I want to run away to my other parent

[ljacques17]

Hi, so currently I am in a little bit of a situation. I live in a house of 7, including my dad, my step-mother, and a few loud obnoxious siblings. I'll be strait up about this, I hate most of my family. They are cheap, unfair, and unreasonable. I am 15 years old at the moment, still going to school with average grades, and plan to finish school and get a profession in the music industry. Anyway, I see my mom every other weekend. She lives about 20-30 miles away from my house, and it is possible for me to walk there within 5-10 hours by walking. I want to live with my mother, and she wants custody of me as well. My dad does not want her having custody because she has had a drinking problem and got into legal trouble recently. Anyway, it's very hard to live with my dad and step-mother because I have anger problems and I am nothing like them. They don't allow me to do anything fun, as they like to sit and stare and the television all day. I get pounded on for my grades often because I'm not getting perfects A's and B's. They are very ignorant and I can never concentrate on my work because my house is full of screaming and annoying little children. I have always been a good and quiet kid, so running away is hard and a big step. I have came up with a plan on how to get to my mom's house from mine hopefully without being caught by the police. But I want to run away so I don't have to deal with so much stress and suppressed anger anymore. I want to be able to do good in school, and also enjoy life as a teen. This is not even possible at my dad's so I need advice. Thanks!

[ccsmod10]

RE: I want to run away to my other parent

Hello there,

Thanks for reaching out during this difficult time. We are sorry to hear you are you are going through a hard time. Do you have anyone in your family that you are close to who understands how you feel? We are sorry to hear you do not feel comfortable at your dad's house. You do have the right to feel safe and wanted where you live.

You mentioned that you are planning on running to your mom's house. Have you talked to her about this plan? Although we are not legal experts, we can try and explain a little about the runaway laws. Just to let you know, we are not legal experts. Your legal guardians do have the right to report you missing. If they know where you are going to stay, they do have the right to contact the police and send them to that location. Although it is not against the law for you to run away from home, technically anyone you would be caught staying with could possibly be charged with 'harboring a runaway'. Is this something your mom would be willing to risk for you?

Here at the National Runaway Safeline, we cannot tell you what you should or should not do. We can however, help you come up with a plan for what to do next. We would encourage you to contact us at 1-800-RUNAWAY(786-2929) or by live chat at www.1800runaway.org from 4:30pm-11:30pm Central Standard Time.

- NRS