I don't know how to help my parents anymore. My homeless meth-addicted brother is destroying their lives, and now my dad is using meth too.

TL;DR: My meth-addicted brother has been terrorizing my elderly parents for years by stealing from them, assaulting them, and taking over their property. Now my dad, who is a recovering alcoholic, has started using meth too. I’m trying to help my parents but don’t know what else I can do.

I'm 32 years old, married with three kids, and I have my own home and career. My older brother is 34 and has been homeless and addicted to meth for about five years. I feel like I've reached a point where I don't know what the right thing to do is anymore.

My brother has a 10-year-old son that he has barely been involved with. He's only seen him a handful of times and has never really taken responsibility as a father.

Over the years, he has broken into my parents' house countless times and stolen credit cards, debit cards, cash, and anything else of value. He has physically assaulted both of my parents, knocked my mom unconscious once, and has threatened to kill family members, including children.

My parents are both nearly 70 years old. Instead of getting better, things have become much worse over the last couple of years.

He has been living in tents in their backyard, sleeping on their deck, in their driveway, breaking into their garage, and now he's basically living in the garage full time. Every time he's removed, he eventually comes back.

He's also dragged other homeless addicts into the situation. Random people show up, stay on the property, break into the house, steal things, and create chaos. At one point, people were literally getting dropped off at a nearby bus stop and walking to my parents' property to stay there because everyone knew my brother was there.

He's parked multiple broken-down vehicles on their property and lived in them with people he met on the street.

The neighbors have suffered too. The police have been called multiple times because of arguments and disturbances. He even threatened to kill a neighbor's 14-year-old son over something he imagined the kid said to him. Families have moved away because of the constant chaos surrounding my parents' house.

I've done everything I can think of. I've removed him from the property multiple times, cleaned up the mess, helped maintain the house, and dealt with angry addicts looking for him. It feels like I'm constantly trying to protect my parents.

Recently, my dad told my brother to leave, and my brother responded by smashing the windows and hood of my dad's car.

When my parents called the police, they were told there wasn't much they could do because my brother was considered a legal resident and would have to be formally evicted. That made no sense to me because he moved out around 2012, had apartments and lived with other people over the years, but apparently because he kept coming back, the situation became legally complicated.

Now my brother has actually taken over their garage. He locked my parents out, barricaded the overhead door so it won't open, and they can't even use their own garage anymore.

The situation became even worse last week.

My dad accidentally cut his arm while working with a knife and ended up in the hospital with a serious infection. While he's been there, he's been acting very strangely. At first I thought it was medications or the infection, but he eventually admitted he has been using meth. He says the injury wasn't from injecting drugs, and I believe him, but it's become obvious that he's detoxing.

Years ago, he admitted he had tried meth with my brother once, but now I believe he's actively using again.

The hardest part is that my dad is a recovering alcoholic who has gone to AA for years. He has a very addictive personality, and now that my brother is living on the property, he's basically giving my dad constant access to meth.

I even helped my parents go to the courthouse to start an eviction and restraining order. The filing fee is around $250, and my dad is retired while my mom has severe anxiety and has never worked. They seemed overwhelmed by the process and never followed through, even though they constantly say they don't want him there.

My mom is terrified of my brother. She believes that if she pushes too hard while my dad is in the hospital, he'll break into the house and possibly kill her. At the same time, she still wants to maintain some relationship with him because he's her son.

I've thought many times about physically removing him myself, but I know that could land me in jail and ultimately make things worse. My mom has specifically asked me not to.

I feel guilty because I constantly wonder if I'm not doing enough, but I also feel like I'm fighting a battle that my parents aren't able or sometimes aren't willing to fully fight themselves.

Has anyone dealt with something like this? How do you help parents who are trapped between fear, addiction, and wanting to protect their child? Is there something I'm missing, or is there another way to approach this? I feel like I'm watching my parents slowly lose everything because of my brother, and now my dad may be going down the same path.