To recap: the 14-year-old actress has been removed from her mother Chrisoula Workman's care and is under the temporary guardianship of her older sister and Sarah Hyland, who plays Ariel's on screen older sibling, revealed she checks in with the star while the show is on a break in order to make sure she is coping.
She told E! News: "Ariel is like a little sister to me. I love her to death and try to talk to her every week at least [or] I try to text her because we haven't been working right now. I just want the best for her. I'm just trying to watch out for her." Not talking to E! News might be a start.
During a recent hearing, Ariel's sister Shanelle Gray's attorney Michael Kretzner referred to a Department of Child and Family Services report, which concluded that accusations of emotional abuse by her mother were "substantiated" but their investigation into allegations of physical abuse was "inconclusive."
The judge denied a guardianship request by Ariel's father Glenn Workman, who claimed he could fully support himself and his daughter after originally stating in a declaration that he would not object to Ariel remaining with her older sister.
Permanent custody will be decided at a later trial date. As I said before, that's when the real circus will begin.