Comforting someone??

Jesus, I wrote a fucking book. But I'm gonna ask the additional question about how abuse cases are handled in the US? Like, if I were to call and report it and it was proved or whatever, what happens next? Are her parents arrested, is she taken into government foster care stuff?

>>18624139
Your call might not amount to anything. Sometimes it takes multiple calls or reports before anything is done. After that a state department will perform an investigation. The investigation strongly depends on interviews with the children or multiple provable pieces of evidence (repeated hospital trips, teachers or therapists reporting unusual injuries or absences, etc.). If there isn't a pretty solid case and she doesn't want her family split, it isn't happening. If it does happen, the parents may or may not receive charges (most likely not), the children will be taken away, and put into the system. Foster care is frequently worse than the original situation in the U.S. (this is what happens when you financially incentivize people to adopt children) and quite often separate the children. Mind you this is not to say that all foster parents are horrible and foster agencies do try to keep siblings together, but it is not always feasible. Those are the risks.

>>18624225
Christ, that sounds like hell. So I don't have much way to legitimately help her without risking her being put in a way worse situation?

gentlebump.

shrug, last bump

What state she live in OP?

>>18626295
Texas!

>>18624139
That's fucked up man. Sorry for you and her. There is very little you can do for her situation. Definitely do not call the police or something. She would 100% deny any abuse and you may end up making her situation worse. I think the best thing you can do is to be there for her right now. Don't push too much, make her feel comfortable in confiding in you. If things get really bad for her and her sibling she will need someone she can absolutely trust to talk to. If things get bad enough that she is ready to make a move like leaving, she will reach out to you.

It is going to be really hard for you to watch this from afar. There's nothing you will be able to do to feel like you are really helping, and you are most likely going to have to watch her go through a very painful and sad adolescence. Abuse victims are already isolated enough by their abusers (always someone with power over them), and ironically they often isolate themselves even more. If you can keep up contact with her without scaring her away or making her shut you out, you could be a literal lifeline for her someday. The fact that you are physically distant and couldn't like, show up at her house, might make her more willing to be open with you (i.e. her relationship with you might be less colored by the fear of her abusers than a relationship with someone more nearby).

>>18626411
I've been worried that there's not much I could do, but I definitely don't mind being there to talk to her about this stuff so I guess I'll just do my best to make sure she knows she can talk to me about anything, and go from there? She's not the most open, but maybe I can get her to at least vent to me more often or something.