My Sister-in-Law Secretly Ran a DNA Test on My Toddler and Tried to Disgrace Me

A Reddit user shared a story about his sister-in-law’s attempt to expose what she thought was a deep family secret. She tried to stir up trouble and cause drama, but her plan backfired, and instead of creating chaos, her actions ended up having the opposite effect.

He shared:

“I’m a 30-year-old guy with a 6-year-old daughter. There’s no biological connection between us—we’re not related by blood. I grew up as close friends with her mother, but we never had a romantic relationship, just a solid friendship. She had her daughter at 23, with her husband, who was 25 at the time. Tragically, not long after their baby was born, they both passed away in an accident. After that, I felt a deep sense of responsibility and decided to adopt their little girl.”

A few weeks ago, during a family dinner, my sister-in-law noticed an old photo. She asked who the woman in the picture was, and I explained that she was my kid’s mother. The next day, my SIL took it upon herself to run a DNA test on my daughter. She confronted me with the results, which, of course, showed that the girl wasn’t biologically mine. She claimed I was “raising a dead woman’s affair baby.” She didn’t know what she was talking about.

She made this shocking claim right in front of my daughter and the rest of the family. For a moment, I just stared at her, completely stunned, and then I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. I calmly told her that I was well aware Lily wasn’t my biological child—it’s called adoption. Her face flushed with embarrassment, and she stormed out. Now, my brother is upset, saying I embarrassed his fiancée. But honestly, I think she embarrassed herself by secretly testing a child that isn’t hers and then flaunting the results.

It turned out that my brother hadn’t explained to his wife that my daughter, Lily, was adopted. To clarify, she was aware that my friend had passed away, but she probably didn’t realize that my friend had been married or that Lily wasn’t biologically mine. I’m guessing she just assumed Lily was the daughter of my friend and me.

For context, my parents and siblings all know that Lily isn’t my biological child. Lily also knows she’s adopted, and I’ve always been open with her about her birth parents. She doesn’t look like me at all and takes after her biological mother and father. Most people just assume I’m her biological dad, thinking she looks more like her mom, but I don’t feel the need to correct them—it just doesn’t seem necessary to bring it up.

My brother insists my SIL thought she was doing the right thing, but I just don’t see it that way, especially since she crossed such a huge line.

Other Reddit users didn’t hold back, sharing their thoughts on the situation.

• She didn’t even think to just ask your brother about the situation. One question, and he’d have explained the kid is adopted. Doesn’t your brother realize that this shows her character?
  She’s spiteful and believes the worst in people easily, and doesn’t trust him or respect him. She doesn’t respect his family. She doesn’t treat children kindly. She’s self-absorbed and doesn’t think about the consequences of her actions.
  You could sue her for it. Stealing someone else’s chair for a DNA test seems like something protected by law. © believehype1616 / Reddit

• I honestly wonder if that’s a crime as that’s forging medical information or stealing private protected medical information. You could sue her for it. Stealing someone else’s chair for a DNA test seems like something protected by law. Any normal person would have just asked their fiancee (the brother) about it. © believehype1616 / Reddit

• She did this in front of your daughter to maximize the damage she thought she was “exposing”. That is straight evil. © kitkat935 / Reddit

• People like this aren’t doing the things they do to help other people; they do it for the plaudits and attention they imagine they’ll get for “helping”. They build up an entire fantasy scenario in their head, thinking the result will be in their favor “because they’re doing the right thing”, and then get mad if it doesn’t go the way they’ve imagined. That’s why SIL got so angry. © Saxamaphooone / Reddit

• What was the game plan here? What did she want you to do? Abandon the child you raised? And if so, to whom? It’s not like there is some kind of place where you can return illegitimate children if you don’t want them anymore. Keep raising the child but feel terrible about it? There is no way this would help anyone in this situation. It’s just pure terrible. © Square-Singer / Reddit

• This incident should open your brother’s eyes and break it off with her. Instead, he is siding with her. Your future SIL created a very unnecessary situation. Even if you were married to Lily’s mother she had no business running the DNA test. A sane person would not go to that extent, especially not without a reason. She judged wanted to create drama and play the hero. © yeoniesong / Reddit

• She tried to embarrass you with the shocking news your daughter isn’t your daughter, and it backfired spectacularly. Even if you hadn’t adopted your daughter it’s not her place to do any sort of testing on your daughter. She made herself look like the village idiot. © pigandpom / Reddit

• My son who is biologically my husband’s, looks nothing like him in any way. It’s at a point where people stare at him in public because they think our son isn’t his. If someone pulled something like this, they’d never be welcome around our kid ever again. © SadMango3913 / Reddit

In this situation, the DNA test was completely unnecessary because everyone in the family, except the sister-in-law, was already aware of the little girl’s background. But in some cases, DNA tests can uncover long-hidden family secrets, like what happened with these twin brothers.