Bismillah May Allah bless you for your efforts. My question is about my stepson. My wife and I found out that when he was twelve years old he sexually abused my brothers daughter who was seven years old at the time. he did not rape but did sexually abuse her. This has brought a lot of problems between our families. Can you please give us advice. My stepson is now 16 yrs.
All praise be to Allah and may His blessings and peace be on His last messenger, Muhammad,
What he did was certainly an evil act. However, he was most likely a child at that time. While this means that he was not yet accountable in the sight of God, it should not mean that he should have not received any punishment had the matter been discovered at that time for disciplining and deterrence.
At this point, it seems that the best approach is for him to acknowledge his mistake and show regret. As for the families, I would advise them to move on, because there is not much to do now to fix what happened retrospectively.
In the future, they should be more careful with the mingling between adolescents of opposite genders. A boy who is more than ten should be treated by the opposite sex as a man. This could even start earlier if there are signs of sexual maturity, interest or awareness.
Allah knows best.