My ex-husband made one comment once upon a time that suggested he had an inappropriate feeling about one of our children. Our other child (teen) has symptoms (depression, SI, suicide attempt) that are sometimes suggestive of someone who has experienced abuse. I have no proof that my ex sexually abused our children, nor any clear worrisome episodes other than the one comment. My teen is pretty open with me and she says she doesn't remember any abuse.

I shared with my T that I worry something has happened to my child, but I don't have any evidence. I did share some episodes of physical neglect and abuse of an animal. T initially said it wasn't reportable. When I came to the next session, she had thought about it and thought she needed to just check with authorities whether what I had told her was reportable. I gave her more history during that session and she changed her mind again and felt it was not something she should call about.

Because I have a lot of guilt and pain over trying to figure out what I could have done or can do differently to help my teen with her pain, T has suggested my child join me for a couple of sessions.

I am terrified that she will bring something up that is in a grey area or reportable. My ex is raising other children and if the authorities were contacted about his past behavior and this got back to him, I am afraid of how angry he would be. Sometimes I feel that my T is being more cautious about covering her professional *** than thinking about what would truly be in the best interest of my kids and his newer kids.

Intellectually I know that I should be willing to endure his anger and fear of violence if it means it could possibly protect the children he is surrounded by now, and bring some healing to our child, if he indeed does have a problem. I also know that child protective service agencies fail kids all the time. I'm worried that if something comes up that is reportable, only my kids and I will be damaged by it and no one will be helped.

I have to admit that I'm really regretting bringing this up with my T and I don't want to go to the family sessions.