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Child mental health

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16 year old nightmare

4 replies

Lifecanbehard · 30/04/2025 19:38

During years 9 and 10 my daughter started acting up at school. Vaping, ducking lessons and inappropriate sexting with boys she barely knew. This ended in suspension and very nearly getting kicked out of school. It came out of nowhere and she went from a Straight A student to the bottom set. In the months leading up to her 16th birthday she kept saying 'When I'm 16 I can do what I like'. We didn't really take much notice and then a week after her birthday she took off. She was found in a filthy house with a stoner and his alcoholic mother. She came home stinking and was full of remorse. Then a short while later left again with some 'roadmen' that she'd met the first time she left who had taken and tried to use her bank card and her phone and house keys. We've had to renew all the locks on the house. She came back saying she had been raped and the Police spent weeks going through cctv checking everywhere she said she been and we took her to SARC and the sexual health clinic. The Police have now told us that they are unable to verify anything she has told them. She wasn't anywhere she said she'd been and despite it being a very high cctv coverage area they cannot find her anywhere. She's returned to school, 2 weeks before her GCSEs and is sulky, rude and refuses to revise. I've today seen messages to the 'stoner' asking to see him and if she can go and live with him. I'm terrified she's going to bomb her exams and go again. For history, there have been absolutely no arguments at home or that we know of at school. Help!!!

OP posts:
FrothyCothy · 30/04/2025 19:48

It sounds like something happened that triggered the extreme change. Has she had any support from a local child exploitation team?

MynameisJune · 30/04/2025 19:58

I agree, something happened to trigger the change. I’d bet my house this didn’t come from nowhere for her.

Lifecanbehard · 30/04/2025 21:59

Nothing that we, extended family, friends or the school can see or know about. It's terrifying to watch. She's beautiful, intelligent, funny and kind and we just don't recognise her anymore. CAMHS are now involved and she's being assessed and on the waiting list for treatment as necessary.

OP posts:
ExecutiveRubber · 10/05/2025 15:47

Aware this is an old post, but if you can influence things, and if it is available, see if CAMHS can offer her psychoanalytic child psychotherapy. That is the NICE recommended treatment for sexual abuse/exploitation, and it should come with support for the family.

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