my best friend is in desperate need of help..

[Guest]

my friend is the 7th child out of 11. all of her older siblings have ran away and now she wants to for the very same reason. her dad is abusive, neither her mom or dad can support the family, they are extremely strict and are no offense completely psycho. each of her older siblings stayed with a friend, got a job, and now they all live on their own and can support themselves 10 times better than her parents can. i told her she could come stay with me at my house for a couple days and then she is going to stay with her sister. can i get charged with accusing of kidnapping? they have called child protection services MANY MANY times for abuse and also the police and nothing is ever done to get those kids out of that house. our justice system and CPS system is terrible. i want to be there for my friend and i would die for this girl, but, i dont want her parents to call the cops on me.. i dont really know what to do. my mom said she could stay with us for a couple days but as long as her mom gave me permission and i told her i didnt really know what my friends mom said but we were still going to hang out. i dont want to put my momm through anymore stress but nothing can be done to help this poor girl. shes 18 and all of her older siblings left at 18. her younger sister who i think is either 16 or 17 told her mom she was staying with her best friend for a week and her mom didnt say anything. her mom knows that i am her best friend in the entire world.. i want her to stay with me. anywhere but her own house is a safe place. should i have her come stay with me for a couple of days??

[ccsmod6]

Re: my best friend is in desperate need of help..

Thanks for contacting the National Runaway Switchboard. It sounds like you are really worried about your friend and rightly so. She definitely deserves to be safe and happy at home. From what you wrote, it seems like your friend is 18. Is this right? Is there any reason that she cannot leave the house without permission? In most states, the age of majority is 18. That means that your friend should be able to legally leave home without her parent’s permission. While doing this may cause problems between your friend and her parents, legally she should have the right to move out. Considering this, it doesn’t sound like the police would be able to stop your friend from leaving home or prosecute your family for helping her. What do you think? If you are worried that you can face legal consequences, one option is to call your local police. They should be able to tell you what rights your friend has as an 18 year old and whether or not the police would take any action if she came to your house.

It’s really nice of your family to let your friend stay at your home for a few days. She is lucky to have your support. How do you think she might survive after that? You mentioned that she might go stay with one of her sisters. How long do you think she could stay there? If that didn’t work out, what would she do? Do you think she would be interested in finding a transitional living program that could help her out or any community resources such as employment programs, mental health counseling, health care, etc? If so, she could give us a call at 1-800-RUNAWAY. Not only could we help her get connected with local resources, but we could talk with her about what is going on and help her come up with a plan that she is comfortable with. Even if she is legally able to leave home, it is still a big decision to move away from her parent’s house. We are here to help her figure out exactly what she wants to do.

Take Care
-NRS