Psychologists Child Abuse Dilemma

You are a school counseling psychologist working with a 13 year old girl named Sara. Sara has reported being physically abused by her parents and has had several bruises and a broken wrist as a result of this harm. Sara states that this has been going on for quite some time as her parents are on the brink of divorce and she feels that it is all her fault. This is justified in a way by her reasoning that her grades have been poor and she continually gets into trouble for not finishing homework that is set. She is somewhat reserved and distant from her peers and you can tell that she is suffering not only physically, but emotionally too from the ordeal she has had to face. As a result, Sara has been bullied and taunted over the last couple of weeks because of her reserved and distant nature.
You discuss with her the idea of you reporting this to the Child, Youth and Family services, however, Sara is afraid that this will get her into more trouble with her parents. She states that school counseling psychologist for her younger sister did just that, but it did not change anything for the better. In fact, it made things even worse with Sara’s younger sister ending up in hospital with a broken arm as a result of a beating from their father. In this case, there were no consequences for her father’s action, meaning once again he was able to get away with the physical abuse. When you stress the importance of her health and safety, Sara exudes extreme fear of ending up in the same place as her sister.