My Foster Child Lied About My Daughter Having Drugs at School & I Think She May Have To Go

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Growing up in foster care can be a challenge for both the child and the foster parents. Everyone's story is different, and living with a new family can be an adjustment for each person. Thankfully, many foster parents offer safe and loving homes to kids who really need them. But sometimes, life gets frustrating, and they need a place to vent.

A foster mom posted in Reddit's AITA forum about a tricky situation with her foster daughter, Mary, 13, and her biological daughter, Lyla, 12. The girls get along, but the original poster suspects Mary got Lyla in trouble at school intentionally. Even though Mary swears she was looking out for Lyla, OP isn't buying it.

Mary's biological parents struggle with addiction.

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According to OP, Mary's parents were drug addicts and unable to care for her. She brought Mary into her home to help give her a better life. Lyla and Mary get along fine, but a recent incident at school upset OP.

The police showed up at Lyla's school after an anonymous tip she had drugs.

"After searching through her phone, locker, and bags, they realized that the 'drugs' in question were skittles that Lyla had lying around in her bag accidentally ripping open the packaging. Lyla was terrified of the police and was traumatized by the incident. She's a very shy, quiet girl who had a panic attack at the thought of being sent to prison," OP wrote.

Mary admitted she called the police.

At first, she didn't want to admit the truth, but Mary told OP and Lyla that she saw the candy and thought it was drugs. Mary swears it wasn't to get Lyla in trouble, but OP isn't buying it.

"I can't help but think her intentions are malicious, Skittles look absolutely nothing like drugs. She didn't even talk to me or Lyla about it, she just went straight to the authorities. So I decided to ground her, stop her allowance, increase her chores, and take away her electronics for the entire summer. She's still upset with me for this, saying I went too far and I was punishing her for having trauma and trying to do the right thing. But I feel like I have a duty to teach her that it's not okay to potentially get our entire family into legal trouble over a misunderstanding. AITA?" she wrote.

Some Redditors thought OP was misguided.

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They agreed Mary misbehaved but felt she needed help, not a punishment.

Like this person who wrote: "NTA. However, it sounds like Mary needs therapy, And she owes Lyla an apology. I think taking away her allowance and electronics is punishment enough, and maybe for only a month. A whole summer is too long."

And this one who commented: "I think your punishment is over the top in general, but then as a parent, I also don't think I could stay looking after another child who reported my child and put them at risk."

Others felt OP was way over the line.

A former professional told OP she overreacted. "I don't know how the hell you can make this right, but I'll tell you that as a former deputy, if this was in my jurisdiction I'd be contacting my area's CPS for a full workup," the person commented. "Not based on Mary's actions, but on your extreme overreaction."

This person agreed commenting: "YTA. You only had one weak instance of an example to feel like Mary had malicious reasons with many other instances of Mary proving to care about Lyla. Mary has a very good reason to believe you'd be biased toward Lyla because you're already proving it."

OP thinks she knows why Mary did it.

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She edited her post to add, "The reason I thought she had malicious intentions was because the week before, Mary 'coincidentally' started a large argument with Lyla for hanging out with Mary's crush. Lyla eats candy all the time, especially skittles, and Mary knows that Skittles are her favorite."

This person thinks it's time for the family to break up. "However, she just gave YOUR child trauma now," the commenter wrote. "I would actually call her caseworker and tell them she needs a new placement. Your child comes first. Keeping her just means your child has to live with the person who did this to her."