Neglected Beardie?

[Homebody]

Update: Last Sunday I offered to buy the beardie off her. She proceeded to throw a fit, basically said "fine, just take it" but pushed us out of the house before I could. She then messaged us and told us not to come back into the house again. That was one of the only things that gave me comfort, was being able to monitor the animals' and childrens' living conditions and make sure nothing even worse was happening. This lead to us calling CPS on her a few days ago, as my fear for my siblings took priority over the animals.

Here's the kicker: CPS haven't showed up yet. It could be any day though. But today she messaged me and said I could pick up the bearded dragon this Sunday, though she wishes I wouldn't, but she's only letting me have her in an attempt to stop any further action. Well, further action has already been taken but she doesn't know yet, so I'm at a loss at what to do.

There's already no saving any relationship between me and her, after CPS shows up she will see it as the ultimate betrayal and not want anything to do with me. That being said, theoretically I could pretend like nothing has been done, play nice and pick up the bearded dragon on Sunday, then CPS will show up later anyway (for hundreds of reasons not related to the beardie anyway). The caller for CPS is kept confidential but she will know it was me anyway.

On the other hand, I almost feel it's better to just leave it alone now and keep my distance, I did what I could, but the wellbeing of my siblings matters more and I don't want to screw anything up. But once CPS shows up, that's every bit of access I had to the beardie, gone. Again though, the lizard is already 13 years old, there's only so much I could do, and I'm looking at the bigger picture and trying to be strategic.

I'm so sorry to hear this. Sometimes you don't get to choose between good and bad, but only between bad and worse. You ask for advice but I don't trust myself enough to advise you, so I will advise you to trust yourself. You are the best person to decide what to do.