So I met one of my friends in 8th grade, I’ll call her “Lindsey.” Lindsey and I were pretty close through out high school, we only hung out with eachother, we didn’t have many other friends. Lindsey doesn’t have the best family and when I came over, they had her living in the pantry area off the kitchen. (Its a little bigger than a pantry; big enough for a bed and a dresser.) however, still. She lived with her grandmother, mom, moms bf, and her aunt and aunts bf.. in a small trailer. Her moms bf was a CREEP. I caught him staring through the curtain at me as I was changing, AND when we went to a haunted maze, he was running behind me and he smacked and grabbed my butt. I told Lindsey and she said that “it was probably just an accident.” (Keep in mind I was barely 18.)

She started telling me about all the stuff she had to do, like babysit her aunts kids every night, even when she wanted to go out and do something, because her aunt and her mom liked to party. Her mom was also very two faced and said a lot of hurtful stuff to Lindsey. Eventually I helped her get the courage to stand up to them, and once she went off on them, her grandmother kicked her out. I let her live with me for a little while, and my mom and I tried our best to be a good influence to her, even going as far as to vouch for her at my job. However she CANNOT keep a job.. and she keeps putting them on Facebook too. She has at least 10 jobs on there, plus others she didn’t put on there.. in just a few years.

However just as she was doing well, she met this guy who was a bad influence (like all her boyfriends) and she went to live with him. He dragged her to many different states, staying with his dad who verbally abused her, living with people he didn’t know, and at one point they got robbed because they didn’t know the people they were staying with.

He cheated on her, but she stayed. When she told me, I told her to leave him, but she didn’t. After that happened I continued to encourage her to leave but that just pushed her away. She only contacted me when she wanted money and would say “they were starving” but I was 99% sure they were both on drugs, and her boyfriend may have been dealing. When I would see her she’d be tiny, and look really bad, like she was on pills or another drug. (Her mom and aunt and moms bf were on pills too.) It’s very hard to talk to her because she’s very sensitive, and I’m more blunt.

I got on birth control, and I convinced her to as well, so she had the implant. After the 3 years, she got it out and immediately got pregnant.. with the POS boyfriend on drugs.

Every time they’d temporarily break up, we would become friends again and I’d preach to her like I was her mother. But she keeps making terrible decisions and not listening to me. Right now she’s staying at her moms, and wants me to come pick her up and get a drink next week. (She still can’t drive, and doesn’t have a car... she’s 23.)

All this to say, my question is, would you continue being friends with someone that keeps making very bad decisions, and will NOT listen to reason?

Part of me would feel bad if I just cut ties with her, because I feel like I’m the person she needs. However the other part of me, is already exhausted from all the help I’ve attempted to give her in the past, and I don’t feel like being the parent of someone my own age.

We had always planned to move out together once we graduated, but knowing her.. she’d miss the first month of rent then run off with a new boyfriend.

What would you do?