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Relationships

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

other opinions of this situation please - adopted daughter / father cut off

40 replies

Ele01 · 04/09/2021 09:46

I have posted a couple times and seemed support and received some lovely support- I was recommended to the adoption boards and relationship boards but I wanted to ask others (other perspectives) over this situation below just in a brief summary:

Adopted our daughter from months old she is now 10 years old. Since the divorce a few months ago my ex husband has completely cut from the daughters life like almost immediately after the divorce was sent in paperwork form and I’m ashamed to say he even started to refer her our daughter not as ‘our daughter’ anymore but ‘legal daughter’ there has been no asking how she is etc and certainly doesn’t want to see her.
My ex accused me of being ‘abusive’

Is that a red flag above? if I was so ‘truly abusive’ would you expect a man/father to leave child with the person you excuse or being abusive and for a child you have parental responsibility for would you find it acceptable he left that child solely in the person he accused of their full care and just cut off? is that an excuse or reasonable excuse to leave a child or is there any excuses?
I’m curious to how others would view if for example if you met a man that wasn’t involved with his child adopted or biological just any child he was involved with for many years and had parental responsibility.
Would you except any excuses that he doesn’t see the child? Or would you consider them red flags regardless of what he said etc.

Appreciate peoples time to read my post, I’m just working through my emotions and supporting my daughter etc x

OP posts:
Hekatestorch · 04/09/2021 20:18

Hekatestorchyeah that is true I never thought about that someone could just lie yes. I think I just put it in perspective (for me personally) that unless I heard the man was going down the legal route and I could actually see it that he’s doing something - but even then I would be wary. Would you be the same?

Absolutely I would. A man saying 'I am going through court at the moment' but showing no sign of doing anything, wouldn't be for me. Just like I would be wary of a man that started the 'My ex is crazy' on the first date.

The issue is that every situation and some lies can seem believable when in the first flush of dating. Like you had no clue he wasn't seeing his child when you met. He obviously lied and you believed it.

The only time I have understood a man cutting off a their child was a friend whose step son (he had raised him from a baby and considered him his son) was accused of several rapes at 17. As it became clear he had done it, felt no remorse and then continued to threaten the victims from prison. He felt he couldn't continue to be his support or provide him support when he eventually gets out. That I understood.

Again, if a man at some point down the line opens up that his ex was abusive I can't say I would disbelieve him. Its the context, how and when you are told etc. Its easy to say that men who label their exs abusive as liars. But not all will be lying.

But if a man said his ex was abusive I would be questioning why he isn't seeing the child as much as possible and fighting for them. I am quite cynical when it comes to romance and relationships. My thought would always be 'why are they telling me this and what do they gain'

My exh 2 last girlfriends have caused me no end of issues. The first one still looks at my social media, 2 years after they broke up. The first seemed a bit more switched on and eventually spoke to me and discovered he was a liar. But she is still with him. He told them I was crazy, I wanted him back, if we switched contact nights for him he would say it was me constantly switching and if he didn't agree I would stop him seeing the kids. If he didn't want to see them, he would say I had, had a breakdown and he needed to pick up the kids etc.

Non of which was true. But I understood why they believed him. He had lied to me during our marriage and I believed him.

On the other hand, dps ex fully admits that she punched him in the back of the head, when he was sat on at the dining room table, leading him to be admitted to hospital. She seemed quite proud of it.

My personal opinion is that anyone should be wary of information they receive in a relationship and really examine it.

In your situation, with your dd being adopted. I don't see a difference between adopted and bio children. He is being awful. I am not sure if I have made it clear I see no distinction between bio and adopted in cases of separation. But I do think he would be the same, if she was his bio child. He just feels the fact that she is adopted gives him an extra out

But going back to what I said before. Obsessing about what a new partner thinks of his story or thinks of you, isn't helping you.

You need to get to a point where you accept that you can't control what he tells people or what they believe. You know the truth and you have to be confident in that and not care about people who don't matter.

Ele01 · 04/09/2021 20:33

@Hekatestorch yes that’s true He told me he was supportive to Ex etc but after a few years I found out the truth and he wasn’t etc (I saw texts that he was showing me and I think I saw a few he didn’t mean to show me I didn’t know what to think but it was years ago I wish I found that out years before)

Yes I think if I had a relationship now (although men can be abused by their partners etc) if he was calling his ex crazy or abusive and their was a child there biological or adopted I would definitely say why don’t you see the child? Or if she that bad why have you left the child with mother? If I saw no love there for his child it would upset me greatly - I’m very aware of I meet someone in the future that if he is a dad I want to see him being supportive (properly) to his children and how he treats the mother and if there is accusations of abuse etc I would expect for him to be going through the courts for example to get access etc or I didn’t see that I think that would be a red flag for me if he can treat child like that he adopted or biological how would he treat me or relationship ended or his ‘step kids’ it’s just awful isn’t how some people end up treating their children but you’re right obsessing and being upset isn’t helping. Aslong as I’m being a good mum and fully take care of child myself 100 percent isn’t that enough proof that I’m just doing what is right and it’s his problem and his issues that he doesn’t want to see his child ? X

OP posts:
Hekatestorch · 04/09/2021 21:02

The issue is 'looks supportive' often isn't supportive.

Exh has the kids 50:50 when we first split. He wouldn't consider anything else. He appears to do alot with the kids, takes then away etc and the kids loved him. From the outside he looked very supportive.

From the inside he insisted on 50:50 because he was convinced I would go for CMS. He became self employed around the time we split. I would get next to nothing. He was telling everyone I left him for someone else, including my own parents who believed him. No one seemingly could believe I left because he was abusive. Because, outwardly, he appears great. He left me in huge amounts of debt, that I have only sorted this year.

I have to provide school uniforms, I have to pack ds off with what he needs every week. Every week something doesn't come back. Water bottle, lunch box, coat. I have to buy spares to keep here. The clothes he has often don't fir or are tatty. So I buy new clothes, throw the ones ds comes back in and send him back in new so ds actually has decent clothes at his.

I have had several debt letters to home because of things he did, that I didn't know about when we were together. Including a joint claim for tax credits after we split. So my budget kept becoming tighter and tighter.

He let the kids sleep in til midday on his weekend, so when I got them back on the Sunday they wouldn't go to sleep and be awful Monday morning. He never remembered their swimming kit. Couldn't ever pick them up on his day if they were sick.

Has moved 6 times in 6 years. Including moving in with 2 women who had their own kids. Then moving out again.

Dd 17 and will only see him once every few months for a few hours. Ds (now 10) prefers to be here most nights. Ds just refused to stay more often and he wasn't bothered enough to really stop it. He knows inwomt gonto CMS, because I will barely get anything and it's not worth the hassle. He has also told one girlfriend that I do claim CMS, which is why he is always skint.

I do have a long term partner who lives here now. He moved in just before lockdown when we saw it coming, so he could help home school while I worked. He is more supportive of the kids than their own dad.

This is why I don't care what people believe. They will believe him anyway. I don't owe them justification. U have provided them with a consistently supportive and calm household full of love. He hasn't.

I am now speaking to my own parents again and they provide more support than their father, even though they live an hour away.

Supportive from the outside, can still be shit. Which is why new partners are often taken in. You don't need to prove anything

Ijsbear · 04/09/2021 23:10

what you've got there OP is technically known as A Shit.

from the look of it you're banging your head on the wall trying to understand Why and How could he do this. Why? because it's convenient for him. How? because he's selfish and kinda bankrupt as a person, and I don't mean money.

The hard truth to face is that he doesn't care, will do anything he can to avoid his responsibilities.

You have a choice: to face up to that and take a deep breath and look after your daughter's wellbeing and try to handle her distress over her father's abandonment, or to keep banging your head on the stone wall of his indifference. He isn't going to care, he never will.

I'm sorry. Heartbreaking for your daughter and for him, but better to face the cold hard fact and build warmth and love with your daughter, without him.

lilmishap · 05/09/2021 00:02

Any bloke who just forgets their own kid has a serious lack of empathy for the child, adopted or biological makes no difference to how the child feels about the abandonment.

Sadly not enough women recognise that, too many women do fall for the "she's made it too hard for me to see them' or 'she's so crazy/volatile/abusive' BS without questioning why he's left his child with such a terrible woman.

You can't control what he says, or what they will believe and that does sting like fuck but over time you will start to just not give a toss.

But it is a real headfuck at first and I'm sorry to admit I wasted far too much time trying to set the record straight when I first became aware of the crap being spouted about me. Because it hurt/enraged me.

Buildingthefuture · 05/09/2021 06:15

OP, he’s a massive twat. But nothing you say or do will ever make him admit that….but I firmly believe, on some level, he knows. No matter what lies he tell, or stunts he pulls,he still has to face himself in the mirror and accept, deep in his soul, that he is not a good person because the one person you cannot lie to is yourself!
I’m sorry you are going through this, it’s vile. And yes, I would ABSOLUTELY run a mile from a man who was NC with his DC!

mamamalt · 05/09/2021 06:26

There was actually recently a thread about a situation really similar to this one! But it was written (apparently) by the new wife.
She said that he had told her that his ex has adopted mainly alone and he had had very little to do with the child and so no didn't see them as it wasn't really anything to do with him. I think they were trying for a baby and the main point of the OP was that she was upset that he had already experienced all the 'firsts'. She didn't seem too bothered that he had clearly lied and lied about the whole situation and was a total scum bag for abandoning his child. She was unhappy when all the posters basically told her this. So I would say women that find what your ex did acceptable are few and far between!! I'm sorry for what you and your daughter have been through.

Ele01 · 05/09/2021 14:38

I’m reading the replies now ... sounds like people have had similar experiences or know of a similar situation - so from conclusion I really do take from this that regardless of the excuses ‘crazy’ ‘abusive’ ex partner I’m taking that if this was to the extreme case the other parent would report it and seek communication either through the court or lawyer to make sure their child is ok and being taken care of with this ‘crazy’ ex wife - normal men who are abused for example don’t just discard or emotionally and physically abandon their kids? - so there really is no valid excuse to discard a child from a divorce be it bio or adopted - physically by not seeing the child and emotionally just cutting off. Peoples opinions do give more perspective, and as someone commented it was very much similar trying to think up excuses and metaphorically banging my head against a wall not being able to come up with why my child’s dad would be so cold during a divorce it was like he didn’t love her calling her ‘legal only’ to me - what if my daughter heard that? That would be so horrible - so I’ve tried to double up my love for her and just give her some normality , but I’m still having help from relate counselling so that I can move on healthier from it x

OP posts:
Ijsbear · 05/09/2021 16:54

good decision Ele. I'm so sorry he's like this. My own adopted dad discarded me when his second wife came along. The difference is that I didn't have a loving mother who could help cushion the situation and help me adjust and come to turns with it, whereas your daughter has.

If you're careful about how you handle it your daughter has a good chance of growing up without too much damage (eg don't bring it up first, but if she asks "sometimes some people don't quite understand how to love properly but I'll always be there for you")

IveGotASongThatllGetOnYNerves · 05/09/2021 17:09

He's a piece of shit.
He clearly never saw her as his daughter. What a louse.
Thank goodness your daughter has you Flowers don't waste time trying to understand how he could do and say all that he's done. He's a bastard, it's as simple as that.

Thisisworsethananticpated · 05/09/2021 17:31

He’s the bad one
That’s all I can say
He can call you whatever he likes frankly
I’m so sorry Op , many men also walk away from their bio children also
But it’s painful and upsetting
I send strength x

lilmishap · 05/09/2021 17:37

I just wanted to correct something in my above post, there is a difference between the impact on bio and adopted kids because bio kid will not have already had to deal with the loss of a family when their dad abandons them and adopted kids have already experienced the loss of a whole family when abandoned by their 'second chance' dad.

It's been bugging me since I posted it.

You never know where you'll be in 12/24 months time and you may well be counting your lucky stars that he did this because it allowed you to meet another man who isn't such a dick.

Signoftimes · 05/09/2021 17:56

I’m a parent (father) of an adopted daughter of about the same age plus we also have a biological son. Fortunately I am married and generally happy. I could not imagine never having contact with my daughter or son. I would die inside if that was the case

Ijsbear · 05/09/2021 21:25

You're a way better man than my dad then sign

Signoftimes · 05/09/2021 21:57

Thankyou @ljsbear. I try to be. I’m not perfect by any means but I don’t think I am that bad. I am truly sorry your dad was not the same, I just find it hard to understand x

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