Several months ago, everything changed for one family: one family member was arrested, they found out they are losing their house, and there's also an impending divorce in the family. Life has gotten complicated for a college student and their 17-year-old sister, as they have had to put their lives on hold and take care of things at home following their mom's arrest.
In a Reddit post, the college student explained that when the mom was arrested, they only had a few weeks left of classes before winter break. They decided to stay and finish the semester, leaving Stacey, their 17-year-old stepsister, to look after the house (the student's stepfather is currently deployed).
Stacey was supposed to look after the house for a few weeks.
The original poster explained that they plan to take a semester off to deal with family stuff. But they decided to stay at school for the rest of the semester, so Stacey had to "hold down the fort," which the student admitted is not "ideal" but also "not illegal."
Stacey actually moved in with her boyfriend instead.
Looking after the house is quite a big responsibility — especially for a 17-year-old. But OP didn't think it was too much pressure for her. "All she had to do was breathe and not burn the house down," they wrote in the post, adding that Stacey didn't exactly do that because she actually went to stay with her boyfriend "without telling anyone."
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The house was 'robbed.'
The college student explained that while Stacey was away and the house was unoccupied, someone broke in. "They cleaned the place out. Anything of value that was left after the raid is gone, including basically all of my stuff," they wrote.
It was impossible to reach Stacey.
OP arrived at the house to discover that someone had stolen most of their belongings, so they tried to contact Stacey but couldn't reach her. Stacey blocked the college student's number, and wouldn't respond to messages on social media, so the college student posted about the situation on Facebook to get her attention. However, the college student has now been accused of "putting too much on a child."
OP asked if they were expecting too much from Stacey.
From the college student's perspective, they also have to make sacrifices because of their mom's legal troubles. They say that their expectations for Stacey were low: they just didn't want her to disappear during those three weeks. "That was her only responsibility, and she just bailed," the college student said, but asked Reddit users to weigh in on whether their expectations were too high.
Some think Stacey did nothing wrong.
Some Reddit users believe Stacey did absolutely nothing wrong — in fact, she did something right by leaving the house because staying there could've been dangerous for her.
"What did you think Stacey, the 17 year old, was going to do?" one person wrote. "Go all Bruce Lee and fight the robbers off? A 17 year old kid isn't a deterrent."
"You say she's too young to live alone, and yet she was left to live alone, so went to her boyfriends instead," another person pointed out. "She probably blocked you because she was dumped with everyone's s— to deal with."
They also think the college student is not considering the pain Stacey is dealing with.
The family situation is clearly a lot for everyone to deal with — and that includes Stacey, who is also only 17 years old. She was left alone to navigate that, and some think the OP did not seem to consider how she might feel.
One person thought the OP was "expecting a child to stay in a house by herself while her world was on fire."
Another person chose to spell out all of the things Stacey has had to deal with.
"She's 17, seen her mother get arrested, heard her parents talk about getting divorced, is losing her home, has no future (how's she going to pay for school? She's clearly not going to be able to college) and now you put the added stress of forcing her to live alone in a house for three weeks," the person wrote.
Some think the OP's anger is justified — but displaced.
Most Redditors get why the OP is angry, but a lot of them think the anger is being directed at the wrong person.
"The robbing is not her fault," one person commented. "Crap happens. And no you shouldn’t be putting expectations on Stacey. Let the parents parent."
Some thought the stepdad should be more involved, and others blamed the mother for causing this problem due to her "financial-related crimes."
One person wrote: "Be upset with the correct person, your mother. This is your mother’s fault."
However, some think Stacey is old enough to be held responsible.
Though many Redditors empathized with Stacey and believed the kids were not the true problem in this situation, some thought it was fair to expect Stacey to look after the house.
"Stacey is 17 years old," one person wrote. "She is basically an adult. You put your trust in her and she betrayed it."
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