A grandparent has been slammed on Reddit for landing their 2-year-old grandson in the hands of social services after they refused to babysit.
The grandparent posted on Reddit's "Am I The A******" as user u/FaithlessnessDue8989 to ask whether they were in the wrong for refusing to babysit. The poster explained that their 20-year-old daughter had moved in with them recently, along with her 2-year-old son.
After practically forcing the daughter to get a job, the Redditor was expected to look after the toddler at every opportunity, even after working long hours.
"I love my grandson and my daughter, but it is not my due responsibility to care for him 24/7, and I am not required to do so. I raised my kids, and I did my best, so I should not have another weight on my shoulders," they wrote in the July 30 post.
However, the situation reached its breaking point when the grandparent was left to babysit against their wishes, even after working a night shift from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. They didn't want this to be the expectation anymore, so they took extreme action.
"I told my daughter that I would not be able to watch him because I was tired, nevertheless she put him on my bed and said she didn't have a sitter," the Redditor said. "I'd had enough of being forced to watch him against my wishes in my own home, so once she left I called her, texted her, but no response, and she ignored my calls.
"At that point, I grabbed my things, grabbed my grandson and dropped him off at the police station and told them that my grandson was abandoned in my home, and that I couldn't reach my daughter."
The Redditor claimed they were "unable to care for him" and felt that leaving the two-year-old in police hands was the best way of teaching the daughter a lesson.
The daughter, however, saw this as a major betrayal as "the police turned him over to [Child Protective Services]" due to neglect and child abandonment. As a result, the daughter "no longer has access to her son," but the grandparent is adamant that the daughter only has herself to blame.
The family finds itself in a very delicate situation, and although childcare may have been an issue, the grandparent's actions have certainly divided opinion online. Florence Ann Romano, a childcare advocate and the author of Build Your Village, suggested that the family seek professional help rather than using the young child as a pawn in a game.
"The response from the [grandparent] was highly irresponsible, unwarranted, and quite frankly, frightening," Romano told Newsweek. "The dynamic between the mother and daughter clearly has its challenges and could likely benefit from professional help.
"However, no matter how tired or resentful the grandparent might be, taking the grandchild to the police station and claiming abandonment is outrageous, selfish and dangerous. This is a child who is being used as a pawn in a ridiculous and toxic power struggle."
Romano added that, unfortunately, because of these actions, the person who suffers the most is the grandson, who now finds himself in the system.
Since it was posted, the Reddit post has received more than 4,500 votes and over 2,400 comments at the time of writing.
With over 12,800 upvotes, the most popular comment reads: "I get that daughter was totally out of line, but didn't you feel scared as his grandma, dumping him at the police station, and now he's been taken by CPS? Your daughter is TA [the a******] for doing that, but that was really, really heartless and cold of you."
Another commenter wrote: "I get the mother's POV, I really do, but traumatizing a baby to make a point is just an awful, awful thing to do."
Newsweek reached out to u/FaithlessnessDue8989 via Reddit for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.
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