Having been raised going to AA meetings, via a recovered alcoholic mother, I've long understood the difference between compassion and enabling... and strive never to be an enabler. I probably lean too far the other way just to avoid it.

Seeing an innocent child in a situation where she is quite possibly going to be harmed for life, or worst case physically injured or killed, does not seem to fit that pattern.

If I see a person on the street being beaten by someone far stronger, I would have no hesitation to intervene and use whatever tools or effectiveness I have to stop that attack - up to and including the use of deadly force. I've spent a great deal of time, money and thought on this subject and though I will always have more thinking to do about specific situations, the overall position is pretty clear to me.

This great essay sums up my position in many ways. Ethics from the Barrel of a Gun: What Bearing Weapons Teaches About the Good Life.

Anyway, the problem in the situation with the child we've been talking about is that she does not have the advantage of much moral and ethical teaching to base an opinion or choice of action on. She has no way to defend herself. She is caught in a terribly dysfunctional family - however loving and good some of the members appear to be. ONE OF THEM is a very potent potential threat to her very life.

I do not know how to simply stand by, having decided it's none of my business, while the mortuary takes her little body away. sigh....

Yes, I need to learn more about it somehow and THEN make a decision. I can't just pass it off as nothing to concern myself with.

[Edited by Sunni to embed link]