It was some of the concerns raised in the article that alffe posted that got me thinking about how big the problem is for our young people and it made me think about these girls and what had happened with them and that's just a few weeks ago.
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Good for you, curious.

When my daughter was still in school she had a good group of friends and they seemed to be able come to me to tell me things they didn't feel they could discuss with their own parents. On one occassion it was a very huge responsibility but it worked out very well in the long run.

From time to time when my daughter gets really down I try to steer her off in a helpful direction and it always works, but it really surprised me when she said that the other children at school wouldn't even go to a counsellor even if they thought there was something seriously wrong with one of their classmates.

I tend to walk on egg shells here with my son though. He's on autism spectrum but is very high "functioning" so-to-speak. He's a pretty solitary person a bit like me, but as he's grown out of teenagedom into adulthood he's become more able to converse with others and has made some friends along the way. However... he's very closed in, very uncommunicative like other kids. He's my worry. Even when everything is running smoothly and he's happy and busy. I'm probably projecting my worries and he's really doing fine, but sometimes it's just hard to know.

thanks so much for your response. It's wonderful.