HORRIBLE SECRET!!!

by Stressed-out
(SYDNEY/AUSTRALIA)

I've been holding back a very horrible secret.

One of my neighbors is a single parent with a little girl 8yrs old now.
He is a drug addict (Various drugs), alcoholic and gambler. Her mother is also a drug addict, so she left her with him and never returned.

When I first met that little girl, I realized how neglected and malnourished she is (still is), All her clothes were dirty or don’t fit, her shoes were torn ect...
I soon realized it’s because her father is all of the above!

He walks around in the same clothes for almost a week and doesn’t shower. He absolutely stinks.

So I began buying them new clothes, underwear, sox, shoes, toys and food.
All those things were so welcomed by him.

Soon after he began asking me to lend him money, so I did but hardly seen a cent back! He confessed to me that he gambles and needs help.

So, so many times I've had to bail him out by giving him most of my food so he and his daughter don’t starve. I'm also on welfare benefits and barely getting by. So I stopped speaking with him.

The troubling fact is; awhile back I was sitting in the backyard of the apartment block and I spotted his daughter playing at her end of the yard, so I called her over and asked if she was hungry. She replied yes, so I went inside and got her some fruits. She sat beside me while I was peeling her an apple, and that’s when she said to me; "I have sex with my daddy. My daddy has sex with me"...

I was so stunned in disbelief,!! My mind could not even comprehend what just came out of her mouth!

I don’t know what to do. Just the thought of going to the police and having to stand witness in court terrifies me, What if it’s not true? I need Help. This is affecting everything about me. I'm questioning myself --how can I sit back and do nothing?

I know what a dirty and vicious person he is. So violent. He even punched his own elderly father and put him in hospital. Plus so many other nasty things that he's done to other neighbors. He has no respect for anything or anyone.
I'm thinking what would he do to me if I go public about this.

I have kept this to myself, I honestly don’t know what to do from here???


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Although you had good intentions by helping your neighbor’s child, the problem is greater than you ever could have imagined.

Your neighbor is an addict and a gambler. He is not capable of caring for himself, let alone a child. He may or may not be having sex with this child, however, the only one who can evaluate this child welfare.

I don’t know what the laws are in Sydney, but here, you can make a confidential call and report your concern. This child is in an abusive environment and child welfare will make a house-call and look into this.

If you want to give the child food etc., continue to do this, but be aware that the father may lash out at her if he disapproves for any reason. Because he’s a drug addict, you cannot predict how he will react, so do this discreetly.

Find out if others in the building have noticed the neglect. They too can make confidential calls to add pressure to help the child’s circumstances. There may be other family members who are more capable than the father to take care of the child, but only child-welfare has the authority to find this out and to do something about it.

All the very best to you.