I don't know what to do.

[ccsmod8]

RE: I don't know what to do.

Hello there –

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to reach out to us here at the National Runaway Safeline on our public bulletin board. From your email to us, it sounds like you are going through a very tough time right now dealing with everything. Seems like it’s getting very overwhelmed with everything that has been going on, especially since you’re thinking about home. It’s brave of you to reach out during your time of need. It can be very frustrating not knowing what to do or what your next step might be from this point on. You’re incredibly strong to have to go through this situation and search for some help.

Now we can’t say for sure whether it would be considered abusive and/or bad parenting, but it definitely sounds like a very tarmac experience that you went through. No one deserves to be treated that way, especially at home where you’re supposed to feel safe and loved. You do have the right to report any abuse that you face, whether it is physical, emotional, or sexual. You can start that process of reporting by getting into contact with your local child protective service agency or you can give us a call as well. We will be able to help you with that anytime that you want, if you choose to go that route.

Like we tell a lot of our callers and/or people that email us, the laws on that specific subject of running away vary from state to state, so our advice would be call your local non-emergency police number to get more information on that. You could ask hypothetical questions that they can answer for you. Generally what typically happens in each state is if you are below the legal age of majority (18 in most states except Alabama and Nebraska [19 or upon marriage], and Mississippi [21]), your parents or legal guardian would be able to make a runaway report in the event that you do run away. Since it’s only considered a statues offense and not a crime to run away, the only thing that would happen is that the police will pick you up and bring you back home. This is of course if you had any interaction with the police directly or if they stopped you to ask you a few questions.

If you give us a call on our 24/7 hotline at 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) we could help you find resources in your area and could potentially help you brainstorm a possible solution to the issues you are having. We would love to talk to you about what has been going on recently that is making you want to leave home. We also have an online chat service available every night from 4:30-11:30PM CST that is available through our website (www.1800runaway.org).

So I'm fourteen and my dad got mad at me and started yelling, when I tried to explain my side of the story he smacked me in the face and told me not to backtalk. He was up in my face so I started backing away. He grabbed my arm . when I started to talk he smacked me again. By this point he keeps asking if "I want to do this right now" repetitively. Is this abuse or just bad parenting? I want out of the house but I want to stay at my school. What do I do?