If you talk to the children in Rorikstead, they make it clear that the father is frequently beating one of them. Upon talking to the father you find out that he seems to hate his children because his wife died during childbirth. I was a little bothered that there wasn't anything more to do with this thread of information. Am I missing a quest to stop the abuse or mend the rift in this family?

Yeah i got the impression from talking to him he hated them didn't hear this though

The comment is made by Sissel, who says: "Most days, I do all I can to stay away from my sister and my father. The beating's the same from either one. Some day soon I'll stop being afraid. Jouane is teaching me magic. He says I'm real good."

This game is very very dark. Pretty much a "Fallout with Swords". Morrowind and Oblivion had their dark patches but overall you made things better. Here, its pretty much a dark quagmire.

In Oblivion there would have been a single point quest to address that. In Skyrim.... you walk by and let them suffer.

*EDIT* I do hold out hope that the mentioned gap might be a bug and simply not triggering the quest line.

I'm fine with dark but that town's going to be less one resident and me with a new thrall when i go back

And what will the kids eat? Dragon bones?

Captain bringdown

Hence the single point quest need. Even if it was yet another fist fight.

Between Sissel learning magic and her comment about not being afraid soon, it's only a matter of time before we see her pulling one of these on her father: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCaf3n3n86U

I was hoping that, at the very least, there would be an option to confront the father and speak on Sissel's behalf. For example:

(Persuade) Your treatment of your children dishonors the memory of your wife. How do you think she would feel about this?
(Intimidate) How about I beat on you for a while?

Something like that. Maybe my speech skill (in the 50's) is not high enough yet to see any options, though, so I was curious if anyone else had found something.

I believe all options (speech skill related ones) show up regardless of your skill level - it is the success rate that's effected

Who is the father? I think I will put my own contract on him since I am here in Rorikstead now.

EDIT:
His name is Lemkil from what I can gather though for some reason there is no dialogue options with him save selling potatoes.

Sometimes he makes comments when you walk by him about how worthless his daughters are, that part i heard but hadn't talked to the kids themselves depressing stuff

Maybe, but you're a step closer to understanding cause and effect and becoming a better hero for it

There's too many brainless paladins out there who'll hack and slash in the name of "freedom and justice" without thinking of the consequences of their actions.

I usually play the dark deadra worshipping wizard/sorcerer archtype myself people like that npc just bug me.

Oh, well in that case problem solved... kill the abusive parents and sell the kid to a daedric prince of your choice. You get power, prince get's to raise a new fresh minion to raise in a way that'll make them a candidate as a champion of their cause, and the kid gets a new family. Everyone wins!

Speaking as one of those "Brainless Paladins", I rather adore Skyrim for this approach to its world. I can't be a selfless goodie good. I really have to get my hands dirty, as much as I hate doing it. That's far more realistic then every quest having a happy ending, and it makes the quest decisions that much more important knowing that I can't choose the option where everyone is happy because that option doesn't exist. So I have to seriously think about what the best overall outcome would be.

I stared at my screen for five minutes when presented the ultimate choice in the Mehrunes Dagon Quest, for example. On one hand, I had planned on killing the Mythic Dawn really devoted fan out of principle to begin with. On the other hand, having seen what kind of "master" Dagon was, the guy really seemed to understand just what he had been playing around with.

Ultimately, I let him live and it's fun to pop in on him in Dawnstar. His whole demeanor has changed.

They've got a huge, awesome farm with a lot of vegetables and the surrounding basin is full of big games! She may learn how to work and use a bow instead of killing the father with magic
Tasks like this belong to children of Sithis :3