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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Should I contact my half sister over facebook

50 replies

Yorkshire92 · 21/06/2014 21:00

I was born because my dad had an affair with a married woman. He paid my mum child support and over the last 2 years of his life lost touch entirely. He committed suicide when I was 9 years old. I didn't have much to do with him. I don't remember him.

I moved away with my mum and she had an affair with another married man (I have a half brother I was raised with).

Apparently my dad stayed with his wife and she didn't know about me for many years. My dad (and his wife) only have 1 child who is 9 years older (now around 30). I suspect she only found out about me due to the suicide. This was 12 years ago.

She has never been in touch.

I got in touch with my dad's sister (who doesn't have much to do with the rest of the family). She gave me my granny's number and she has declined contact with me.

I found out the half-sister is living with her mum at the moment in her home town (she appears to have been all over before doing academic research) and is unmarried with no kids. She looks just like her mum and they look very close on the photos.

Should I contact her?

OP posts:
inlectorecumbit · 17/07/2014 20:38

You wouldn't need to be FB friends-there are other methods of communication.
Please remember the half sister is a result of the affair and not the cause of it.
It is only natural for her to want to know her half siblings-she is not asking for any commitment or for you to share family memories--she just wanted some contact with you.
Having been in your half sisters position l was very lucky that l was allowed contact with the "other" family--l didn't know details of the affair just that he was my dad, as he was hers, affair information was never shared nor asked for. They accepted me for who l was not rejected for what he had done.
I feel very very sorry for your half sister you have rejected her attempts (which you have every right to do) of contact for somewhat selfish reasons on your part.

LauraLiz1982 · 17/07/2014 20:59

That's correct. I don't want her mother having access to information about me. If it was just her, fine. She is in touch with a sister of my dad's though. She can give her information.

LauraLiz1982 · 17/07/2014 21:02

about my dad. I owe her nothing and she is a stranger. Why contact though - why does she need to know about me. My dad, fine, but not me.

LauraLiz1982 · 17/07/2014 21:14

Sorry that was a bit mean. Her mum gave us hell. I am just my mum's daughter and don't want a sister basically. She has other brother and sisters... It's not something I want. She has lots of other people in her live to love her

GrannyOnTheSchoolRun · 18/07/2014 05:07

I think my advice to you would be to stay away from your half sister but more so for her sake than yours.

I think you could be a very destructive force in her life.

Though I do understand wanting to protect your mum. I dont know what I would have done if my 3 siblings to 3 different mothers had found me when my mum was alive. I know she would have said to me - no one can have too much love in their life so go for it, but I dont know if I could have even though she had gone on to a very long and happy marriage after she divorced my father.

Two of my siblings mums are alive, and we just ask how each other is, a politeness, but we also speak about our lives to each other of course talk of our mums come up as in my mum made great apple crumble etc etc.

But there can be other things as well - I got a new grandchild recently and my brother and his wife bought him an outfit with stars on it because my mums name meant star and we always have a star in family proceedings, and in the case of a new baby a going home from the hospital outfit with a star on it. That was my brothers way of acknowledging my mum and I love him all the more for it.

The way I look at is is like this - all of the women in my fathers life were his victims and I can't and won't hate any of them, and the fact they've all (except the one who died) had to face up to being part of a circus when they though they were 'the one' has been very embarrassing for them.

LauraLiz1982 · 18/07/2014 09:59

I wouldn't get involved and damage her.

I was more than happy to meet up and thought she seemed a decent young lady albeit one who had taken some bad decisions and been in trouble. I don't blame her for my dad's actions.

But then she started to ask to talk to my mum and call her by her first name and ask for detail about money she was left in trust. It's really outside my mum's control. Me and mum settled the money with her mother as trustee to use it to provide for her and the lump sum not invested goes to her aged 25. We have no control over it. We have no right to knowledge about how it's spent. It was left 13 years ago and we have moved on and have no right to access to information about it. She didn't seem to understand this.

Her desire to speak to my mum (who is legally nothing to do with the money) when she has moved on and got a new house and put my dad behind her. It touched a nerve in me.

LauraLiz1982 · 18/07/2014 10:21

I acknowledge I sound awful. Perhaps it will be better when I come to terms with all of this. I am a decent person in my everyday life, but this is all just hard for me to understand. The girl seems very hard faced and thick skinned, not remotely upset by me. I am being honest about that. If she was more 'like me' - then I'd find it easier, but she is a polar opposite.

LauraLiz1982 · 18/07/2014 10:22

p.s I think what happened in your family is lovely Grannyontheschool run. I have issues with anger. I wish I didn't but I do.

LauraLiz1982 · 18/07/2014 10:25

It put me on anti-depressants for a long time and I cannot afford more illness. You're welcome to call me selfish.

GrannyOnTheSchoolRun · 18/07/2014 10:26

Take the money out if it and ask yourself how you would feel if she ignored your mums existence?

She is in a lousy position, really.

Damned if she acknowledges your mum and damned if she doesnt.

The first names thing is a difficult one, but we do seem to live in an age when everyone seems to think its ok to call someone by their first name. Would you and your mum feel better if she called her Mrs Brown for e.g.

I have never met my siblings mums but I always ask how is your mum, did you have a nice visit when you went to see her, just general stuff. And they in return always ask after me and mine and say things like oh it looks like she has a lovely family etc.

It can be as easy and as polite as that. Your sister is not your enemy, its not her fault that what happened did and you know there's a lot to be said for not blaming a child for the sins of the father/mother.

I think you have a lot you're trying to process and I really do wish you well and a peace of mind and heart very soon.

And just to add - if money is mentioned again, just redirect her to her mum. And if you can, try not to gloat that you were left more than her, it would be one upmanship at its worst.

LauraLiz1982 · 19/07/2014 16:03

Thanks. Appreciate it. No I won't be mentioning any money! I wouldn't want any one knowing about what money I have.... I have my training in law - I pointed her to authorities that can help her, which definitely aren't my mum - I am not saying that to be resentful either. It's the factual truth of the matter.

GrannyOnTheSchoolRun · 19/07/2014 16:20

I just saw what you said about anti-depressants and how you have issues with anger.

Have you had any help with things?

I will tell you that one of my siblings also has issues with anger and it helped them to be told it was ok to be angry with our father. Perhaps your mum as well. That going through life being angry with everyone except the person they should have been angry with was not the best thing for them.

And I would never call you selfish, just a human, and trying to deal with something that no child should ever have to deal with. And you still are a child, your parents child. Its only human for us to have wanted our mum and dad to be romeo and juliet. The adult you are is based on who and what you were as a child and all that you experienced.

I get the feeling that you are hurt, very hurt, and being angry with others is also a way of hurting yourself, it helps you to actually 'feel' something.

If you would like someone to offload to, or to try and put a different perspective on things, I would be happy to try.

GrannyOnTheSchoolRun · 19/07/2014 16:43

I just had another read of one of your posts and you've said your sister doesn't seem upset by you. So I will say this but with kindness that maybe isn't apparent.

You had a cheating father and so did she? The fact you are the child of the married couple means nothing because nothing will take away from the fact you're dad was a cheat. Her mum did not have the affair - your dad did. Your father is what you have in common.

Your dad was pretty horrible to you and your mum. How was he with her and her mum - did they stay in contact after she was born? If so maybe he was equally as not nice to both of them. Its something else you perhaps have in common.

Ok, you got more money than she did, but all that means is that your dad eased his conscience by leaving you more than her. Its hardly the actions of a nice man. The man you both have in common.

Why should she be upset by you? What did you have that she didn't?

And this business of not wanting her to know you are back living at mums, plus other things you have said - its a perfectly normal reaction to wanting to, and needing to feel that you were the special one, the 'real' daughter. You need to be validated as 'the' daughter, but the reality is there were two daughters and as much as that hurts it can't be changed, and you have to try and stop putting a value on yourself based on the man who caused so much pain and heartache in your life. You are better than him, you are you, learn to love yourself, be kind to yourself and more importantly, be kind to the little girl who is still hurting so much.

inlectorecumbit · 19/07/2014 16:54

Brilliant Granny just brilliant. You said what l was unable to put into words

LauraLiz1982 · 19/07/2014 23:51

Thanks Granny. The 'other woman' was in touch with my dad for the first 5 years of the girls life from what I can tell. He left me and my mum briefly (for 4 months) - we arrived home from shopping and his belongings had all gone. He then started to beg to be taken back, throw stones at the windows, cry in front of me, be manipulative. Eventually she said yes.

The mother - well I've no sympathy. She then got pregnant to 2 further married men (my dad had money and a flash car - target for money) so did these men. Basically used child support as a career - her own daughter said she felt used by her in the message she sent me. She is now with another man with money going down a similar path.

Issue is that my dad had a sperm count of 'virtually' zero - had he given my mum further kids, I wouldn't feel so angry about this. Given the woman's history I've wondered about the paternity. The girl has jet black hair and his dark. I am blonde and blue eyed, so was my dad.

My granny neither wants any thing to do with the girl. I don't understand why to be honest. She rung her twice (when she got in touch with me) and my granny pulled the phone out of the wall.

The 'girl' - wouldn't call her sister until a paternity test was done due to the con woman nature of her mother which even she confessed to. Well she has 2 children already who are not with their fathers. It's history repeating itself. Quite a mess really.

Given that he took me show jumping every weekend, got me 2 horses and ran a horse lorry for me, we did karate together, he was at my school events, changed an insurance policy so she got no money from it, he took me to college, taught me to drive.

Why the heck would she want to know all this...? You can blame me for sounding arrogant but I didn't even know about her so I wasn't taking stuff she wasn't getting

LauraLiz1982 · 19/07/2014 23:57

on purpose. This woman (the mother) is so awful that the other 2 children to married men were granted permission by the courts to be with their dads. You see - her mother is a dangerous person and she was raised by her. I know this sounds awful, but it affects how I feel.

EleanorHandbasket · 20/07/2014 00:16

This is a very odd thread, are the op and Lauraliz each other's half sisters?

Heathcliff27 · 20/07/2014 00:45

I agree this is a strange thread

GrannyOnTheSchoolRun · 20/07/2014 05:07

Laura, your dad was obviously a weak man. Why else would he be able to sneak a way when his wife and child were at the shops, then to be so manipulative when he tried to come home again.

Your sisters mum - what makes you think she would want your sympathy or even need it? The woman seems to have managed to move on from your father and made a life for herself even to this day, and it may make you feel better to insinuate she's some kind of venus fly trap when it comes to men, men who have money, but she's had children with 3 men and is currently in a relationship with someone else. Do your really believe all of those 4 men were taken in by her, and all the more-so when each one would have been only well aware of her romantic history given the children who were in front of their nose? I think its more likely they new enough about her history to think there was nothing to be suspicious of when it came to being with her, even though things didn't work out for them as a couple long term either. It happens.

The men the woman has had in her life have been wealthy - yep if you mix in circles, and are accepted in circles where people have money its kind of a given that everyone you have contact with will be wealthy.

She is with her partner and going down a similar path - really? She must be some age now. Is pregnancy still possible for her? Or is it likely someone else has seen something in this woman and is willing to give it a go with her?

Were her other children taken away from her? No. I dont think they were. I think you've made this up. I feel very certain if they had been taken away from her you would have mentioned it long before you did and not just in a post tacked on to the end of another. I think you were angry at what I said because it gave you food for thought, and hurt you, and this was your retaliation.

Your anger at not having a sibling from your mum and dad - I'm sorry but there's is that need for 'one up' on her again. You want to be able to say, ah well, he came back to us and had another baby with my mum so here's more proof that we were the 'real' ones in his life. You have to understand that you'd still be angry if this had happened and you'd just have found something else to be angry about. Its the whole thing you're angry about, not just bits of it.

Paternity - you're dad accepted your sister as being his child and nothing you insinuate based on her having different colouring to you and him will change that. For five years they were all in touch, your sister more than likely called him daddy, and if your father doubted she was his then all the more reason for him to have just paid child support and never look back. Instead though he saw her and her mum for about 5 years. But that aside, there are 5 fingers on a hand and none of them are the same. Your sister may not look like you but she may have the same colouring as others in your family, she may even look like them, but more to the point, she may just take after her mums side of her family. Genetics are a funny old thing and can throw up many a surprise - I have a white, blue eyed, blonde grandson born to my dark and swarthy half Arab son, and his Eastern Europen wife who has jet black hair and porcelain coloured skin. My grandson could be a brother to Prince George, he looks nothing like his mum and dad - but he is the image of me. Do you see what Im trying to say to you apart from 'you are only doubting her paternity because you are angry'.

Your Granny - maybe she is just at an age where she can't cope with whats gone on, whats currently going on, and what could go on in the future. Maybe she just wants peace, maybe she had enough of it all when it was happening. Maybe she had your dad and his antics up to his ears and now thats he's dead she's thinking - I just want to live in peace.

I suggested to you that your dad caused all of your pain and heartache, that you had no more than she did because you both have the same cheating/weak/not very nice man as a father. And you then tell us about your dad taking you show jumping etc when much earlier on you spoke of how He would not include us in social gatherings and be aggressive and manipulative, hide us away a bit . It seems that if someone hits a nerve about your dad you come back and say 'ah but he did x y or z' even when it contradicts something you said earlier, and this conflict/confusion in the heart and mind of children who've faced what we have is common.

I have a feeling that after you're world fell apart your mum and dad lived under the same roof but nothing was ever resolved by them, that what had happened was always in the room and life was toxic. And I still think you need to stay away from your sister because of how hurt/damaged you are, but more than anything else I think you need to see a professional who can hopefully help you heel and move on life without feeling as if your shoes must be full of broken glass.

And You dont come across as arrogant to me because its obvious you desperately need to feel that you were the special one, the only daughter, and that you will grab at anything to help yourself feel this was the reality, even though its not.

You need way more help than I can give you, and all I can really do now is hope that one day you can come to terms with what happened and go on to live life with a peaceful heart and mind.

GrannyOnTheSchoolRun · 20/07/2014 05:10

Ive also thought at times the OP and LauraLiz are sisters, but being in the situation I found myself in I know it may just all be a co-incidence.

GrannyOnTheSchoolRun · 20/07/2014 05:22

Maybe she had your dad and his antics up to his ears and now thats he's dead she's thinking - I just want to live in peace.

It should be 'up to her ears'.

MexicanSpringtime · 20/07/2014 09:18

Granny, you speak so much sense. Unfortunately I think it is the parents who cause these problems between half-siblings.

My daughter's father married after she was born and had another dd four years later. They then divorced a few years after that. When the two girls were teenagers he managed to make both of them feel that he was favouring the other. Fortunately we managed to clear that up.

But the half-sister's mother is full of resentment against him and his family and has managed to embitter my dd's sister against nearly everyone. It is such a shame because the extended family is lovely and like Granny's mother I believe you can never have too much love.

I say this because between a cheating father and a bitter mother, the children get screwed up.

LauraLiz1982 · 20/07/2014 12:58

LOL - I'll leave this now. No nerve touched. The courts honestly decided it was in the other children's best interests to be raised by their dads.

I am afraid I am 'old school' - I'll never have any respect for a woman who on 3 different occasions has a child to 3 different married men, even stopped working when my dad died whilst she claimed on the estate (stopped working for 5 years) then started again the day it finished.

No shame in my anger - welfare is designed to protect people, not be used in this manner.

LauraLiz1982 · 20/07/2014 13:05

Yeah he did hide us from social gatherings and was VERY careful where he took me - lead a double life. We were never included in his work, nor his work friends - but in the last few years of his life he did the horse things we me to make up for everything I get the impression. He went to karate, but hid us from work and his circle of friends. Took us out in controlled environments. It wasn't quite right.

My life was very MIXED I'd say. I've mainly got on with my life and lead it well. The girl getting in touch brought it back.

I am 'old school' though in my attitudes to adultery and think there is more to life than biological sisters.

LauraLiz1982 · 20/07/2014 13:10

p.s sorry I know I said I'd leave it and I know men are entitled to separate friends, but work BBQs every single person in the firm there with family, but not me and mum because he didn't want us to know.

A man who wanted to cheat and enjoy the benefits of a family ;) at my school functions (play decent dad in a safe environment). My mum always planned to kick him out when I reached 16 and ended school. She knows now it was a bad judgment call and should have done it earlier ;)

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