We are five years in to an adoption that everyone says has been a success. Our two boys were described as difficult and we got the feeling they expected us to fail, as they were so naughty. And because of this, we didn’t speak out when we probably should have. You see, the boys are endlessly naughty. They break things and misbehave at school, at home and with friends. Our friends and family have slowly disappeared because of how exhausting they are - and always, we have got on. But the truth is we are on our knees. I’ve gone from being such an upbeat person with an optimistic outlook to someone so irritable and angry, I do not feel my boys get the life they should have. I’m a sad person. My partner is angry and sad too. We have drifted and only talk to share how down we feel. I’m so scared that if I ask for help, the boys will be taken away and yet I know we cannot go on this way. We swing from week to week with only a thread holding us together and I just feel that they deserve so much more than the sad two people they got - but I don’t know how to be more. I’m so very tired and exhausted. I love them so very much and I cannot imagine my life without them - and they are so very loving - but nor do I know how to get up in the morning in the way I used to. Life used to feel so very exciting and now I wait for bedtime so that I can be silent and not have to moan about behaviour or worry about things. I know it isn’t them and it is me - us - but what do I do? Asking for help seems so late and I worry that it will expose our sadness and lead to the boys being taken away. Please, can anyone advise me. I’m not sure what I can do.