Go to the police with teen?

I would take her to the gp and ask them to check her iron. My son of similar age, eats a lot of junk and requests more junk food when his iron is low. He managed to save money after his anemia was treated.

She may be getting food or money from friends. I wouldn't immediately jump to stealing. You need to pin her down on how she gets this stuff, but if she is over eating you also need to discuss this. And like the jumping to stealing jumping to involving the police is really OTT. There are other things going on here on both sides.

So she is 16+? Why doesn’t she have access to money?

Does she has friends who have money?

What did she say when asked?

I’d be focusing on the fact that your child clearly has an issue with eating rather than wanting to scare and punish them.

To be honest I think the eating problems could well be the route of this. If she feels the need to eat more than you approve of, then she needs to get money for the extra food from somewhere. Think of her as an addict. She doesn't want to steal, but can't get her fix if she doesn't, so she does. However much she doesn't want to steal, she will because she needs to. Help her with her eating disorder and the stealing will probably stop.

Take her to the Doctor…. There is obviously something wrong here…. The Police is a ridiculous idea.

It depends if you want to frighten your daughter or understand her.

Imagine turning up at the police station “my DD eats a lot of junk and I think she‘s stealing it”….
I’d be more concered about her binge eating and hiding the evidence.

You need to keep her out of the criminal justice system as far as possible. Hopefully her brain will wire up properly at some point. It's about getting her there safely. I would be more inclined to get her some therapy than hand her in.

You want the Police to parent your daughter?

You can’t take her to the police for that, they don’t have any evidence of her shoplifting apart from what you are saying. To be fair, they just won’t have time for it, and nor should they waste Police resources on it. You will have to speak to her yourself.

Echo most of the other fantastic responses here - it might be worth speaking to her school or college in confidence as they often have limited counselling services they can draw upon or it may well be they can throw some light on the issue. Could join up with another piece of info they have? You may not have to wait so long for counselling from them. Is there a trusted teacher or form tutor she can speak to or a family friend or relative who she may feel able to open up to. Have they noticed any changes in her? Has she changed friendship groups? Have u noticed any other new behaviours? Are there academic stressors at school? Could it be to gain attention and she has taken the items or money as cry for help? It could be linked to peers at school - have any of them hung out with her in her room and as one person said gave her the food or bought the items , shared them and ate them and left wrappers behind? Although thought she may have explained that as is a straightforward . I think young minds charity offer telephone support to parents and could offer some advice as to how to approach the situation? Is it possible she is obtaining the items from a younger student by coercion? Again the school may have some information about this. I would speak to someone at school or young minds as first point of call. Good luck.

@Booktote I think it's not unusual to start stealing to fund an addiction, IDK how likely it is that the theft would broaden outside of that addiction, however surely that's a potential future problem, which might never happen, especially if it she gets help for what sounds like binge eating.

I think you need to focus on helping her with the main problem. @Rainydays26 suggestion sounds potentially helpful. I'd just be a bit concerned that it might lead her to lose trust in you and make it harder for you to support her with the eating problem. I guess it could depend how you approach it though.

Why don't you buy moderate amounts of the things she wants and see if that helps at all, sweets and treats being forbidden might be making things worse. Does she get enough exercise, do you set an example for this?

But it’s not, it’s the food items and I’ll eat my hat if the 2 things aren’t related

Don’t make the police parent for you. Sort it out as a family.

So she’s 17/18 for context?
She’s very clearly struggling and understandably, so are you by the sound of it.
i imagine it seems very frustrating right now that things are so hard but getting the police involved on your kid is going to help no one. Is there any way you afford private therapy?

If you had evidence she was stealing other items then that would be a fair conclusion, although I'm not sure it would be a good idea to jump straight to reporting her to the police.

But the items you list ARE all food items, so what makes you think they're different problems?

Surely you can determine if she is stealing cash from you? First step is to get a grip of your finances and stop leaving cash where she can access it.

Ds is a policeman he said.

She can taken to a police station and ask the police to have a chat with her. He said thats not a problem. But they won't do anymore than that.

Ad a safeguarding thing they ask if sges under any pressure. Explain what a criminal record is and the repercussions of that.

I think you're trying to crack a walnut with a sledgehammer. I mean even if she is nicking these things, it's unlikely the police would bother investigating biscuit thefts.

You say she never really explains how she gets the things, but what does she say about it? Does she get cash and spend that? Is there a reason she'd want to hide treats from the rest of the family?