Family

I can post this, because my family does not know about my blog. I believe I have posted before about some of my issues with my sister-in-law. I love her, but I think she is married to a horrible specimen of a man and this has caused a rift to develop. She has a step-daughter (age 14) and a step-son (age 16) and a biological son that is 6 months younger than Trinity. Her husband has custody of his son, but his ex-wife has custody of his daughter. They split the kids because he did not want to pay child support. Right after Christmas my step-niece got into a fight with my sister-in-law. Apparently she was rude to both her step-mother and her father. Her father asked her to leave. She was angry and refused to visit. Now my sister-in-law and her husband are bad mouthing my step-niece saying she is a brat, lazy, unappreciative, hates her family, she's worthless and disrespectful. My step-niece has shown some questionable behavior to the point that a family member who is a state mandated reporter, called to report her behavior to her school counselor. I hope she is getting help. I have limited access to her. In times like these I am so very grateful for Facebook.
None of us are allowed to question the parenting skills of my sister-in-law or brother-in-law. If we do, they rip you apart and you are bad mouthed for months. And by parenting skills, I mean ANYTHING having to do with their kids. I asked the oldest if he had started drivers training and I got a 20 minute lecture on how he was ungrateful and not responsible enough to drive from my sister-in-law.
I am typing this all out because it is eating me alive and I miss my niece. What she did was wrong and she should be held accountable, but casting her out of your family may be a little overkill in my opinion. I want her to have a good life and be surrounded by supportive, loving people. I think it is sad that in these critical formative years her Dad has chosen to turn his back on her. I love her, I hope she knows that and I wish her nothing but happiness.