, things like this do happen, and we’ve had to help adoptive parents navigate those situations before,” she said.
Rachal believes the adoption process was rushed. She said Daniel Kids, the Jacksonville-based child-serving agency that facilitated the adoption, didn’t give the family enough time to review the children’s full background.
“The adoption worker goes … ‘They’re very cute children. They just throw chairs,’” Rachal said.
“There’s a ton of information, and you’re given about an hour to look through a stack of documents this big,” Rachal said, holding her hands apart to show the size.
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Family Support Services, which provided post-adoption support, declined to comment on the family’s case, citing confidentiality. But in a statement, the organization told Action News Jax:
“As the lead community-based care organization for Duval and Nassau counties, Family Support Services is committed to ensuring families who adopt are informed, supported, and prepared throughout the process… Children adopted from foster care have experienced the trauma of abuse and separation. Families receive over 20 hours of training, a home study, legal representation, and access to full case records before finalizing adoption:
Pre-adoptive families receive more than 20 hours of training on trauma and parenting children from hard places and undergo a rigorous home study evaluation process to assess their readiness to adopt.
Pre-adoptive families are represented by counsel in adoption proceedings at no cost to the family.
Pre-adoptive families are given an opportunity to review the full case record and history of a child they’re seeking to adopt. They are required to sign an attestation on a DCF form (Form 5328, Disclosure Information to Adoptive Parents) confirming informed consent and receipt of key records.
The child must reside in the home for a minimum of 90 days prior to the adoption finalizing to ensure a smooth transition and the ability of the family to meet their needs.
A circuit court judge makes the final decision on the appropriateness of an adoptive placement. The final judgment of adoption contains clear findings that “[t]he permanent interests and benefit to all members of the household would be promoted by this adoption” and the adoptive family “are the fit and proper persons to adopt the minor child and have adequate facilities and resources to care for the minor child.”
Once the adoption is finalized, robust post-adoptive supports, health insurance for the child, and a monthly subsidy to assist in meeting the child’s enhanced needs are available to the family until the child reaches adulthood.”
Octavius Davis, Director of Community Engagement, Recruitment & Grants, Family Support Services
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Daniel Kids also sent a response:
“This is the first we’ve heard that the (family) is having trouble with (the child) in the seven years since the adoption was finalized. Nothing is more important to us than the welfare of the children and families we serve. Daniel is limited by federal HIPAA laws in what information we can publicly release about the children we serve and their medical histories. These restrictions prevent us from directly addressing some of the questions you emailed us. However, our general policy is to share all information we have about a child’s history before and throughout the adoption process.
“Thank you, Lesley Wells, President/CEO”
Daniel Kids added in a follow up statement to Action News Jax:
“Daniel can confirm the children were 3 and 6 years old at the time of adoption. All the information and documentation Daniel had on the children was shared with the adoptive mother. Additionally, in adoption hearings, the judge always asks adoptive parents if they’ve had sufficient time to review and understand all the documentation to ensure they make an informed decision.”
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Still, Rachal said no amount of love can undo deep trauma without professional, long-term support.
“You can’t love trauma out of someone,” she said.
Some may call it giving up. She sees it differently.
“We’re not trying to abandon him. We want him to get help,” she said.
When asked by Action News Jax if she would adopt again, knowing what she knows now, Rachal answered without hesitation:
“Absolutely not.”
There are other legal paths — including re-adoption, where the child is legally placed with another family through a structured transition. Trudeau Tate, the adoption attorney, said it’s not common, but it can be a safer, more stable alternative.
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“A re-adoption is a much more emotionally and socially acceptable approach for the child’s best interest,” Tate said. “It allows the child to integrate or reintegrate into another family over a transition period. Of course, if you have safety issues, that has to be addressed.”
After years of pleading for help, Rachal still believes they were meant to adopt. But she’s now fighting for a solution that protects all of her children, including the one in crisis.
Right now, her husband and adopted son are living apart from the rest of the family — in a camper in Glen St. Mary — just to keep everyone safe.
Action News Jax repeatedly contacted DCF by phone and email for comment. A spokesperson replied: “My team is working on your request.”
Action News Jax did not receive a response by deadline.
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