Taking in a foster child can turn your world upside down, but for one dedicated guardian, it became a heartwarming mission.

Enter Maya, an 8-year-old girl with a traumatic past, now flourishing in a loving environment.

However, when a decision to enroll Maya in a private school was met with criticism from a family member, tensions soared.

Read the story about how a compassionate act turned into a family feud.

AITA for refusing to help my sister with her kids after she said I was wasting money by putting my foster daughter in private school?

I have been fostering Maya (8) for about 7 months now.

I work at a children’s hospital and Maya came in around 10 months ago with some pretty horrific injuries.

She was in the hospital for 2.5 months and had 3 surgeries and a lot of PT and OT.

She didn’t have any family so I took care of her while she was there.

Well that’s a wholesome start…

I got her some clothes and toys, learned how to do her hair, watched Frozen 50 times, stayed the night before/after surgeries or when she had a rough day, I cooked for her, introduced her to fruits and vegetables.

I ended up falling in love with this little girl and had to keep her.

I was able to get licensed pretty quickly because of my job so when she came home from the hospital, she went straight to me.

Amazing.

The public school sent a teacher to the hospital then the house for a while, then when she was able to go to school she was put in the special ed class in a public school with a plan to eventually get her in mainstream classes.

There weren’t exactly any problems with the public school or her class, it just wasn’t a good fit.

She wasn’t making friends, wasn’t making any improvements with their speech therapist, wasn’t learning much even though her teachers tried and her school got her 5 hours/week of tutoring, and she’d hold my hand and take a nap the second we got home (she’s not much of a napper).

Well, that doesn’t sound quite right.

I decided to look at private schools and found a Montessori inspired school around 45 minutes from my house.

We took a tour, she did the assessment, and she got in.

She started in March and she’s doing great. She’s speaking more and more clearly, she’s learning so much, and she even has 2 friends.

The school is expensive though.

After my financial aid I’m paying $1200/month for her tuition and when she starts going to aftercare it’ll be another $450/month.

Woof.

I was talking to my sister about Maya and this school and how she and her husband might want to consider it for their older daughter (2, the preschool starts at 3) and she asked why I’m sending a kid I might not get to keep to private school and that it would be a waste of money if she goes to a family member.

I told her not to worry about me “wasting” my money on Maya and that I’m happy to pay if it’s helping her.

She kept pushing and I told her that if this is how she feels about my kid I will have to distance myself from her and will not be helping with her kids anymore.

Now she’s calling me sensitive and claims that I’m abandoning my family.

AITA?

Despite the love and commitment shown to Maya, not everyone sees eye-to-eye on what’s best for her.

The heart wants what it wants, but sometimes, family drama gets in the way.

Here’s what the people of Reddit had to say about it…

All this person sees is love.

This person thinks her sister is downright cruel.

This person thinks OP’s money is OP’s way.

Looks like fostering love and education just doesn’t add up for some family members!

The sister sounds like a less-than-stellar individual.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.