Man Threatens to Report Brother for ‘Child Abandonment’ for Leaving Daughter on His Doorstep

A man on Reddit says he almost reported his brother for "child abandonment" after the brother left his young daughter at his house so he could go on a date.

"I have a brother who has a 4-year-old daughter. His daughter's mom passed away because of birth complications and he's been raising her mostly alone ever since," the man explained.

The man shared that his brother recently asked him if he could babysit the little girl for one night so his brother could go on a date.

"I refused cause I'm not experienced with kids and frankly, 'cause I simply don't want to babysit," he admitted.

"My brother kept insisting saying that he's too tight with money to pay for a babysitter, but I kept refusing to do it," the man continued on Reddit.

One evening, however, the man "suddenly heard a girl knocking" at his door. He opened his front door to find his niece on his doorstep, while his "brother was nowhere to be found."

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"I let her in my room and then I started calling him multiple times, but he wouldn't pick up any of my calls. After half an hour I ended up giving him a message that if he doesn't come back in 15 minutes then I'll report him to the police for child abandonment," he recalled.

His brother returned 20 minutes later; thankfully, he hadn't called the police yet.

"He was absolutely furious with me and started berating me literally in front of his daughter, but I eventually made him leave my house with my niece. However, afterward he kept giving me messages about how I failed as both a brother and a uncle, that I proved to my niece that I don't love her and see her as a burden and that I couldn't even allow him this night of fun when he hadn't had sex since his daughter was born," the man continued.

He told his brother that his love life wasn't "his problem," but that "only got him to send even more venomous messages."

"My boyfriend, however, thinks that I'm acting like an a--hole to him and that we could've taken care of my niece for this night without creating a scene," he concluded.

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Users in the comments section had mixed reactions to the man's story.

"Did he even know if you were home? What if you had been out on a walk (he saw a car out front for example) or someone had taken you out? What if you had been drunk or otherwise inebriated? You don't need a reason to not want to watch someone else's child but your brother is out of line. If he can't afford a babysitter for an evening ... he shouldn't be dating," one person wrote.

"It's inexcusable to dump a child on someone's doorstep, the fact that they didn't even bother waiting to see if an adult had opened the door to the child makes it a million times worse," another commented.

"You're not obligated to watch his daughter, and he absolutely shouldn't just drop his kid off without confirmation that she'll be looked after, but being unwilling to help out your widowed brother with a single night of baby sitting is close to the definition of being an a--hole," someone else shared.

"His co-parent (possible partner since op doesn't say) literally died, and [original poster] hasn't helped him with childcare care once in four years? Of course, he is under no obligation to do so, but I can't imagine hating my sisters that much or being that selfish of a person in general. I have very little experience with babies/toddlers, but I learned for my co-worker cause she was struggling with her health so much," another user weighed in.