Foster care is a tough system for a lot of children and families in the United States, and it's difficult to imagine that anyone would voluntarily place a child in the system. Unfortunately, an 18-year-old has recently shared on Reddit that this is exactly what her stepmother did.
She begins: "I'm 18F. My dad married my step mom Rose when I was about 2 years old. He died when I was 6 because of cancer. At the time my little brother Austin was 2, and she was pregnant with my sister Alyssa. She promised my dad that she would take care of me when he's gone."
Her dad died when she was 6.
"After my dad died, Rose left me to foster care. She told me she can't take care of me right now but after her baby is born she will be back for me, but she didn't come back. As I got older I reached out to her (so did my social worker), she refused to allow me to see my siblings. I did this every year and she refused every year."
She asked to meet her siblings every year.
"After turning 18 I reached out to Rose again and she told me I'm a stranger, her children don't even know I exist and they have each other, they don't need me and she wants to keep it that way. She told me to go look for my mom's relatives if I want family, that her and her children are not my family. It wasn't a pleasant meeting."
She found a friend of her siblings on Facebook and reached out.
"A few days later I said (to myself) [expletive] it. I DO EXIST. I'm a real person. I will go and tell my siblings myself. I talked to my Austin's best friend (found her on social media) and told her everything, had lots of pictures and documents as well. Once she was convinced she invited Austin and Alyssa over and I met them and told them everything. I had a lot of pictures, including some of me and him together when he was a baby."
Her siblings are mad.
"Also of me and my dad, and Rose as well. Also a few with me with my dad on his final days, which they said Rose had shown them very similar pictures but I wasn't in any of them. It was very emotional but they were ANGRY. Especially Austin because he always felt like something was wrong but couldn't put it together. Rose had always told him it was because their dad had died."
Her stepmother is now furious.
"Anyway, they called their grandma (Rose's mom) and she confessed as well, told them that she wanted to tell them the truth but Rose had threatened that she would cut off contact if she did. They eventually went home and confronted their mom, and all hell broke loose. Rose was initially furious with me, even called the police (they dismissed her after talking to Austin and Alyssa), called me and said some very nasty things about me, my mom and my dad's mom for some reason too (they're both passed away)."
Now her stepmother wants her help.
"Anyway, I talked to my siblings a few more times and a couple of days later Rose called me again and told me she's happy to let me see my siblings and have a real relationship (she lost the war with Austin and Alyssa) and invited me over. I went there and had a good day with them, then she asked me to help her make amends with the kids, to tell them that her not telling them about me was a mutual decision between her, my social worker and my dad because they all believed it would be best. She wants this so that she can move on and for the kids to stop blaming her. So far I've refused."
Now the woman wants to know: Is she wrong for not going along with this plan?
People are astounded by the lie.
"I don't know what kind of backwards logic she would use to make it seem that this situation benefits anyone except Rose," one commenter writes. "Plus Austin is 14 at this point, and already upset with Rose, so I'm willing to bet anything she says to him is going to be met with skepticism."
They're also seriously judging the stepmom.
"For someone to abandon a child like this, she is not to be trusted for anything," another person wrote. "Build your own relationship with your siblings, but I caution you to stay away from her, and to let her know as little about you as possible."
They're also worried about the younger kids.
As a third person put it: "Their mom lied so much, so long, and so well, I guarantee it's not the only subject that she's lied to them about. They need to know what's real. They need to know to be on their guard. Don't fall for this manipulation. It will only make things worse to help a liar continue to cover her tracks."
These stories are based on posts found on Reddit. Reddit is a user-generated social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website where registered members submit content to the site and can up- or down-vote the content. The accuracy and authenticity of each story cannot be confirmed by our staff.
