TW: Child abuse

This has been an absolutely maddening three days. This is also going to be stupidly long.

Back story: My (32f) brother, his wife, and their three kids have been staying with my mother since mid to late January. They were evicted from their house that was previously owned by my grandfather before his passing in 2020. My aunt inherited the property and was letting them live there as long as they paid her rent. After years of backed up rent, she finally had to evict them as she couldn't keep paying for the property and was sick of them not helping out. My mom was initially going to let them store their shit at her house, but ultimately decided to take them in. They weren't obligated to make any payments or do anything except get on their feet so they can move into their own place. It isn't a spacious house. Since my mom, one of my other brothers, and uncle were already living there, adding five more people and a dog into the mix was a huge undertaking, but she still invited them to stay. Though the house isn't too big, they mostly kept to themselves. They did their own thing, while everyone else continued living how they were before they moved in.

Fast forward to last week. My SIL had a habit of leaving without notifying anyone to let them know that the kids would need to be watched. My brother works long days so he isn't around during the daytime to help out as much, leaving everyone else in the house to pick up a little bit of the slack concerning childcare. My family didn't mind, but a little heads up goes a long way when the kids like to go outside by themselves. After figuring this out, my mom asked her if she could just let her know when she steps out so she'll know that she'll need to watch the kids. It was a simple request, but it pissed my SIL off and made her think my mom was being noisy for just wanting to know if she's around so the kids can be supervised. I've only added this so you can get an idea of her thought patterns.

Shit hit the fan on Monday. I still have no idea of the specifics, but one of my nephews (12) was either bullying a kid at school or being bullied and not standing up for himself. In the context of the events that followed, I think it was the latter, but no one seems to have a clear understanding of the situation.

So, SIL picked the kids up from school on Monday and brought them home. At this time, my uncle and one of my brothers (not the one married to SIL) were sitting on the porch having a conversation. From what they've said, she walked into the house, put their dog into his kennel (it's a pit bull and she knows the dog fiercely protects the kids) and began violently beating my nephew with both her fists and a metal folding chair. My uncle and brother immediately rushed into the house, pulled her off of her son, and threw her ass out of the house. She was told to get the fuck out of there, but stood outside across the street yelling and berating everyone around (me, my husband, uncle, two of my brothers, and my mom) while also admitting she has every right to abuse her kids. The cops were called (never showed up) and she finally left after almost two hours of yelling at everyone because her mom showed up to usher her crazy ass away.

The next day, we made a CPS report. Later in the day we were contacted by someone else from CPS who wanted a few more details and to inform us that she was going to visit the school the following day. The visit happened today and my 12 yr old nephew tried to downplay the situation, but my 5 yr old nephew told the entire story. (He was unfortunately in the area where the assault took place.) The fucking principal immediately informed my brother and SIL of the visit, an act that is incredibly fucked up and could cost him his job.

They went ballistic, claiming we were trying to get their kids taken away and we'd fucked up. They don't understand how CPS works and think it's set up to just rip kids away from their parents. The same day the report was made, my mom called the principal to let him know about the incident and we've now realized he lied when he told her my nephew looked and seemed fine. We were told after the CPS woman went to visit him at achool, it was clear that he had been hit but was healing. Any signs of abuse would have been evident the day following the assault so yeah, the principal is full of shit.

Since they still had some of their bullshit at my moms house, my brother came by to pick it up and, in similar fashion as his demonic wife, hurled insults at everyone around. He was particularly mad at my mom, the person who'd let him and his family stay under her roof, and kept telling her to go fuck herself. His antics and returning his house key made it extremely clear that he's siding with his abusive, psychotic wife and we can go fuck ourselves. Basically we're the bad guys for giving a fuck about his kids wellbeing and his as well since she has also abused him in the past.

Why do I feel like the asshole? I want them to crash and burn. It's shitty because their failure affects my niece and nephews, but them playing the victim has made me lose any respect I had for them. My brother's response to this has sucked any love I've had for him out of my heart. He doesn't love himself or his kids enough so why should I give a shit? I feel like the asshole because now that they're staying with her family, they won't be able to save money and move into their own place. Her family is going to make them pay rent and probably suck them dry. They've severely burned a bridge and, aside from caring about the kids, I don't give a fuck. We're dead to him; they're dead to me. I'm disgusted that he's protecting an abuser.

Tl;dr--I think I'm the asshole because I want my brother and his abusive wife to never be able to uplift themselves despite knowing their failure affects my niece and nephews.