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The original was posted on /r/amitheasshole by /u/hakealong on 2024-01-23 23:52:16+00:00.

My (M19) brother (M15) lives with his foster parents, Gail (F, 50s) and George (M, mid 50s). He’s been living with them for the past ten years, they’ve even gotten to the point where they want to adopt him before he legally becomes an adult, but it’s been a struggle.

I do see him occasionally, although usually the time we spend together is overlooked by Gail. She is overprotective of Gene to a fault, she acts as though he is five, not fifteen. They just don’t seem to understand that he is a teenager now, not a child who needs to be forced into conforming to their useless rules.

He isn’t allowed to dictate what he looks like, I once bought him a band t-shirt that he asked for, and apparently it was confiscated for being ‘inappropriate.’ - it was a The Smiths t-shirt. Any sort of ‘alternative’ aesthetic he tries to go for is shut down. He’s not allowed to stay out with his friends past 8pm, and Gail seems to think that our relationship is unhealthy because we hug each other, and because he once fell asleep with his head on my lap.

It was his birthday recently, I took him up to Manchester for it. At one point, we ended up going into Affleck’s, and at the back of one of the shops is a piercing studio. As I had a fair bit of money on myself, I offered to pay for him to get a piercing - he ended up getting his lip done. We even bought him a clear retainer for when he has to go to school.

His parents were not pleased however, and Gene texted me about them getting very upset over it. Last time I came over to their place to see Gene, they started berating me for not asking their permission beforehand, saying that if he got an infection his placement could’ve been jeopardised, and that I had no right to make that call on allowing him to modify his body.

Personally, I saw nothing wrong with it, I mean he’s old enough to decide if he wants a removable piece of metal in his face or not. But now, I am curious what other people would think.