I am sorry for your nephews, but more for you, that you have to witness that horror and are unable to do anything.   When my cousin had her second daughter, she had to spend the pregnancy in bed, because of a high risk of abortion. As a result, my aunt half-moved to their house, and took care of the eldest daughter, who was 3 and was a delightful child. Unfortunately, and unbeknowst to any of us, my aunt was in the middle of a bad bout of depression, even with some delusions (she was questioning her self-worth, and she was doubting that anybody loved her. Not an excuse, but an explanation). So she overfed the child, we think to gain her "love", and Claire (the eldest daughter) become very fat. We live in different cities, and the father of the children at the time worked in the middle east, and came home every few months, and he didn't notice at first. As a result, Claire became a little lardsack, and by the age of three, she was obese. When her mother gave birth to her sister, she took the matter in her own hands, but it was very difficult to change those horrible eating habits. My aunt used to make 1 kg chocolate pudding and let the child have it in one go. She was 4, didn't understand why suddenly she could not have her pudding. Now she is 14, and she is fit and beautiful, and the first in her class, but it took almost 3-4 years, and she was bullied in school for her weight, and at first she struggled in school because she was afraid that, when she answered questions, and dragged attention to herself, her classmates would make fun of her, and she suffered, by no fault of her own. My aunt has since undergo medical treatment for depression, but still, doing that to a child is abuse, plain and simple. The suffering that results is terrible, and possibly (I hope not) scarring for life.