Asking Eric: Doesn't the mom see how her dream trip looks to her daughter?

Dear Eric: I would add something to your good response to “Beleaguered Mom.”

Her daughter went through substance abuse and self-destructive behaviors as a teen, and in her early 20s she was close with her adoptive mom. Things went “sideways” shortly after Mom and Dad left to sail around the world.

I worked in treatment foster care for 12 years as a social worker and program director. Sadly, it is not uncommon for adoptees to struggle to come to grips with why their biological parents couldn’t or wouldn’t care for them, or ask “Who am I really?” or “Will I end up like them?”

Mom’s reference to the daughter’s biological parents’ “history of mental illness and substance abuse” is a red herring. Despite extensive research, geneticists cannot point to any genes – singly or in combination –