Basically, the main character was abused by her siblings as a young girl, so she hates children (isn't mean to them but goes out of her way to avoid them). Her husband then adopts three children. If he knew about the situation, and if he were a good person, what would drive him to do this?
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His determination to get rid of the nain character's hatred towards children, I think. He'll be doing every effort to change her perspective of them. They won't get bullied or abused since she would avoid them and not being mean to them.
I'm unsatisfied, however, on how she hates children. The ones who abused her were children, no doubt, but hating children in general meant she hated her best friend or everyone children who had no part in her getting bullied. It doesn't make much sense to me because it seems like bullies are the one she's supposed to hate. Maybe you can explain more about this so that readers can accept the reason she's like this.
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I would understand the MC's avoidance of children if it was something along the lines of her believing that children are naturally cruel to others, with little regard for other people.
However, adoption -- in most countries -- is a difficult and prolonged process, especially in this day and age. There are a lot of legal and medical procedures that need to be performed when adopting a child either in the same country or between countries, and I gathered from your first post that you intend for the adoption to be secret until the children get there? If it wasn't, I could imagine your MC and her husband getting in a fight or a heated discussion over it, which I'm sure he wouldn't want.
One of the issues with this is the parameters for adoption. Depending on which country they live in, it can be required for both prospective parents to sign the papers agreeing to the adoption, to be present for interviews with social services if they're necessary, and to provide complete background checks, as well as being of a certain age.
So if you intend for the adoption to be kept secret from her, there's very little chance of that unless the husband practically kidnaps the children, whiiiich I don't think you planned on. I'd recommend looking into specific adoption processes for the general area in which this couple lives, to make sure that your plot could be plausible in the first place.
My first thought is: Would such a scenario even be possible? I don't know a lot about the adoption process, but my understanding is it usually takes a lot of red tape and time/money. A man attempting to adopt children without his wife's consent probably would either a) be denied or b) be discovered by his wife long before the adoption goes through. I feel like you would have to research how he could pull this off in a non-ludicrous manner.
As for why he would do this, it sounds like something is driving him to be a father. Maybe he had his own difficult childhood and wants to be the parent he never had. Maybe his religious beliefs drive him to take care of needy children, and he sees adoption as the best way to do this. Maybe he sees a child as a source of unconditional love that he's not getting from other sources (his wife, family). There's probably many more possible motivations that I'm not seeing.
That said, I question how "adopts children without their partner's consent" could ever be construed as a "good" action. Parenthood is a difficult endeavor, and if my partner forced children on me, I would leave in a heartbeat. I don't want children, so a relationship with someone who desperately wants them just would not work, even if they were "a good person" otherwise.
There's actually a category of abuse called reproductive abuse, where a man forces or tricks a woman into getting pregnant and having babies. I feel like the scenario you describe falls into that category.
As for why she would not want children: After such an experience, I imagine there would be a lot of emotions, such as fear that her children would turn out like her siblings. Or maybe she's concerned about her own financial/emotional stability.
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The one way I think a scenario like that would be feasible is if the one of the husband's siblings and their spouse both died in an accident and the husband was named as the children's guardian in their living will.
There would still be a court hearing where the judge would determine if the husband is a fit enough guardian, but I think, if the husband is the only living relative left and the only other option is for the children to be put into the foster care system, the MC could be persuaded on those grounds to accept the children.
I like @Kyllorac's suggestion, if you want to have an orphan story.
Another thought... think about the children and their particular attributes. Are they old enough to ask for help? One time, one of our neighborhood friends came to our house in an odd mood, and we asked him what was wrong. After some talking, it seems that he came over because his dad had been abusing and he wanted to disappear. So, we let him stay for hours and eventually called the cops on his father.
I think if that happened on a consistent basis with the same kids, the husband might be tempted to adopt.
Another idea... one that doesn't involve the parents dying... is that there are cases where a single parent (usually mom, since most single parents are mothers) is on drugs and basically cannot take care of the kids while on drugs. So, another person steps in. I've talked to some YWSers who have actually done this, even though the YWSers are just teenagers at the time, so it unfortunately is probably more realistic than I would like to think.
Still others are teenagers who are basically abandoned by their parents for some reason or another (the teenager being LGBT is a big one nowadays, but I've known people who've gotten thrown out for other reasons) and the teen is homeless. So, people have taken in these teenagers who are uncared for and eventually adopted them.
One of my best friends actually was disowned by her mother when she was a teenager because... of a lot of reasons. Honestly, the mother was kind of an evil lady, from the sounds of it. At one point, her mother told her (and she was not even 18 at the time!) that if she wanted to have a home, she would have to beat up this one person. My friend refused, thinking that her mother couldn't be serious, and went somewhere with her friends. Then, when she came back, all her stuff that she owned was dumped out of the house. So, she had to beat up the person to have a home. (She went in between foster home and the abusive home with her mother... fun stuff.) Anyway, she finally got tired of that situation after being disowned for the fifth time, and her grandma (who she was always told was an evil person, but she eventually found out that her grandma was actually quite nice) informally adopted her. No paperwork needed... her mother didn't care about her at all. The mother was actually happy about this... she wanted to find out what her inheritance might be. UGH.
None of these would be formal adoptions though... until the process came through, at least. But, sometimes parents don't give a f-- and you can do these sorts of things.
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