Dear Don,
Thank you for sending me the background details on these two boys. It makes chilling reading. You asked me to pick out the serious risk factors found in their family life, and these seem to be frighteningly obvious, as does the life-path that such maltreated children may well follow.
In Utero
It appears inevitable that both these boys were influenced unfavourably when in utero. From the little you know, it seems that the mother came from a background of abuse and neglect, which might explain the substance abuse as a form of self-medication, and so she would be easily tipped into feeling extreme stress. Looking after any baby is normally stressful; but in the situation you describe I think we can assume that family dynamics were marked by every form of sudden, scary and unpredictable eruptions you can imagine.
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