16-year-old rejects her father and stepmother's attempts at adoption when they attempt to keep her away from her mother's family: ' I was told I had to make a decision and choose [...] my blended family or my maternal family and I said my maternal family'

It's often said that if you run into a problem in the morning, you ran into a problem. But if you run into problems all day, it's more than likely you're the problem. The same is true for these parents, who have somehow managed to land themselves on not-speaking terms with every single branch of their extended families. If you manage to land yourself offside with one family member or even one intended family, you might be able to argue that they were the problem, but when you've managed to land yourself offside with multiple branches of your extended blended families—well, you might just be the problem.

As I was reading through this teen's account of events, I found myself sympathetic to the father and stepmother's original motivations, wanting the stepsister to be involved and included in the affairs of the blended family. But every good villain has good motivations before doing and demanding unspeakable things in the name of their cause, and the same is true here. Building a blended family is about giving each other space and understanding—not setting demands and laying ultimatums.