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quick recap, my DD (formerly second cousin* ) moved in with us 5+ years ago. we finalized 4 1/3 years ago
every year since that, we've spent xmas eve at her cousin's house.. well, my cousin's brother's house. Almost every year, we spent thanksgiving with their family.
it was important to me that we didn't take her away from the only family that she's ever known
my cousin got sober over the summer (after his 3rd dui and after getting a new gf). Since then, he's pretending that he never hurt my DD, never ignored her for 5 years, never failed as a parent in every way and is trying to start being in her life
did i mention he's not biologically related to her? His son is J's half brother.. and my cousin shared a house with her off and on for her first 4 years. But his mom raised her
Things have been blowing up since sept. i ended up blocking his number from all our phones. it comes down to 4 main issues: 1) his utter denial that his addiction and anger had an impact on DD's development, 2) his refusal to acknowledge his absence for 5 years would have an impact on her life, 3) his lack of consideration in expecting us to drop everything so he could, text/facetime/call/ visit us, and 4) his refusal to accept us as her parents
we skipped thankgiving (with notice) and planned to do the same for christmas eve. we have 2 other family parties in december, so its not like i ran away from home...
well, yesterday was the last family party. It was so hurtful, i really did want to run away and never see them (or let them see her) again
1) He sent a present for her "from dad". First of all, he's only ever been "daddy" - not dad. Secondly, when she talked about her dad, she means my DH. He does not have a right to that title. And fourthly, he has never.. not once in 10 years, acted like he dad. . not changed a diaper, wiped her tears, cleaned her puke. and he can't claim the biological tie.
2) He has his enabling mother deliver the present she (who spent the lat 5 years whining about J's abuse to her - physical and mental). She implied it was all my fault.. said if I'd just sit down and talk to him one on one, everything would be better. EVERYTHING?? like how he has hurt my kid more times than i can count. how he continues to talk crap about her BM.. how he has abandoned his 13 year old son in order to live with his gf. I tried talking to him. he bottled up his feelings for 2 months and then exploded all over me. I'm good, thanks.
3) re: xmas eve.. "We're surprised it took you this long." as in "don't let the door hit you on the butt on that way out." Like i wasted my last 5 xmas eves with someone else's family because i wanted to?? Like i was leaching on their family time
4) the kids have always done a present swap. My DD was not included this year. Maybe because she won't be there physically (there's this thing called a post office). That really set my mama bear off.
5) I'm sitting there at my uncles house with a panic attack. I don't belong there. I'm not part of their inner family (nor would i want to be). I'm regretting not putting our family first for the past 5 years. It felt like everything.. that entire family, is willing to toss my DD under the bus in favor of defending my cousin.
6) I was so busy dealing with my guilt of taking her away from her first family, that i put our family on a backburner for too long
I ended up texting my sister during the party (her advice "get out NOW") :woohoo:
My poor kiddo came home and cried herself to sleep. She said its because she's tired for the dogs barking. But I think the stress is getting to her.
She didn't want to get up today and was late to school.
Its like she's going through the move all over again
my heart hurts
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Ugg sweetie. I'm sorry this is so hard on both of you. Clearly your cousin is blaming others instead of looking within himself and it sounds like his parents are enablers. I've seen that in my own kinship adoption. I hear constantly how DFS "stole" her children, her only daughter etc. Its hard to hear and deal with especially when I'm dealing with the effects of her drug use during pregnancy. It's just such a sad thing.
Honestly you've had J more of her life than he has. He doesn't sound like he was ever a father. I'd personally cut this toxic person out of your lives. He has no genetic ties to this child and honestly sounds like he may be damaging her future relationship with her birth mother. Who is obviously genetically tied.
I understand the guilt of not putting your family first. I find that I too go too far in the name of "openness and wanting to share". I feel so blessed to have my daughters and I still have guilt over raising them. I know Bugs First mom loves her every bit as much as I do and the pain that she doesn't get to be called mommy truly hurts my soul. As such I tend out of guilt to put my core family 2nd. Everyone else gets priority (I get them all the time yada yada, what does this one day matter) type of stuff! It does matter and I've found myself regretting doing these same things as well.
So I get it. But I honestly think he has nothing positive to offer her. Being a boyfriend to her birth mom doesn't qualify him as any kind of "dad". I understand she came to you as a result of him but that's really the end of it. He should hold some sort of "uncle type" status. It would be different if he actually raised her (his mom doesn't count). I'd talk to her and see how she feels and if she agrees that maybe putting some distance in the relationship is what she needs then that's what we'd do (honestly we'd do that regardless as it's not healthy for her right now).
Poor J, I can only imagine how hard on her this must be. Sweet girl; she's resilient with great parents so she'll come out the other side okay. But there's nothing worse than watching your kid hurt. Keeping you in my thoughts.
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Thank you! It helps knowing someone "gets it"
Firm boundaries are up - for him, his, gf, AND mother
We're bowing out of "G" family events until, at least, the summer. (we may do other family events where they MIGHT be there..)
The one thing that has kept me from doing this til now is losing access to her brother. Even though he lives with "grammie", she lets my cousin make the call re: visits with us
My DH will attempt to set up a visit in the spring (let me play 'bad cop"). But if he refuses us access unless he gets something back, then we're prepared to deal with the loss. I can't keep letting fear of what "might happen" prevent us from standing up to things that do happen.