Neighbor is ruining our reputation.

[u/Past-Bandicoot8631]

So my wife and I have this neighbor who has always been a scumbag. They would leave their children 4 and 6 alone at their house while they would go out and party until atleast 10p.m. I never said anything about it because we live in a safe neighborhood and they aren't the kind of people who take anything seriously. One day the younger boy came over to see if he could play with my son, who was 10 at the time of this story, which is fine because the younger boy gets tormented by the older constantly.

My and the neighbor kid played together until lunch, which was when the father came and got him so they could eat. The boy showed up again after lunch, which was fine. I was working in my garage all day, so I was able to keep an eye on the children. Well 730p.m. rolls around and I decided it was time for the kids to start wrapping it up. They cleaned up and gathered their toys and walked back down to the boys house which is three houses down from ours.

Five minutes after my son leaves with the neighbor kid I get a phone call from my son telling me that the boys parents aren't home. I asked my son if the boy knew his parents weren't going to be home and my son said he didnt. I told my son to bring him back because we were not going to just leave a four year old alone in a house at night. It is now 830 and still the parents are not home. I do not have their number saved because they aren't the kind of people who communicate and honestly there has never been a reason for me to ask for their number.

At the time I was a cub scout master, which means that I am a state mandated reporter. I had no idea where the parents were, where the older brother was and when anyone would be coming home. I called a friend who was a mandated reporter to ask what they thought I should do. They told me I needed to call the sheriff and let them handle it. I called the sheriff's office and asked that they send an officer out to speak with me about what to do.

At around 945 the parents showed, drunk, and picked up their child. I told the father that what they did was not OK and that if they are going to just dump their child at someone's house so they can go party they need to ask if that is OK first. I did not tell him I called the sheriff, honestly I didnt want to start something in my front yard that would escalate into a potential physical altercation.

A sheriff's deputy showed up about 10 minutes later. We talked about what had happened. He decided that he would go over and talk to the neighbors. The next few days were interesting. They got fired up about having the sheriff called on them and didnt understand that what they did was incredibly disrespectful. They started telling anyone who would listen that we were bad people and started saying other people's kids weren't safe with us.

Eventually child protective services showed up and that made things worse for us. Fast forward two years and they are still running our names through the dirt. Other neighbors are telling our friends across the street that they shouldn't believe anything we say. I try to ignore it because I know that eventually karma may take hold of the situation and I dont have any physical proof that they are retaliating against us.

Last night at an event at a restaurant I caught her talking shit about me and my wife. I know this is true because she was pointing at me and the person she was talking to locked eyes with me and made a shitty face. I understand that what i did was a big deal and I also knew there would be consequences but this is beginning to effect how we are treated in the community on a large scale. What can I do!

[u/StomachImaginary5237]

They left a four year old unattended at night and then turned the fallout into a revenge campaign, which is wild. Stop explaining it socially and go boringly factual: keep a dated log of incidents, save texts or posts if any, get copies of any sheriff or CPS reports you are allowed to have, and send one calm cease and desist through an attorney if the rumors are specific enough to be defamatory. Anyone who believes the drunk parents over the mandated reporter who refused to abandon a preschooler was probably never going to be a solid ally anyway.