My Friend Needs Help

[Guest]

I'm 15 and my friend is 12 years old. I live in California and my friend lives in North Carolina, around the Charlotte area. I already contacted multiple professional help hotlines about my issue, but I want to be able to provide my friend a number of options when they make their decision on what to do. To protect my friend's identity, I'll call them Charlie.
Their mother is verbally abusive towards them. I've been friends with them for 2 years already and this is news to me. She seemed like a fun, loving parent, but I hadn't realized the abuse my friend goes through when we're not playing video games. Charlie has been threatened to be killed by their mother three times, many death threats, and also destroyed their video game discs. Charlie was threatened by their mother and was told that she would choke them and cut them.
My friend wants to run away by themselves, and told their friends that they might. I'm attempting to get them to talk to me about it, but they haven't been online since they posted for help 2 hours ago. I don't know what to do right now, but I want to be able to give my friend advice on what to do and where to go when they choose to run away, or if they choose to tell an adult. I don't know if they've already told an adult what was happening to them, but they have told me and a handful of their other friends.

[ccsmod2]

Hello There,
Thank you so much for reaching out to The National Runaway Safeline, on behalf of your friend. It seems like you really care about your friend and it shows that you are a supportive person.
We are sorry to hear about what your friend is going through, it seems like a really tough situation. One option your friend can consider is making an abuse report. They can make an abuse report by calling Child Help at: 1800-422-4453. They can also call us and we can help them with the abuse report. Another option they can consider is talking with their school counselor about what is going on. Their school counselor can be someone they can vent to and their school counselor can provide them with resources.
We are not legal experts but if they were to run away because they are a minor their legal guardian could file a runaway report. If the police do find them they most likely would bring them back home. If your friend needs a safe place to stay they can give us a call and we can help look for shelters. Because of their age most shelters would contact their legal guardian or child protective services usually within 48 hours. They can also consider staying with friends or family members.
We hope this information will be helpful to you in your situation. If you have any other questions or would like to explore more options please give us a call. We are here 24/7 to listen and provide support. Best of luck!
NRS