28. They have friends who often get into trouble.

This is hard to prevent and harder to deal with. Here is the problem. When children pick their friends, they choose people who they think are like them or are like they want to be. What if he sees himself as a loser? What if he does not think he belongs in the in-group? He will choose his friends from the out-group. These are the youngsters who are having problems and getting into trouble.

He may just hang around with anyone who will accept him or at least not reject him. The out-group is not choosy. They will let anyone hang around who goes along and does not act like he thinks he is better than they are. They are an easy home-base for losers.

This is the problem. Telling him he cannot hang around with those kids does little good. You likely cannot stop him. If you do, he will have no friends. The children you like will not let him into their group. This is just a fact of life in the real world of children. He is only accepted by losers just when his need to belong is strongest. Add his need to belong to the fact that he no longer has his real home, if he ever had one.