‘I Want to Adopt My Sister’ — The BoRU Update That Made Reddit Cry, Explained

The original post reads like someone working through a decision in real time. It isn’t polished. The OP is a young man, recently bereaved, asking a forum of strangers whether it’s reasonable to take legal responsibility for a sister he barely knew until their father died.

The early replies do something Reddit rarely does well: they slow him down. Lawyers, social workers, foster parents and adopted adults all weigh in to explain that ‘adopt my sister’ is shorthand for a process that takes months, requires home studies, and rarely happens cleanly when other relatives are in the picture.

The first update is procedural. The OP retains a family lawyer, files for guardianship rather than adoption, and details the conversations with his sister about what she actually wants. The thread shifts from anxious to methodical.

The middle updates are where the thread becomes something more. They’re almost domestic — describing furniture for a bedroom, school enrolment, the negotiation of bedtime in a household that suddenly has a teenager in it. The drama is gone. The detail is what carries it.

The final update lands without grandstanding. Guardianship is granted. The sister is doing well. The OP describes the relationship as ‘older brother who is also the responsible adult,’ refusing the easy framing of ‘I became her dad.’ The choice of language is the reason this thread sits where it sits in the BoRU canon.