Yay first post, but anyway, I come from a middle eastern family, and I guess it just depends - here any involvement with anyone younger than 16 is classed as child abuse, but back home, its not unheard of for 14/15 year olds to get married - I have to admit, to to someone that old, but 10 years is quite a common gap. On the point of thinking that the police / ambu crew will beat her up - this is quite common from people from countries that have a poorer record of human rights - my parents keep thinking that if we call the police / ambulance up without a very good reason (man running around our garden with a shotgun isnt a good enough reason because he hasnt shot anyone yet, and he might be innocent) that they will get locked up and tortured etc... Monty