please help me

[Guest]

hi i am a 16 year old girl living with my parents. none of us get along, i don't even know why they are married I've never seen them kiss or be compassionate towards each other. my mom and i sort of get along but my dad has a hold on her. anytime i try and talk to her he steps in when his opinion is not wanted and brainwashes my mom into thinking differently. he tells her she's a bad parent and she needs to be more strict with me. the only person i can talk to about everything is my therapist. I've talked to her about whats been going on but nothing has changed. i want to leave my house so badly but my parents have already called the cops on me when i forgot to answer there phone calls one time at a friends sleepover. I'm scared if i do run away they will just bring me right back to where i started. i have some close friends that might let me stay with them i just need to know is its legal or if my parents can bring me back bc i don't want to come back. if i stay in this house until I'm 18 I'm worried ill do something stupid. please if you have and ideas or any advice please share anything would help. thanks.

[ccsmod16]

RE: please help me

Thank you for contacting National Runaway Safeline. It seems you are in a hard situation and it can be frustrating. It seems you tried and talked with a therapist, but nothing is solved still. Thinking back to when you did talk to you therapist, what are some things that she suggested that you do to help cope with these issues? It might be a good idea to talk to someone that you feel comfortable with talk to (i.e close friend, trusted relative, or even your school counselor). That way you can talk about this feelings that you’re having to someone else that can help you through it and process what this all means for you. Sometimes making a family member intervene can help.

To answer your question whether it’s legal to runaway or not. We are not legal experts, but as far as our knowledge goes, running away is not a crime but a status offense. This means that if you run away, your parents will call the cops to search for you. If the cops find you, they will take you back to your parents, but they will not put you in jail or anything of that sort because you did not commit a crime.

Now we do offer a service that is basically a Conference Call where the parent, the youth, and us would be on the phone talking about what has been going on. This way there can be a mediator in between keeping things calm and productive. If you’d feel more comfortable with doing that, just know that it’s always available. It might be a great way to talk about what you are thinking about doing and some of the reasons why you want to move out. Something constructive so that it certainly opens the lines of communication. And like we were saying we would be on the line as well to stop any rude behavior or yelling done by your parents or yourself; just creating a safe space to talk.

Please feel free to call us at 1-800-786-2929 or chat with us so we can get more details about your situation and be able to better assist you.