Depression

[Cuppa]

Trekster I feel for you, stuck between a rock & a hard place. Part of what makes the situation so hard is the feeling like you have no choice in what you can do because the the choices are so limited & unpalatable.
I’m gonna make a some suggestions but I don’t expect you to be enthusiastic about them, particularly the third one.

First one might help, & is probably worth a try. Although you have made previous complaints & reports about your concerns over what is going on next door, I wonder if you could support future reports with video evidence whether this might be enough to get the authorities to act. Showing kids out of control & in risky situations. However filming would need to be done without the knowledge of the next door tenants or it would likely just make things worse. No guarantees that this course of action would get the authoties to act, but at least having a thought out strategy would help you & your wife to feel that thre is something you can do, which is really important ..... & it might help. Just document events & report when you have built up a body of evidence.

Secondly (& potentially in conjunction with the first), I wonder if there may be any value in a concerned but measured & respectful approach to the local aboriginal elders in your area in the hope that if they shared your concerns that they might be able to have some influence over your tenants. I don’t know how you would go about this in your area, & it may take time. My limited experience with aboriginal folk is that time is important in establishing a trusting relationship.

Thirdly, things may get to a point where you decide that it is better to cut your losses & leave rather than to continue living in a situation which constantly drives you down. Accepting such loss would be painful, but staying in the situation feeling helpless is likely to be more painful. Once out of the situation, you would likely feel angry about the loss you had to take, but it wouldn’t be long before you were once again feeling in control of your lives, albeit having to ‘start again’. It’s not fair, but it might be your best option. Continuing to live in this situation which affects all of you clearly isn’t doing you or your family any favours, so if other strategies don’t help, then an early rather than late decision for you & your wife to do what’s best for your kids may be the best thing.

Mate I’m just thinking aloud & feeling for you. I pretty much expect that if you come back to me on this post it will be with a ‘Yes but” response, most folk would, but if I’ve sown even just the smallest seed of hope for a pathway out of this shitty situation, it’ll have been worth it even if it’s hard to recognise right now.

regards
Cuppa.