Q: A close friend of mine is 13 and she lives in a bad home and I wondered if there is a way to get her out of there?
She lives with her younger brother and doesn't say anything about it to her mother in fear of him being hurt by her mother. Her mother has called her a slut and a whore and told her to kill herself, and my friend is already suicidal and cuts, and her father lives elsewhere but he has given her a revolver to kill herself with. I want to get her and her younger brother away from all her family and get them somewhere where they could be happy and safe...can I do that?
A: Intervening as a private party is not recommended. From your facts there are serious problems at the 13 year old's home. The best approach (and the one that will likely produce the greatest good) is to contact CPS (child protective services. Here is the link: http://dhs.elpasoco.com/Pages/CAPS.aspx . The reporting can be anonymous. The likely result will be that a social worker will be assigned to interview the parents and the child. The parents will likely deny everything (like most allegedly abusive parents do...), but if the child talks (and the evidence of self-harming) there will likely result in a non-criminal plan being created (mostly parenting classes and periodic social worker inspections).
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