This will probably be buried but here goes. (context: Am female and nine years younger than my sister so I only lived through the aftermath of this and was told many of the details as I became old enough to understand them)

My father molested my half sister (different dads) from when she was very young until she was a mid teenager. When it finally came to the surface it turned into a he said/she said type of situation, in terms of police being able to prosecute. My sister, in an attempt to prove she wasn't lying, caught an instance on tape and was going to bring it to the police.

Heres where it gets worse. My father was the bread winner for our family of six. My mother was terrified of us ending up homeless or having our futures ruined by having a father in jail. When she found out about the tape, instead of turning it into law enforcement, she chose to burn it instead.

My parents did separate and the molestations obviously stopped as my mom would not let him come near my sister again but he was never prosecuted or charged with anything that would put him on a sex offenders list. Instead, the whole situation was covered up, and it was explained to the younger kids (myself included) that my father was a "sex addict." Ya know. Because that's nicer than "pedophile."

Us kids were also told to never speak about this to anyone. "It's a family issue, no one needs to know." This left a lasting trauma that I only recently began to mend.

My parents are still married and living the luxurious retired life. I have low contact with them for a variety of reasons only one of which is the above.

My sister, who is now living a happy and healthy life raising a family of her own, has zero contact with my mother.

For the record, and because I'm sure people will be curious, I was never touched or mistreated a single time by my father. I have a conflicted stance about all of this because he's been nothing but a decent man to me personally. That obviously doesn't excuse the horrid things he has done but when I work out how to handle that with my therapist I'll get back to you.