I am French, but I believe there may be more people here who can guide me. My English is not perfect, so I asked ChatGPT to help me shape these words. For reasons you will surely understand, I am writing from a temporary account.
I hardly know where to begin… but I feel the need to put this into words, to share what we are living through, even if only in anonymity.
My daughter, who is 16, endured something very grave years ago. Only recently did she find the courage to speak. We are now in the very first days of a legal process. At this stage, it is only a formal complaint, but already I feel overwhelmed. For now, no one knows except her father, because of what lies ahead in the coming weeks.
Each morning is heavy. She wakes with sorrow in her eyes—sometimes withdrawn, sometimes restless. I try to reassure her, to remind her that she is not alone, that I will stand beside her. Yet inside, I ache. I am weary, and I feel as though life is slipping through my hands. Our days are divided between brief moments of laughter, where we pretend that life is ordinary, and the moments when I hide to cry, because I cannot collapse in front of her. I feel isolated in this grief, in the injustice, and in the slow, grinding pace of the process. Every hour stretches long; every wait feels unbearable.
I am a deeply emotional person, and at times it feels as though my heart might break apart. I long to carry her burden, to shield her, to surround her with love, while still finding the strength to breathe myself. But often, I cannot. And the sense of not being enough tears at me.
I am not writing here for sympathy or comfort. What I seek are the voices of those who have walked this same path: – How did you endure the first steps of a legal process? – How did you support your child while holding your own emotions together? – What helped you keep moving forward, without breaking completely?
To know that others have lived this, that it is possible to survive, to support your child while still finding a way to live despite fear and pain—that knowledge would give me a measure of hope, a thread of strength to carry me through this week and the ones that follow.
Thank you sincerely for reading. And if there is a more fitting place to share this, please let me know.
