I need to vent (preferably to strangers, making this the perfect venue)
My brother and his girlfriend made a terrible decision a few years ago to have a child. They were (and are) the epitome of arrested development- mentally stunted and stuck in a vicious cycle of drugs and run ins with the law. Of course, just a few months in to the pregnancy they called it quits.
I was there the day she was born. Well, night really. I remember holding her in my arms in the dark while her mother snuck out of her hospital room for a smoke (yes, you read that correctly). I wept in the dark, cradling this little bundle of life because I knew what troubled waters lay ahead for her. I rocked and sobbed and whispered promises- to always love her, protect her, etc.
I saw her a few times. My mother’s first grandbaby, she quickly volunteered to be the doting nana and babysit at a moment’s notice. That ended quickly after some things went missing from my mother’s house (prescription pills and some money, typical) After that wild accusations putting my brother’s paternity into question arose in a fruitless attempt to deny us visitation (that baby has from day one looked identical to my brother as an infant) a DNA test proved us right.
The last time I saw my niece her mother asked if my husband and I would like to see her for a few hours. We jumped at the chance- it had been almost a year since our last visit! As it got late (and became clear she had a stomach virus with diapers quickly disappearing) we tried to call her mother but to no avail. Eventually she shut her phone off sparking my husband to call the police. 2am the police went to her home to find her asleep with a boyfriend. We were both disgusted. I had to take the next day off of work just to wait for her to pick up her sick child.
That was over a year ago.
We (obviously) didn’t end that situation on good terms. I heard rumors, she is in jail, she put my niece in foster care, she moved out of state, etc etc To my disappointment I discovered I have no “Aunt” rights to the child, and since my brother is in no shape to petition the courts for anything I am at a stalemate.
Until today.
She added me on FB
I am looking through her Facebook pictures in tears because WHERE IS MY NIECE!? She is a toddler now, where are the photos of her at the petting zoo, picking out a pumpkin for Halloween, going to her first gymnastics tumbling class?
I see some baby photos sure, but nothing more recent than that.
Just a hundred photos of her mother all duck faced and hoed out in a dozen different bathroom mirrors. I want to shake her. WHERE IS MY NIECE!? Is she safe? Is she alive? Did you give her up and if so why not to me? I am scared to say anything to her. I am scared to ask questions. I am terrified of the answers.
