DEAR ABBY: I am a preteen girl with an adult brother who sexually assaults me. One day I finally worked up the guts to tell my mom, but she just told me not to be in the same room with him. Abby, this is impossible because he lives in our house. What can I do that won't cause me to end up in a foster home? -- CLUELESS LITTLE GIRL IN MINNEAPOLIS
DEAR CLUELESS: Please talk about this to a trusted teacher at school. That your mother is unwilling to protect you is shocking. It does not necessarily follow that if you tell, you will have to go to foster care. There is a strong likelihood that your brother will be removed from the home.
Please understand that none of this is your fault. What your brother is doing to you is a crime. He must be stopped.