First I think you may want to talk to her to see what all she will say about it, ask her away from her home sometime, then if you still believe it is happening then you should tell the school, it is better to be wrong in this situation and have her mad at you then to be right and her end up seriously hurt or dead.

That's weird. I would imagine that the school should call CPS to report it, not the abuser to give them a heads up. Go to the school psychologist and confirm this before you tell who is being abused. Otherwise, you do have other options. You can anonymously report it yourself to CPS and get the ball rolling on this. Kudos for you trying to get a friend out of a very bad situation.

I would talk to your friend about what is happening, and strongly encourage her to report this to school officials. Have her make sure that the officials contact the police and/or child agencies as well as the parents. If you complain, and she doesn't, she could deny it, and the parents will still have to be called. This sets her up for even MORE abuse. Thanks for being such a good friend. Remind her that this will never get better on its own until she DOES something about it.

Have you spoken to your friend about this, are you sure she is being abused by him?? I cant understand why the school would call the parent involved if they are the abuser.. isnt there someone else you can tell about this?

Have you spoken to your parents about this? This is bigger problem than you may be able to handle by yourself. I give you alot of credit for trying to help your friend,yet this sounds like it should be handeled by an adult.Talk to your parents or like you say,a school counselor. You can keep your friends name anonymous until you are convinced that he/she will not call the father.Do you have a Pastor/Priest?They too can and will help.Again you are a very good friend to have this concern for your friend.

I would not reccomend reporting it yourself. For one thing, that would be kind of violating your friend's trust, and I don't think reporting it without asking her if that's what she wants is a good idea at all. And even on a more practical level... Abuse tends to instill a lot of fear and insecurity in a person, so if you do make a report without telling your friend, she might even contradict you out of fear of her father and make it that much harder for her to get help. You're afraid of what he might do if you tell someone, now just imagine how terrified *She* would be. If I were you, I would first try to confirm exactly what's going on, and then, if it is the abuse you think it is, do one of two things: 1- Try to persuade your friend to talk to a school counselors about it herself, and be there for support through whatever happens after that. or 2- If you do report it on her behalf, confirm exactly what the school's policy is for abuse reports. I'd suggest bringing up the topic to a counselor in a very non-specific way, just sort of tacking a big "What if..." onto the basics of what's happening and pretending that you're just wondering what they *Would* do. If they only contact the parents, then reporting it is probably not a good idea, because yes, that could be dangerous for your friend. You'd need to make ABSOLUTELY sure that they also contact Child Protective Services, the police, or at least keep a close eye on the situation themselves. Good luck.

yes, tell the counselor

The reason why the school would call the `parent' is because they don't believe the child who is making the accusation. It is in the interests of that child, that the parent is removed from the home and prevented from further contact with the child