17 year old runaway turning 18

I'm 18 and I graduated, and I was planning on moving in with my high school sweetheart, but my parents don't like the person, am I eligible to do so?

[ccsmod7]

Thanks for reaching out to NRS. That sounds like a challenging and frustrating situation. Sounds like you’re trying to do what you can to reach out to your daughter. As you may know, most states have 18 years as the age of majority, where young adults become independent and can determine their own living arrangements, if they choose to do so.

If you’re interested, you can call your local police department to see if they would be inclined to take any action to return your daughter. They may choose not to address this situation as your daughter is very close to being 18. However, they could possibly return her home if they do consider her a runaway.

If you’d like to talk further about your situation, please do not hesitate to call NRS at 1-800-786-0394). We are here 24/7 and speak to both parents and young adults about what they’re facing and provide referral resources, where appropriate.

Thanks again for reaching out,

NRS

My daughter is less than 3 months from being 18, she went to a friend's house last Friday and now she refuses to come home, answer her phone to me or text. I went there today and she came to door and walked away. What can I do

[ccsmod5]

Hi, there,
Thank you for reaching out. We aren’t legal experts but we can share some general information. Generally speaking, you need to be 18 to leave home without parental consent. So at this point, you would technically need your parents’ permission to live elsewhere. That being said, it’s possible that your local police would not bother to pursue a 17 year old runaway even if your parents decide to file a runaway report. It’s also possible that they wouldn’t pursue you across state lines. (We should also note that if your parents don’t know a specific address to find you, it’s possible that you could just “fly under the radar” until you turn 1. To find out more information on your local police protocol, you can call your non-emergency police line and ask hypothetically. If you’re uncomfortable doing that, you’re also welcome to give us a call and we can call out together. Regarding your question about facing charges…generally speaking, running away is usually not considered a crime regardless of your age. Once you are a legal adult (in most states, this is 1, it should not be an issue.
Thank you again for reaching out. We hope this was helpful and we encourage you to reach out by phone if you need additional resources or need help figuring out your options. Our number is 1-800-786-2929 and our lines are always open. If you have a moment, we'd appreciate your feedback of our crisis services at the following link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/we_care_what_you_think

Stay safe!

I am currently 16 years old old & I will be turning 17 in August. I am already done with high school, and would like to move on with my life. Right now, I live in colorado and I am thinking about running away. Running away to florida. I want to runaway until I am 18. Because once I turn 18, I’m legally not a runaway anymore. If I were to runaway and not get caught, once I turn 18 will I be facing charges? What’s the outcome?

[ccsmod5]

Hi,
Thanks for reaching out. We are not legal experts, but generally speaking the police will not pursue a runaway once they have become a legal adult. In most states, this is at age 18 so it’s likely that your sister will not run into issues once she turns 18.
Thank you again for reaching out. We hope this was helpful and we encourage you to reach out by phone if you need additional resources or need help figuring out your options. Our number is 1-800-786-2929 and our lines are always open. If you have a moment, we'd appreciate your feedback of our crisis services at the following link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/we_care_what_you_think

My sister is 17 and is in dss, she ran away last month. She will be 18 in 9 months when she turns 18 will the police still look for her?

[ccsmod7]

Hello there, thanks for reaching out today.

We are not legal experts, we we can only answer your question generally. If you runaway with 1 month until you turn 18 it is up to local police with whether or not they would accept a report for you when you are so close to 18. If they do take a report for you, generally after you turn 18 you would not be considered a runaway since you are a legal adult and it is within your legal rights move out. While there might not be any legal consequences for coming back at 18, one thing to consider is that your guardian does not have to allow you back in the house once you become an adult.

Please do not hesitate to call or chat us if you have more questions or if you would like to talk through your situation. We are here to listen, here to help.

Best,

NRS

We hope this response was helpful! We’d love to hear from you about your experience using our crisis email/forum. Your feedback plays an important role in helping us improve our services to youth and families. Please click the link to fill out our survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/we_care_what_you_think.

I am 17 and will be 18 in 1 month.
if I run away and come back when I'm 18 would I still legally get in trouble?

[ccsmod5]

Hi,
Thank you for reaching out. It sounds like you’re in a really frustrating situation. We want to thank you and your family for advocating and supporting your girlfriend; she’s lucky to have kind people like you in her corner. Since we’re not legal experts, we cannot speak with 100% certainty on this issue. However, generally speaking there is such a charge as harboring a runaway, so it is a possibility that your girlfriend’s mom could take your parents to court. As far as we know, harboring a runaway is usually considered a misdemeanor and may result in a fine. Beyond this, we encourage you and your father to reach out to a lawyer or your local non-emergency police line for more information. If you need help locating a legal resource, please feel free to give us a call and we can try to locate one for you.
Thank you again for reaching out. We hope this was helpful and we encourage you to reach out by phone if you need additional resources or need help figuring out your options. Our number is 1-800-786-2929 and our lines are always open. If you have a moment, we'd appreciate your feedback of our crisis services at the following link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/we_care_what_you_think

Stay safe!

I’m a 17 year old lesbian I turn 18 in 2 months, I’ve been with my girlfriend who just turned 17 last month, for about 8 months her parents are homophobic and hate the fact we are together she has been repeatedly kicked out of home but her parents call the police and say she’s a runaway about 2 months ago her mom showed up to my house with cops threatening to sue my dad for who knows what. We have done nothing wrong but given her a place to stay and food on her plate. She went back home a couple weeks ago but she got kicked out again. Her parents have threatened us again saying that my dads going to jail and court. Can my parents get in trouble with the law for this.

[ccsmod15]

Thank you for reaching out to the National Runaway Safeline. It sounds like you’ve been going through a tough time, but we are here to support you and help you in any way we can. That sounds really hard and stressful to have that conflict with your mom.

We’re not legal experts here at NRS. Generally, there are three ways to leave home before being a legal adult: with parent permission, if there is abuse in the home, or through emancipation (a legal process where youth become an adult before the normal age). Generally it’s not illegal to leave home, but your mom could file a runaway report, the police could get involved, and they could bring you home. The people you’re staying with could potentially get in trouble for having you stay there. Some police departments don’t accept runaway reports for 17 year olds, but the policies may vary by each department. You could consider calling your local nonemergency police department to ask about their policies. We also have legal aid resources here if you have specific questions about the laws in your state.

If you haven’t already, you could also consider reaching out to a trusted adult, relative, worker/teacher/counselor at your school for help and support. You could also consider talking to your parents about how you’ve been feeling. Just so you’re aware, we have a conference calling service here where we could help mediate a conversation between you and your mom.

There are also many resources that could help you work through conflict at home or help you with anything else you may need. If you want to talk more about what’s been going on, or if you would like more information about resources, you can call us at 1-800-RUNAWAY (1-800-786-2929) or chat with us online.

Again, thank you for contacting us. It sounds like you’ve been going through a really hard time, but you’ve shown a lot of strength by working through these challenges and reaching out for help. If you ever need anything in the future, please feel free to call us or chat with us online. We’re always here to listen and here to help.

Hi I’m 17 turning 18 on July 12 my mother is crazy and over protective. To put it short she grounded me for being less then a minute late getting home not to mention I work all the time and she constantly drains my bank account. I have somewhere I could go but my mother refuses to let me leave until I turn 18. I can’t take this anymore I want to leave now. I’m still in high school I graduate on may 18 but my last day of school is may 11 I wanted to leave on may 11 but I don’t want cops getting involved because again my mother is crazy and will probably say I’ve been kidnapped or something stupid. Please someone help me I live in Mississippi so I know the legal age to leave the house is 21 or 18 but I want to leave now.

[ccsmod3]

Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out to National Runaway Safeline and sharing a little bit about what is going on. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of knowledge about the foster care system and the best resources to ask this question is your case worker, as this may be a difficult thing to talk to your case worker about. If you call into us, we may be able to talk more specifically about your situation and look for some legal resources in your area that may be able to answer your questions. Our number is 1-800-RUNAWAY and we are here 24/7.
Stay strong and we are here to listen,
-NRS

Hi I am 17 , I turn 18 next year . I'm still in high school and in foster care and I have to go to court for being out past curfew , if I run away and don't return until I'm 18 can I still get in trouble with foster care or court ?