<p>When my D went to her counselor with a couple of other friends about a girl who was cutting herself, that girl was furious, didn’t talk to my D for a looonnngggg time, but that was okay…my D knew she did the right thing, and if that girl was mad at her, it was better she was mad then dead</p>
<p>While this is different from abuse, when my daughter told me that the ‘cool girls’ in middle school weren’t eating lunch because they didn’t want to get fat… I called the school and asked the lunchroom supervisors to keep an eye on them, and also called one of the families (who I know) and told them. They were very glad to know about this - especially as their daughter had been skipping breakfast too, and was already very thin.</p>
<p>Fortunately, my dd and her lunchmates didn’t want any part of it… they like their food…</p>
<p>I was just talking with my sister and I reminded her of a family in town where the father was supposedly beating the boys on a regular basis. Their daughter had told someone I knew. Anyway, in the summer you could see bruises on their upper legs at the swim club. I told my mother but that was the end of it. I doubt it occurred to her to ever get involved. I guess my point is that s–t happenned “back in the day” but now the mentality is to jump in and get HELP.</p>
<p>dke</p>
<p>I think you’ve done the right thing. It’s very hard in these cases because there’s no easy answer. Ignoring a child’s cry for help seems worse to me than alerting a school to a situation that might not be so bad.</p>
<p>And WashDad</p>
<p>I love you, but I still think I’d go through a school I trusted on this. I know my school system and the GCs and I trust them totally.</p>
<p>Yes, the school makes a huge difference. We switched our kids out last year because we didn’t trust the administration’s handling of situations that came to their attention. The people at the new school seem to know what they’re doing. (hopefully!) I asked the GC to keep me in the loop, but for confidentiality she probably won’t be able to tell me too much going forward.</p>