Family means different things to different people.

For some, it’s that thirty-person get together, crammed into one house, with all the people you love on a special occasion.

For others its a handful of people, not related by blood, who make you feel safe and loved.

Some biological family ties are strong, while for others a happy family means simply loving the people around you as equals, valuing and respecting them unconditionally.

Unfortunately for the young woman in this story, the people around her neither value nor respect her.

And that was never more true than when they stole an expensive article of clothing, to regift to someone else.

Read on to find out what circumstances led to this huge disrespect.

AITA for not giving my 12-year-old niece my $300 vintage tracksuit for free?

I am nineteen and female, and while my mother isn’t my biological mother, she has treated me as her daughter for my entire life, while and my sister is her biological daughter.

A couple days ago, my mom snuck into my room while I was sleeping and stole my vintage tracksuit that I paid around $300 for.

She gave it to my niece (female, twelve-years-old) to take to school and wear.

I found out that she was even wearing it later in the day because my Mom told me she would “pay me back” for my tracksuit because my niece “really liked it.”

Let’s see how she reacted to her mom’s strange behavior.

I immediately got upset and told her that it was not hers to give away, nor did I consent to my niece having it.

My mom got upset until I put my foot down and said that I paid for the suit with my money, and it was not hers to tell anyone else they could have.

Later that day, I asked my niece for it back, and she tried to lie and say that she didn’t have it – even though it was actively on her floor in front of us.

When I pushed for it, she made a face and reluctantly pulled it out of her bag like I was a teacher asking for her phone or something.

But this wasn’t the end of it.

For hours after, everyone in the house avoided me like I was being selfish for not giving up a $300 tracksuit (that no one else helped pay for) to a middle schooler for no reason besides the fact that she “really liked it”.

Mom kept asking about the tracksuit and asking if I’d be willing to give it away and I said no.

Instead, I redirected her to the website of where she could get one that wasn’t like mine but from the same brand.

I even offered to help her get her one for Christmas.

Despite this, the treatment from her family kept getting worse and worse.

Later, my sister went out drinking and texted me, threatening me over the tracksuit.

She threatened to “call HER Dad” (my dad) and snitch on me for having tattoos and a boyfriend (because apparently I’m not an adult woman in college who can do those things).

She said I was selfish and ordered me to give her the tracksuit (to which I said no).

She said I was trying to “play them” for not giving up my clothes to her (even though all throughout my life, she and mom take clothes that were mine and give them to her kids without even asking me).

And the sister got increasingly toxic as the conversation went on.

After a long list of threats, she told me to remember that she came first and that she matters more.

She told me that Mom wanting to buy it herself took away from my sister’s money (because she doesn’t have a job and asks Mom for money), then called me “broke” and a “leech”.

I checked out of the conversation after that and she eventually gave me a half serious apology.

AITA?

Despite taking in this girl as her own, it seems clear that the mom and her biological daughter still see this young woman as not quite one of them.

The very fact that she feels she can just take the woman’s possessions and redistribute them as she sees fit, offering payment as a token gesture, shows how little they respect her.

It’s completely unfair, and she shouldn’t have to live with this situation.

Let’s see what the Reddit community thought of this.

This person agreed that her mom and sister are toxic.

While others highlighted the mom’s behavior for exactly what it was: theft.

Meanwhile, this Redditor thought that this woman was actually the only person who wasn’t in the wrong.

She’s not safe here.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.