Teen Devastated After Aunt Rejects Plea to Adopt Her: ‘Can’t Do That to Her Mom in Prison’

A 14-year-old girl whose parents are in prison was heartbroken after her aunt told her she won't adopt her.

"My niece has lived with me since her parents went to prison five years ago. Drugs. My sister is getting out later this year. She has been working very hard in prison to improve herself and got her GED. We are still very close and we talk via an app the prison provides and I take her daughter to visit her, along with her brother, who lives with his dad's brother, once a month," the aunt wrote on Reddit.

She explained that at a recent family birthday dinner, her niece surprised her when she "decided to give me adoption request papers or whatever they are (I never ended up reading them)."

"I was stunned and just... shook my head. I was so shocked and confused. The plan was she was always supposed to go home," the aunt wrote, adding her mother, siblings and husband didn't know what to do.

"She never brought this up in counseling or anything. I can't do that to my sister, I would not be able to take care of her without support financially from my grandma, who would stop supporting me if I agreed," the woman continued.

"Now she and my daughter hate me, it seems. My son, 21, said it was probably something she got from TikTok and she will eventually get over it. My husband agrees with me, and my siblings are staying out of it," she added.

"It's a mess," she concluded her post.

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Users tried to comfort the woman in the comments section.

"Yes, your immediate response could have been better, but you were in a state of shock and caught off guard, so I think it was understandable. Did your niece have help from an adult to get these adoption request papers? If so, was this person aware that she was always supposed to go back to her mom? If you haven't done so already, talking to both your niece and daughter (separately) about why you didn't agree to the request is probably in order," one person wrote.

"Your niece has lived with you for five years, and chances are those five years are better than her memories of living with her mother. It really sounds like she doesn't want to lose the family and home she's been part of for the last five years. I understand her mother may want her back, but simply sending her to live with her mother after five years may make her feel abandoned and unhappy. Please consider not just what your sister wants but your niece, and find a way she can still be part of your home," another commented.

"There are a lot of feel-good videos about a child asking a relative, stepparent or guardian to adopt them and it all ends in tears and hugging, so being 14, it might have been something she saw on social media. And it seems your own 16-year-old daughter was in on it, too. Does she know the plan was for her to be reunited with her mom? I can understand being hesitant about it since it's been five years, but that could be done slowly in steps," someone else offered.