My dad is estranged from two of his siblings, and has been pretty much my whole life. I used to keep up to date with my cousins via nan.not that it was contact directly but I knew they were ok. When nan passed I realised I either had to reach out or never know them. So I did. It was hard - very odd for me to try and connect with my older cousins (I am the youngest) when is not seen them in 25 years. I do know te reasons behind the estrangement, and I respect that ad don't pushing anything with my folks. It's their choice to be estranged. But I have also told them that my relationship with my cousins is my choice and they pulls stay out of it

My family are all interstate. Some I have been able to connect with others have declined. I reached out with pm's through Facebook. I have had to respect their choices, whether they said yes or no. One cousin that I had last seen when our nan married my step pop when I was a toddler is now someone I consider a close friend. It was weird at first. But we both made a concerted effort to chat and get to know each other - and coin out we are very similar. Similar interests. Similar parenting philosophies. Damn shame she lives in Queensland so not a lot of chance to catch up


Do what feels right for you hun. If you think reconnecting is the thing to do, do it. You will regret it if you don't. And the people that have told you to ignore them, well, tell them that you respect their wish to ignore these people but you any build your relationships based on their issues. You an be cautious about letting people in too far without being alarmist and preventing the relationship at all kwim?