I need a break

[Guest]

I can't take living here anymore. I need a break even if it's just for the weekend. I have a place to go and I was planning on leaving tonight and I have a ride. The place I'm staying at their parents don't know I'm going to be in their house just he does so they can't get in trouble can they ? And also if my mom or dad were to call the cops would they search for me all the time until they found me like 24/7? Would I go to detention hall? This is my first time so like can they even send me to detention hall straight away? They threatened me a few weeks ago to send me to detention hall if I ever had a boyfriend again so like I don't know ?

[ccsmod10]

Hey there,

Thank you for contacting the National Runaway Safeline. We appreciate you taking the time to explain a bit about the situation.

Running away isn’t illegal; it’s considered a status offense. A status offense is something you can’t do because you’re a minor. A few other examples of status offenses are truancy and curfew. Now, if you were to do something that is illegal while on the run (stealing a car, breaking and entering), that’s a different story. It is possible that you will be charged for those crimes if you were to commit them. If your parents call the police, they would make a runaway report. Usually if you run across police and they see that you’re a runaway, they return you. They don’t always go searching for youth, unless parents tell them where they think they could be.

There is a charge called Harboring a Runaway, adults who let runaways stay with them. It’s not a common charge we see because it’s hard to prove that people know you’re there as a runaway (without your parents’ permission). Parents of the runaways are usually the ones who ask police to press that charge. You said that the parents won’t know you’re there, so that charge shouldn’t be a problem. Since we’re not experts on every state/cities runaway laws, we do offer to call out to local police with youth. Just to double check what their protocols are.

Lastly, we also offer conference calling between youth and parents. So if you do leave, and need help talking to them, we can help you make that call. We are available at 1-800-RUNAWAY 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We are completely confidential and anonymous. We look forward to hearing from you and wish you the best of luck!

~NRS