Would you let an estranged parent come back into your life?

[Carson]

If you have an estranged parent in your life, or not currently in your life anymore, would you ever allow them back into your life? I know some people have worse stories to share about their parents. I have never dealt with abuse at the hands of my parents. I have been spanked, but I never thought it was abuse. Maybe now it is, but back then I didn't consider it. It did stop me from misbehaving, but I don't condone it these days. 

Anyway, I have a father who is estranged from my life, along with the rest of my family. But I have been considering talking to him more, because I want to give him a chance to make amends for the past. He wasn't around much, and often left us for long stretches of time. He would sometimes come back, and everything would be good, but he'd act up and leave again. The last time I saw him, was at my sisters wedding, he arrived drunk and then left. But I saw his facebook recently and it looked like he was in good health. So I am thinking about reaching out to him to catch up. But I worry that he will act like he did nothing wrong. All I ever asked from him, was to admit his mistakes and talk to me. 

Anyway, would you allow your estranged parent back in your life? 

[Mila]

I have a friend who was adopted out when she was 3 years old. Her biological father was killed in a car accident when she was 2 and the loss really gutted her mother and messed her up. She was not fit to take care of her and she knew she needed to be loved. She went to live with her uncle (her mother's brother) and she decided after a year, he can rightfully adopt her. It was a hard process for everyone but she said she needed to just find her way in life.

She came back into my friend's life when she was 15 and wanted to make up for everything. It was a long, hard, angry process for my friend but they ended up fixing their relationship after several years. I am not sure I would be able to do this or not.

[Scarlett]

I am not sure. I don't really have a way to relate to this. Without experiences it myself, I can't really answer the question. I had both my parents growing up and while it wasn't the healthiest upbringing (they fought a lot) I was never neglected or abused. 

[Ella]

I would like to think I would just because I am a very forgiving person but had I grown up without one of my parents, that might not be the case for me. I can think of different scenarios in my head but without having the experience of one parent walking out of my life to begin with, I can't really know how I would handle this.