<p>hanna-- you make a point that there could be difficulties in the family–and if that is known or you are concerned about that there are always other options to reach out to someone</p>
<p>I know that if I became aware of a child at risk of harming themselves or others I would intervene directly and/or call the parents–but only regarding his mental state, why would the issue of his sexual identity need to be shared w parents or anyone, that would not be necessary or helpful obviously–I would certainly say that he is in need of care so he doesn’t hurt himself.</p>
<p>couple of years back my s shared w me that a friend of his joked about killing herself when IM’ing–I let him know I was glad he told me, that even if she said it jokingly it should still be looked into. I told him I felt I needed to share this with her mom–which made him uncomfortable but I educated him and that became a learning-- I did call this mom and she was grateful I did–the girl admitted to her mom that she was struggling and though not imminently suicidal then she was cutting herself/depressed. Less than a year later she told her mom directly of serious suicidal thinking and the mom took action–she was very briefly hospitalized–the mom and girl told me that my addressing it as I did helped them both to talk openly about the depression and suicidal feelings that had worsened over time. and my son got it at that later time–when she came out of the hospital he was comfortable treating her as he always had while offering his support to her. (the mom told me no other friends had a clue about how to handle so said nothing).</p>