Sometimes it can take a few days for a Steemit account to be verified. It's usually not a week, and that's kind of odd.
The reason she's getting the 'already in use' messages is because those are already taken (by her own account, which is being verified.) You can definitely send an inquiry for help to the friendly Steemit folks.
If she's willing, of course, she could always create another account, though she'd have to do so with a different email address and a different username.

Good luck! I hope you guys get it figured out, it's always good to have new people showing up! :D