Some more information
Let me add some more information. I was a bit rushed when I posted this.
We are concerned about her now because of a few developments in the last year. She has told as that her mother has begun hitting her and taking her drunken rages out on her. I know this girl, she is kind, sweet, and dutiful; she would never incite this kind of anger in a stable person. She has taken on all the things that her mother should be doing. She makes dinner every night, washes every single dish,cleans up after everyone...
Her mother has "kicked her out" twice now. The first time, she left to go stay with her cousin and uncle, but her mother changed her mind the next day and told her to come home. The second time, she just let her mother rage and throw her stuff around because she knew it was pointless to leave.
I don't think anyone in the family realizes how bad it has gotten, except the father. As for why he has not done anything, I cannot say. He is a sheep, I suppose. But one night, when my fiance and I were over, an argument erupted between he and his mother. (It was over something stupid, just her annoying him intentionally, and when he told her she'd gone too far, she freaked out). She attacked me out of the blue- I had done nothing, except sitting there calmly while they argued. She charged me, threw me against a wall and grabbed my arm "to break it." She said she wanted to kill me. I hadn't even opened my mouth to say anything to her. She was severely intoxicated. My fiance pulled her off of me, at which point his father decided to attack him. We were both heavily bruised and confused. I really can't figure out how this all happened... it's kind of insane.
Prior to this, we had had some concerns based on the sister's personal complaints and explaining that she thought she was becoming deeply depressed. Her grades were slipping, she was lethargic and could not muster enthusiasm for anything.
The night of the argument, it really became apparent that his sister was living in the most unstable of environments. Before, we weren't sure how much it escalated, and how quickly. We decided we had to do something soon.
We started to contact child services, thinking about pressing charges to the parents to show their "unfit parenting" and really fighting for custody, but we thought that it would be long and trying for everyone involved. We didn't want to cause anymore difficulty for her at home. If it came out that we were seeking custody, she would be the one taking the beating. So we thought, since she only had two months until turning seventeen, and she believed she could leave legally (I've asked a few other people about this, but I wasn't positive of their legal authority) at that point, we decided it might be less severe on her if we just waited. Now we don't have bruises or an assault and battery case to show violence toward one of her children (I've looked this up, even though he is over 18, battery on a child still constitutes unfit parenting) and I'm worried we've waited too long and lost our case.
Now I am concerned that we won't be able to enroll her in school or other activities without custody, or that, even worse, she gets returned to her mother and beaten for her insolence.
This isn't the first time Child Services has been considered, either. The girl's aunt told her she would take custody of her, but the woman never saw it through. We considered doing it as well, but we were worried that without any hard evidence, nothing would come of it except a lot of pain and stress on everyone, on top of her mother's anger.
If I tell the police though, do you think they would help or worsen things? I'm not sure.
To be honest, I'm terrified of losing, of letting her down. She's become so convinced that her mother rules her world and that she will never, ever escape. I feel like if we don't get her out soon, she might become so warped emotionally and mentally that she'll start hurting herself. I really feel like either we save her, or no one does.
