‘Topher’ Norman

Hello,

We are Matt and Heidi Norman. We have 5 beautiful children and 3 precious grandchildren. We were unable to have children so as you might guess, all of our children were adopted. It has been  such an extraordinary blessing and we couldn’t love them more had they been biological. However adoption does bring unique circumstances and challenges. Our youngest son Christopher (we call him Topher) is 16 years old. We adopted him when he was 18 months old. Sadly he was very neglected as a baby and did not receive the nurturing and care every precious baby needs and deserves during those first 18 months.

Due to the events in his first year and a half of life he experienced trauma that has negatively affected his brain and has resulted in some very difficult behavioral challenges. He has always been a high energy and rambunctious boy. When he was in grade school he was diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Reactive Attachment Disorder and ADHD. These disorders are a fireball recipe filled with much struggle, hardship and heartache. Although Topher is a great kid with a tender heart and full of potential this makes it extremely difficult for him to focus, use rational logical thinking and process appropriate thought patterns.

Read more

Thank you, again,

Matt and Heidi Norman

Category:

Description

Hello,

We are Matt and Heidi Norman. We have 5 beautiful children and 3 precious grandchildren. We were unable to have children so as you might guess, all of our children were adopted. It has been  such an extraordinary blessing and we couldn’t love them more had they been biological. However adoption does bring unique circumstances and challenges. Our youngest son Christopher (we call him Topher) is 16 years old. We adopted him when he was 18 months old. Sadly he was very neglected as a baby and did not receive the nurturing and care every precious baby needs and deserves during those first 18 months.

Due to the events in his first year and a half of life he experienced trauma that has negatively affected his brain and has resulted in some very difficult behavioral challenges. He has always been a high energy and rambunctious boy. When he was in grade school he was diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Reactive Attachment Disorder and ADHD. These disorders are a fireball recipe filled with much struggle, hardship and heartache. Although Topher is a great kid with a tender heart and full of potential this makes it extremely difficult for him to focus, use rational logical thinking and process appropriate thought patterns.

Read more

During Topher’s life we have tried many kinds of therapy and did our best to help him be successful. However as he has gotten older certain behaviors have escalated and it has become impossible for Matt and I to provide the structure, and boundaries he needs. We recently came to a crossroad and knew we needed to seek different and a much more serious intervention of treatment for our son to save him from a life of destruction and sadness and to save our entire family.The solution we were inspired and guided to led us to a residential treatment center. This has been the hardest decision of our lives.

We want Topher to have his best chance. Even though we know this is the right thing for him right now it comes at a great cost. It requires a steep fee that we are unable to completely pay on our own. We have no words to express the gratitude we feel for your desire to help. It is a hard thing to ask for help. We are humbled by the sincere love and kindness expressed by any gift given. Our hearts burst with love and gratitude to our Heavenly Father for his awareness, his answers to prayers and his gift of all of you, our angels!

Thank you, again,

Matt and Heidi Norman