Hi. Thank you for the opportunity to ask you fine folks for your opinion.

I am a member of a dysfunctional family. I'm 39 and single and live alone, thank God! However, I'm the adult version of that kid that points out that the Emperor isn't wearing any clothes, and my family seems to despise me for my honesty about our situation. And I've had it with them.

My sister's family is falling apart because of their illusions of their lives. I can't stand my nephews and nieces because they are screaming, angry, attention-desperate kids. My sister is pregnant with their fifth child and no one in the household is working. My brother-in-law is a programmer who doesn't feel like working anymore. They are broke, about to lose everything, and they just don't seem to care.

My mother lives with them and is there for the purpose of being a live-in nanny. Yet she pits them all against each other. Her favorite phrases are, "I don't care," "I don't know," and "I can't." That's basically now how the whole lot of them reply to any kind of obstacle.

These people have nearly driven me to a breakdown once, and I feel like because their lives are out of control and spiraling downward that they are trying to take me along for the ride. But I'm not going with them nor will I be there for them when they're all homeless. I have limited financial means and I am unable to support them in any way. Yet they have brushed off any help I've tried to provide with job seeking, trying to get their family communicating properly, and just generally trying to be upbeat to help them through this situation of theirs.

So, what I would like help with is how can I tactfully say good riddance to these people? They call me and we live in the same town, so I can't just avoid them. I need to tell them that I just can't stand to be around them any longer, but I don't want to be mean about it. Is there any way to do this in a nice manner? Thank you.