About nine months ago, I became my mother’s caregiver. Everything was going fine until January, when my mother announced a foster child she had raised was coming home for a "visit". I begged my mother not to let her come because 1) I am not particularly close to any of my foster siblings 2) I didn’t want my peace and quiet disturbed by a third person in the house 3) I didn’t want anyone getting in my way as I tried to take care of Mom and 4) I didn’t trust that this was just going to be a visit.

Of course, I turned out to be correct. Shortly after she returned, my foster sister announced she was pregnant (which is why she came back for her "visit"), with no job, no education, no money, and, as far as I can tell, a baby "daddy" who really doesn’t give a crap about her (not that I blame him). It is now April, and she has parked herself comfortably in the house. It annoys me every time I have to look at or listen to her. It is real aggravation to know she’s stuck in the house and there isn’t anything I can do about it. My mother claims my sister plans on leaving once the baby is born, but I don’t believe that for a second. Where is she going to go wtith no job, no education, and no money?
I am 38 years old, male, and resent being in this position. I could easily put my mother in a nursing home and move out but I love my mother too much to do that. I could hire a professional caregiver and move out, but I would still feel as if I were abandoning my mother out of anger. My mother has had some health issues over the past few years. There is the possibility she will pass away and I would then be able to kick my foster sister out, but I do love my mother and would rather not anticipate that "resolution". Here are a list of reasons why I can’t stand my foster sister:

I’m 38 years old. About nine months ago I moved back home and became my mother’s caregiver. My parents raised three foster children. In January, my mother moved one of those foster children (now age 25), back into the house. I really, really can’t stand this chick and my mother is constantly arguing with me, trying to get me to explain why I don’t like my foster sister. My premise is that as a grown 38-year-old man, I am entitled to my likes and dislikes without explaining them to my mother. Here are the reasons why I can’t stand my foster sister, whom I will call "C".

1) She’s pregnant with her fourth child and no husband.
2) She is the kind of woman who has different children by different fathers.
3) She’s a major freeloader.
4) When she moved back in, she took over a wing of the house that gave her four rooms to herself.
How many rooms does one non-rent paying person need??
5) She has a loud, ghetto way of talking.
6) She is one of these people who is ALWAYS on the house phone (and of course doesn’t help to pay the phone bill).
7) Everytime my mother calls me, "C" comes running. Doesn’t "C" know what her name is?
8) She is interfering.
9) She walks around acting as if the house belongs for her. For instance, the other day the landscaper was picking avocado off the tree in the back yard. I always let the guy takes as much as he wants, but I heard her loudly telling him not to pick too much. WTF? Who the eff is she? I happen to know I will be the sole heir after my Mom goes, so this chick is setting herself up for a rude shock if she thinks this is "her" house.
10) She has no house key, and whenever she comes home she likes to stand at my bedroom window shouting at the top of her lungs for me to let her in. OMG it will be such a sweet day when I can tell this chick to get out of MY house and never come back.
11) My mother is incontinent and I need to do her laundry daily. My foster sister will take clothes out of the machine, throw them willy nilly, or just meddle with the way I have things organized. If I had my way, I would tell that non-rent paying chick to go to the laundry mat. But then if I had my way, she wouldn’t be living here at all.


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I was married for 10 years. I lived in Newton, Mass. I was the primary caregiver for my kids – for one year I was the stay at home parent and for the rest, my career was sacrificed so I could be home on time to cook, clean, bathe the kids, have them do their homework, get them to bed, do their laundry, pack their lunches, etc….. while the wife worked late at a big law firm, from which she was later fired. She started her own firm also in Newton and when business was starting to take off, she became very hostile and insulting, and constantly threatened divorce. I began to suffer from depression and sought treatment. Several months later she again threatened divorce – I’d come home from work and grocery shopping and her dishes from breakfast were still on the table – I held the baby in one arm while filling the fridge and then cleaning the table off with the other. She said I should use plastic bags for that instead of paper and so we should get a divorce – I said "OK fine let’s get a divorce."

The divorce was awful and she said and did everything she could to keep me from seeing the kids. Then we reached a settlement that delayed when she had to buy me out of the house, got a boyfriend and as long as he was around she wanted me to take the kids off her hands nearly every weekend. Since the divorce I’ve remained active with the kids, coaching their soccer teams (33-6-6 was our combined record), cooking, cleaning, doing their homework with them – everything I did before but also writing a check. She has dated an ex-con and then a night security guard. I’ve dated only sporadically and focused on the kids. We’ve had a great time, especially at my apartment in Winthrop, which has given them a regular beach vacation despite my low salary.

A while back I reconnected with an old friend. She has her MBA from a prestigious school and is 8 years younger than my ex. I’m moving in with her this weekend. She lives in NYC. She loves my kids and they love her. She is warm and kind and makes me happy and I make her happy. My youngest has met, and likes, her kids, and they like her.

My ex has never been happy, has spent the four years shacking up with quite a cast of characters, is now green with jealousy, and seeing red. She has gone to the police and lied about me to get me arrested and get a restraining order to keep me from any contact with the kids until a week after my start date in the new job – she knew when my start date was and this was deliberate. I’ve heard that the kids are upset that they haven’t seen me and that they will miss me but I cannot even talk to them to let them know it’ll be Ok.

I know I need a lawyer – I have one. What else can I do? My kids are 13, 10 and 5. What should I do? When will they be old enough to hear WHY this has gone down the way it has gone down?

Thank you.


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