DEAR ABBY: Last week my oldest daughter shocked me by informing me that her father had molested her and her sister many times when they were little. When I told her that I had known nothing about it, she screamed and called me a liar.
Abby, I was in great distress when my children were young. I didn't know what was going on. I divorced him when the two youngest were 5. He was an alcoholic and bipolar, in and out of jail and mental hospitals frequently. I would be in prison today had I known, because I would have killed him.
Now, 46 years later, I am asking your advice. Is there anything I can do to this child molester? He ruined both of our daughters' lives. My oldest has been drug and alcohol addicted for years. She is only now dealing with her addictions. He lives in a group home for bipolar people and often goes on rampages.
Please direct me to a resource for help. I have been in Al-Anon for 41 years and a born-again Christian for 37 years, which has helped me cope with the 19 years of hell my children and I have lived through. -- HOUSTON READER
DEAR READER: Talk to your daughters and ask them to report to the police what happened to them. It would be a step in taking back control of their lives, and because their father may have done this more recently with other little girls, the police should know his history. While it may be too late to prosecute your ex-husband for what he did to his daughters, if he has continued molesting, it may not be too late to get him for something he has done more recently.