Overheard niece say she wants to kill herself - advice please

[Pressuretoohigh]

My niece and her friend (both 8) are staying over tonight. My partner heard my niece say "sometimes I want to kill myself so I'm not around anymore, don't tell anyone" to her friend.

They had previously been talking about god.

Obviously I'm very worried by this and aside from telling her mum I'd really appreciate some advice about what to do.

Should I tell her we over heard her or simply try and gently prob without giving that away?

I know there are some difficulties at home with her mum who has ADHD and other issues.

I'll also mention it to her friend's mum as that is too much for a child to hear and feel responsible for not telling anyone.

Please help because I'm really worried but also limited in what I can do because she is not my child, so I cant take her to the GP or to a therapist etc.

I wouldn't tell the friends mum. Just the nieces mum otherwise you're getting too involved and the friends mum might judge your niece and label her as someone with problems. Interesting you said adhd and other issues.

Tell your nieces parents.

Gosh that is heartbreaking 😢 I'd talk to the neices parents

Thank you all and yes absolutely I'll talk to her mum. My concern is how much capacity her mum has to address this issue.

Do you know what school she goes to? You could phone the safeguarding lead there as you’re not sure Mum can handle it well

So young! Around this age I sometimes wished I would die of an illness because I didn't want to be around anymore. But I didn't think about suicide - I think that's different. Can you talk to your niece yourself before you tell her mum?