This isn’t an adoption story per se but I connect with any and every sorrowful story involving teenagers, and there are so many such stories. Recently I got an email from Carol Todd, Amanda’s mother, as she was reading my book, just to say how much she identified with Casey’s story.
Amanda was in high school in British Columbia when she found herself the subject of a bullying campaign, the result of an innocent mistake that anyone could’ve made at her age; it had gone viral over the Internet. She was ultimately driven to take her precious young life in 2012 at the age of 16.
Before she died she posted a Youtube video of her story told in her own words, but there is no sound. Silence is powerful. It’s gotten nearly 20 million views.
What a tragic, tragic loss.
Parenting and Attachment 
A tragedy of epic proportions, I feel. How kids could be so cold, heartless, ignorant, and brutal…when one would think that they might still be innocent and sensitive inside. Beyond frightening, and is a real question that needs answering. I wonder how that are able to live with themselves, and go on with life AS IF they didn’t do something monsterous.
Aaaah. Thank you for writing about this. It hurts. I admire the mother for reaching out, for not hiding in her grief. And you. I admire you.
Just wanted to say she passed away at 15, not 16.
SOrry!