Some people thrive on manipulating others, living comfortably off of deceit and exploitation.

When one family’s twisted game spiraled out of control, they never expected to lose everything—including their own daughter.

Read on for all the details.

Accused me of calling DCS, had life ruined.

My Cousin, her mother, and her husband have always lived life by exploiting others, be it family members, the government, or whoever they can.

My cousin’s daughter, 8, used to spend more time with me and my sister at our mom’s house than she did at her own, because she always said her mom and dad didn’t love her.

The exploiting of people was bad enough as it was.

They explain the details of their exploitation.

Cousin pulled daughter out of school in 2nd grade and started “homeschooling” her because she claimed the school let daughter get bullied so much that she cried to stay home from school every day.

However, the truth of the matter is that she needed an excuse to not work, because she is too lazy. She never actually homeschooled her daughter.

The mother isn’t the only one mooching off of others.

Husband didn’t even want a kid when she was born, but for some reason, he married cousin after they had her.

He is a mechanic at a local car shop but had also been getting unemployment once a week because he was being paid under the table by the garage.

Grandma just sits back and lives off of husband the same way cousin does. Cousin also babysat the kids in the neighborhood.

Their financials never did add up.

They were 80 grand in debt with 3 brand new cars that they could barely pay for, plus the house, and other bills.

Somehow they were able to pay on a mechanic’s salary, babysitter salary, and unemployment.

I wound up having to spend a few months with them at one point, while I was looking for a place of my own. Daughter and I are really close to each other.

Their young cousin confided in them some pretty worrying information.

She tells me everything that happens and everything that is said.

I knew some of the abuse that was going on, but I also knew that I wanted to deal with it on my own time, which didn’t include DCS.

They were meticulously compiling evidence they later plan to use against their family.

Where I live, it’s against the law to knowingly not report abuse, but I was dealing with it through the courts, trying to get them to give me custody without involving DCS.

I had enough video and audio proof of the abuse that once the court date came, I would have gotten her, and cousin would not have known what happened.

Then another twist of fate got the young cousin out of the house for an extended period of time, which is just what her case needed.

One day, a couple of weeks before the court date, daughter stepped on a nail while she was playing with her friends. It went all the way through her foot, and she wound up in the hospital for 11 days due to it.

I’m sure they kept her that long because they were waiting on DCS.

Two days after she got out of the hospital, DCS knocked on their door.

She spills all the details.

Daughter told the case worker everything, even going as far as to say she would rather be dead than to be treated that badly by her parents.

DCS case worker also talked to me, and I told her everything I knew and what I was currently doing through the courts.

Cousin and husband knew there was a court hearing coming up that involved daughter, but they had no idea who was going after her. The case worker said she was going to handle all of that now.

The family began pointing fingers.

Caseworker left to do whatever it is they do after the first visit, and then the blame game started.

I got blamed for being the one that reported them to DCS and promptly got kicked out onto the street.

Here comes the revenge.

Their relative starts spreading the news far and wide of their family’s misdeeds.

I called the local business licensing office and reported the garage for paying people under the table.

I called the unemployment office and told them that husband was being paid under the table by a garage that he was working at.

I called all of the parents of the kids cousin was babysitting and told them that cousin was under investigation for child abuse by DCS.

I also called the school board and reported the falsified homeschooling records to them. I explained that DCS was looking into it.

Then the consequences started piling up.

Husband lost his job and his unemployment. The garage had to pay a huge fine, which they sued husband for.

Most of the parents stopped using cousin for babysitting as soon as I let them know. The few that didn’t stop using her for babysitting right away, stopped after they lost the house.

Of course, all three of their cars were still being paid for, too, so they lost them.

Ultimately, this domino effect led to a much better housing situation for the abused cousin.

With no home, no car, no jobs, and no money, DCS took daughter and gave custody of her to the next living relative that had the ability to raise her.

That was me.

When they kicked me out, I took my savings back home and stayed with mom and sister for a few weeks.

Then, things started falling into place for their new life.

As soon as their house went back on the market, I bought it.

Now, I have their house and their daughter, and they are all in jail for differing levels of child abuse and fraud.

I also put daughter back in school, and sister and mom come by to babysit the kids from around the neighborhood while I’m at work.

They muse over what would have happened if they never intervened.

See, if they hadn’t accused me of doing something I didn’t, they would still be free to fraud people out of money all they wanted, in their house.

But without daughter being there, because, had it played out in court, or they hadn’t blamed me for calling DCS, I would have left well enough alone on all the reports I made about everything I knew.

Their “perfect scheme” would ultimately unravel, leaving them with nothing but regrets and a court date.

What did Reddit think?

The world could use more people willing to speak up for what’s right.

The author of this story is a hero!

It’s hard to overstate just how important this intervention was for the life of the young girl.

This commenter offers more kudos for handling the situation gracefully and heroically.

This family’s web of lies got tangled beyond repair, trapping them in a mess they couldn’t escape.

Thanks to the kindness of a relative, now their daughter can finally know real care and stability.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.