Posted by sunny10 on December 1, 2004, at 13:26:24
In reply to Re: 16 year old's legal rights? ...safety first..., posted by GeishaGirl on December 1, 2004, at 9:06:58
As a divorced woman with a child, I can tell you that I have heard stories of courts granting the requests of children as young as 13 years old on a case by case basis.
You do have the right to call Child Services in any case. Be sure to ask them to assign a pyschologist to determine the abuse- and that they must speak to the child before the adults even know that she will be talking to anyone. Emotionally abusive people such as your stepmother are very good at scaring the child into keeping quiet. They are also very good at lying during their own interview, so be forewarned. The court will be surprised that you want a pyschologists opinion- and more likely to be convinced that you are only interested in helping your sister. And so far, I have only seen the who called Child Services win any cases. Even when the caller was the abuser! Be first.
I realize this is advice, and you may not be ready to act on this or anything just yet. I just thought I'd offer my experiences.
poster:sunny10
thread:422562
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20041122/msgs/422902.html