Thanks, I didn't think of validating D5 because she's so young. She is going through a lot, and it's starting to surface now. I talked to her school's guidance counselor and let her know what's going on. We will definitely do some counseling for the girls ... mediation is next week and I told my L that's something I want to work out in an organized fashion.
So here's the other thing that happened with D5, that I'm not sure what to do about. Last week, we were out playing soccer at the park and out of the blue she tells me she doesn't like to go to her mom's friend's house. I asked her which friend, she mentions her name. I ask why, she says at her mom's friend they only speak spanish and she doesn't understand. Her "mom's friend" is a friend she has from work, don't know much about her, all I know is that she's divorced and was homeless for a bit some time ago and my W helped them out.
So then D5 tells me she was one time at her mom's friend's house and the police came over (!!!). That she didn't see the police because they put her (and her mom? It wasn't clear) in a room. That a glass broke, and that somebody got cut. That her mom's friend sister yelled at her mom, and her mom cried.
I'm there just listening, and can't really believe/process what I'm hearing. She even went so far as to tell me in her way that this is the truth, because I think she saw my face of disbelief.
I know from my kids, the older ones have not interacted or being to her mom's friend house. They don't even know her name. And that the only one that has gone there in the past is D5 .... which is suspicious to me. I remember one time my W went to pick me at the airport and was 5 hours late, and D18 called me asking if she had picked me up, and I said no, and was crying thinking her mom had an accident. At the 5 hour mark my W picks me up, with D5 sleeping in the car. She told me she was helping her friend with something.
So what to do ... ? I haven't brought it up to my W because I feel once I ask she's going to freak out and wonder if this is something I want to use against her. I don't believe my W would put any of my daughters at risk, but I do not appreciate that she may have taken her someplace I don't know, with people I don't know and there was potentially some incident there and she never told me about it.
I emailed my L about this, but she hasn't responded.
