'AITA for cutting my family off after my stepmom cut my daughter's eyelashes?'

"AITA for cutting my family off after my stepmom cut my daughter's eyelashes?"

I (28F) have a daughter (8) who we’ll call Marie. Marie spent every other weekend with my dad (60) and my step mom (70). They were extremely close as I was a single mom who worked 2 jobs and they watched her so every day so I didn’t have to pay for daycare.

The last time she stayed over there she came back the next day with her eyelashes cut off. Marie had pink eye that developed overnight according to stepmom and Marie woke up with the sticky stuff on her eye unable to open it. Stepmom claims she used a warm wash cloth but Marie came home with her eyelashes cut on one eye with a completely different story.

According to Marie, stepmom got frustrated when the wash cloth wasn’t working so she cut them. Marie said she told her not to do that and stepmom didn’t listen. Also told me she didn’t push stepmom anymore because she had scissors to her face and was scared.

I immediately called step mom and she didn’t answer so i texted her to call me when she had time, thinking I would just have an adult conversation with her. I called my dad to see if he could she'd some light on the situation. He had no idea and was furious.

She ends up calling me back and instead of talking to me she starts screaming at both me and Marie. Proceeds to call my daughter a liar, a terrible person, and delusional. I don’t like her reaction so I hang up the phone. But I do question Marie if her story was 100% true. She didn’t back down or change her story so I believed her (still do) and stood up for her.

During the fit stepmom is throwing, she starts sending texts about how Marie should have blamed it on someone else and how awful of a child she is. I tell her i’m standing up for Marie and eventually block her number because she wouldn’t leave me alone.

The next day stepmom shows up at my house unannounced demanding that i force my daughter to talk to her alone and I didn’t think it was a good idea but I ask Marie if she would like to speak to her. She says no so I don’t force her. Step mom proceeded to start screaming about how I need to tell her she “has” to and I told her no.

I told her that she had no right to show up to my house unannounced demanding anything and to leave. After this she sends me a message on Facebook (I don’t get on there much so I forgot about blocking her there) saying she was just going to tell her to change the story and say someone else did it and she would back her up to keep her from getting in trouble.

Pretty much admitted she was going to tell her to lie. I call my dad to tell him about this and he ignores me. After this I decided she was no longer welcome in or around my home or Marie.

I end up having another conversation with my dad to tell him all of this, and I guess he believes stepmom even after I sent him screenshots with proof of everything. I tell him he can still come see Marie but stepmom wasn’t welcome in my home anymore.

He says no and says he won't see Marie if stepmom can't but is now running around to everyone saying I wont let him see Marie and started another fight with me over that which resulted in me having to block him too. Now that they can't reach me, they are both reaching out to the rest of the family and my in-laws to say I'm overreacting and I won't let them see Marie. AITA?

Here's what people had to say to OP:

neinneinballons said:

NTA. Try to see if you can get authorities involved, because your stepmom's behavior is beyond worrying and you might need her actions documented if she escalates. Your approach to parenting, asking your kid, believing her and supporting her decision is remarkable.

Special_Lychee_6847 said:

I was going to say "screenshot the fb message, and directly share on fb, so the extended family knows full well why she is dangerous around your child." But since they involved freakin' CPS, knowing that she did what she did, lawyer sounds like a much better idea. NTA.

Long-Oil-5681 said:

Scissors near my child's face? NO. You think my child has a contagious illness and don't contact me to make sure the treatment course is safe? NO!! You then try to bully my child for telling the truth, then show up to my house to harass them?

She's lucky that a doorbell camera didn't catch this because I would gave posted and sent it EVERYWHERE like the millennial I am. NTA.

iknowsomethings2 said:

NTA. I’d send those screenshots to every family member and social media if you want since they’re spreading lies. Then I would go to the police and see if you can press assault and harrassment charges. And/or a lawyer for a cease and desist and defamation suit.

NoBrainCellCat said:

Considering she is 70, I feel like there could be an underlying condition. Nonetheless, your daughter is not safe with this woman and I wonder if there have been other incidents that aren't as serious, but still concerning that you don't know about. I would not allow your daughter around that lady. NTA.

use_your_smarts said:

Hope you took screenshots of the Facebook message. NTA. Cutting someone’s eyelashes is wild.