I guess my feelings on the Cassie situation are colored by my impression, which may be totally false, that the adoptive mother is not too far off Cassie's level on the emotional/psychological stability scale.

I don't remember the particulars of how Cassie actually found this couple to adopt Dustin, or if it was ever discussed very clearly at all. But I don't think Cassie went through a reputable adoption agency where the prospective couple were extensively screened. I remember when I first heard Cassie's story last season, that I got the impression it was a very "backwoods" kind of agreement, with the couple getting a shady lawyer to draw up some papers for Cassie to sign. How hard could it have been to fool a drugged-out 22 year old Cassie? And Cassie certainly wouldn't have had any guidance from her own mother, who seemed literally retarded when she appeared on the show last season.

As I've mentioned before, we haven't seen the adoptive mother, or heard her side of the story. But going just on impressions here, I'm going to guess she must be more or less comparable to Shelly, who was married to the adoptive father after his marriage to the adoptive mother disintegrated, and appeared on the show last season. Now, Shelly seemed a nice enough woman, but she certainly didn't appear to be upper-crust...it might be even stretching it a little to call her middle class. My point is that I don't think the adoptive parents were the kind of ideal parents who could offer Dustin sooo much, although they might have appeared so to a 22 year old Cassie. Remember, at that time, Cassie must have thought they could give Dustin an awesome life simply because they were not homeless like she was. But I think these people---Cassie, Shelly, the adoptive mom and dad---all basically came out of the same bag.

If the adoptive mom was so truly horrified by Cassie's lifestyle, and thought she was so unstable, why choose her baby to take, and why let Cassie live in their home while she was pregnant? Why not go through a reputable adoption agency instead, which would limit all this interference from a bothersome birth mother? My guess is that the adoptive parents couldn't pay and/or pass inspection for this type of adoption.

Also, didn't they adopt Dustin in an attempt to save their own marriage, if I remember correctly from last season? Doesn't sound like a "stable" reason to adopt a child to me. And didn't the adoptive mom go through a few more husbands after the adoptive father? Doesn't sound like an ideally "stable" situation for Dustin to me. And didn't the adoptive mother once again employ some dubious "legal" methods to prevent Cassie from meeting the son...the notarized letter with Dustin's signature, which was obviously some kind of fraud, since Dustin himself openly declared that he was told Cassie was DEAD, not actively pursuing him on a reality TV show. Why not just legally obtain a restraining order against Cassie, if she could be proven to be that much of a psycho? And for all of the adoptive mom's concerns that Cassie would be such a bad influence on Dustin, didn't Dustin develop drug and alcohol problems anyway, under her own care?

I don't think we'll ever know the true story behind all this...LOL, maybe the adoptive father is actually Dustin's biological dad, and that's why the adoptive mom hates Cassie so much, and why they were able to "locate" her baby for adoption.