Chinese social media has been abuzz about the controversial story of a couple who took their own daughter to court in order to make her raise her toddler brother, because they couldn’t afford to.

According to several news reports in China, a couple who for several years had survived on their child’s monthly allowance alone decided to have a second child. They soon realized that they couldn’t actually afford to take care of the child, so they asked their 22-year-old daughter to raise the toddler on their behalf. The girl, referred to only as Le Le in the media, had managed to support herself through college and was dreaming about building a career for herself when she got the news of her new “job” from her parents. She flat out refused to bring up her brother by herself, so her parents sued her.

Believe it or not, the 22-year-old lost the case and has been ordered by the Court to take up responsibility for her 2-year-old brother. According to Article 29 of the “Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China”, adults whose parents have died or are unable to take care of their underage children have an obligation to take care of their siblings.

Reported just a couple of days ago, this bizarre story has generated quite the controversy on social media, with a whopping 74 million people discussing it on China’s Weibo platform alone. The vast majority agreed that the court ruling was unfair to the 21-year-old woman, as it was her parents who had acted irresponsibly when they decided to have a second child. They could have found some work, or at least consulted with Le Le before conceiving their second child.

According to Chinese news site Two Eggz, ever since China abolished their two-child policy, many couples have multiple children without first taking into consideration their ability to take care of them.

In the past, we’ve written about adults suing their parents for not supporting them financially, and about parents suing their adult children to get them out of their house.