Life as the "Evil Stepmother" controlled by a 65 LB terrorist referred to as Cinderella.

Have you ever wondered if Cinderella's Wicked Stepmother was really that bad or if she was just really misjudged. I do now!  As a child, I knew she was bad! She was scary and evil to the core. Poor Cinderella was so mistreated and unloved by the greedy, self centered, money hungry, abusive step mother. She was worked to the bone and left with only rags. She was kind and beautiful under her tattered and torn exterior. Who wouldn't want to have Cinderella as a child? Well, this is a scenario that I have found myself tied to. When we adopted our RAD daughter, we thought we would be the fairy Godparents who would sweep in and rescue her. We'd give her the beautiful gown and she would change her life forever. That didn't happen. I sewed her the gown. She wore it once and ripped it. I sewed her a new gown. She did it again. We played that game for almost two years before I learned that Cinderella liked her appearance. I stopped fighting that battle. Soon she started attending school and telling people that we took away her nice clothes, that we make her clean up after everyone else, and that we don't feed her. None of this is true but I realized that by looking like Cinderella, she could be the victim. Along with this role comes power in the form of manipulation. Over the past 7 years, I have seen every kind of judgement from people on the outside wanting to rescue our Cinderella. We have worked our way through 3 separate CPS investigations which have all ended in our favor, but have left us beaten and tired. She has destroyed every part of our home and vehicles including breaking the windshield out of my husbands truck this week. She has stolen from countless individuals and we have quietly tried to pay restitution to her victims so as to limit the collateral damage. This has been expensive and has cured nothing. Even with the reputation she has garnered, she only weighs 65LBs (due to a pituitary problem) and so people don't believe the stories they hear. Every time she meets someone new, I hear them say "oh, look at the little one, she looks so cold," or "don't you have something nicer to wear".  The other 4 children look amazing. They are clean, properly dressed, well fed, polite, and happy. They look like the wicked step sisters (and brother), well cared for while Cinderella is left with scraps. It is no wonder that the Wicked Step-mother looks ugly. She is tired! She is overwhelmed! She wants for Cinderella, what Cinderella doesn't want for herself. So the next time you find yourself crossing paths with a wicked Step-mother, maybe offer a smile and a wink instead of a judgmental eye.