NO KIDDING My terminally ill sister has asked me to adopt her three kids – people think I’m selfish for refusing but it’s MY lif
NO KIDDING My terminally ill sister has asked me to adopt her three kids – people think I’m selfish for refusing but it’s MY life
PICTURE the scene - you've barely spoken to your sister in 10 years when she gets in contact to say she's suffering with a terminal illness.
And if that wasn't a big bombshell, she's also asking you to legally adopt her three kids - who you've never met - when she passes away.
If you found yourself in this scenario, would you A. agree to anything she asks out of sympathy or B. put your own happiness first?
Well one woman who is facing this dilemma in real life has sparked fierce debate online after admitting she's opted for the latter option.
Posting on Reddit's Am I The A****** forum, the 25-year-old explained how her and her husband agreed not to have kids when they got married.
When her sister got the diagnosis, she had recently given birth and already has two kids aged six and eight.
She wrote: "Her ex husband wants nothing to do with the kids since she had cheated on him for years with many men and they aren’t his. She doesn’t know who the dad is."
Describing her sister as a "stranger", the woman added: "Our six year age gap meant we didn’t really grow up together; and the memories I do have she was always awful to me.
"After she moved out at 18, we haven’t talked once besides at my parents' funeral."
What's more, the woman says it'd be "unfair" to ask her husband to take on her nieces and nephews and genuinely thinks he'd file for divorce.
She continued: "He would leave and without his income, I wouldn't be able to afford the kids anyway."
On top of this, her sister has asked she raise her children to be religious - even though their aunt is an atheist.
And if that wasn't complicated enough, she would have to teach them to speak the language of the country she lives in.
She cheated with multiple different men and lost her husband. I don’t think it’s my job to swoop in and save her from consequences of her own actions. I don’t feel like I owe her anything
Justifying her decision, the woman added: "It's my life and ultimately I get to be selfish with it, a child isn’t a 18 year commitment; it’s lifelong, and one I have decided not to take.
"She cheated with multiple different men and lost her husband; I don’t think it’s my job to swoop in and save her from consequences of her own actions. I don’t feel like I owe her anything."
That said, this hasn't gone down well with her sister - who cried down the phone and called her "awful".
She added: "Friends of hers whom I’ve never met have been reaching out to me and calling me at all hours to leave nasty voice mails - saying I need to step up as a sister.
"But I just feel like she’s trying to use me as her ticket [to not feel guilty for her kids]."
Instead, the woman has offered to pay for DNA testing and a private investigator to track down their biological fathers.
Unsurprisingly, the dilemma left members of the Reddit forum totally divided.
One replied: "If you don’t know these children at all, I don’t see why your sister would want you to be their guardian. How could they possibly be comfortable with you after the loss of their mother?
"These so-called friends of hers would be better suited if they have an established relationship with the children.
Another added: "Not everyone is ready, willing, and able to be a parent, and if you aren't all three then it's the kids who will suffer the most.
"Perhaps one of her friends that are being snarky to you will step up to the plate; otherwise, sis needs to make other arrangements for the care of her children."
Meanwhile, a third argued: "Look at it from your sister's perspective. She is going to die. And her children are going to be left without parents. It's only natural that she'll want someone to take care of her children.
"There's no other options left to her to entrust her children to someone else, if I was in her shoes I'd look for the person I'd trust most to raise my children and guide them to adulthood. This means your sister does trust you and holds you in very high regard."
For more real life dilemmas, this woman cancelled her wedding after her fiancé BANNED her three kids – he says he wants a child-free wedding, she's fuming.
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