Sister dropping out of high school. Need advice!

[misplaced1]

Originally Posted by InsaneTraveler

Hello all.

I'm 21, and I met my half sister a little over 2 years ago. I won't get into that story here. lol. She is now 16 years old.

As it turns out, my sister is dropping out of high school this year. I don't know what to do. I wasn't raised with her (my biological) father. He never pressured her to go to school. This runs contradictory to what I was raised to believe. I know school is extremely important and am happy to be graduating from college next year.

I don't know what to say to her. Being that I am so new to her life, I don't feel as though I am in the right to tell her she is doing the wrong thing. So far, I have just played the cool big brother card and told her to do what makes her happy. She needs to graduate from high school though!

I am going to see her in two weeks and I want to at least give her a direction to follow in life. I don't think graduating high school is an option anymore. She is so delinquent and has already been to jail for assault and stealing.

What should I do? I want to lecture her on what options she has in life, but I have no clue what those options are. Do you guys know of anything I can tell her that can put her on at least a decent path?

This is so heartbreaking for me. When I went searching for the other half of my blood, I wasn't expecting them to be this much of a wreck....What worse is that my 11 year old half brother on that side is following completely in her steps. Goodness.....I don't know how to help them.

I'm so sorry to hear that. The first step is to find out why she wants to drop out of school.

Lack of hope? Wanting to do drugs full time? A boyfriend who says he'll take care of her? Rough time at school? Learning disability and hard to do the work?

There are alternatives like alternative school that might help her stay in. Check the area.

[SabrinaWP]

Talk about what she does like/want to do. Find a focus for her that gets her excited about her future, then help her figure out what she would need to do to accomplish that goal. For instance maybe she likes to do hair. Talk about how much fun it would be, get her excited about the possibility. She would need to get her GED (easy test) and get into Cosm. school. The have financial aid, so money won't be a problem. Take her to some schools. Get the GED application and help her fill it out, get her a book to study. There are free sample tests on the internet. But she would need her hand held otherwise it is too overwhelming for a 16 year old. She needs to have something in her future that makes HER want to do it. Good Luck!!