My husband is pushing for us to take foster custody of our niece while his sister (her mom) goes through drug treatment. I know it’s the right thing to do, but I already feel stretched very thin by full-time work and being the primary parent for our three kids in middle school. My husband was more involved when the kids were little and how much I do at home is already a huge point of friction in our marriage. He took a promotion and disappeared into his job, mostly because he incurred significant medical debt a few years ago and we have to pay it off. Right now, I’m unwillingly the person who cooks all our meals and grocery shops. As someone with an anorexia history, this whole chore makes me anxious to tears on a weekly basis. My husband’s work schedule means he can’t take it on, although he’s been trying to get better hours to change this.
Our niece has pretty restrictive eating issues (think: ARFID) in addition to a serious allergy to a very common food. Fostering would involve normal challenges (emotional adjustment, therapy, new school, scheduling), which I think I could handle for a few months. But the idea of having to rework most things we eat and keep in the house pushes me over the edge. I already hate this whole task and having to do all of it again from scratch seems impossible. What can I do?
—Ungenerous Aunt