Announcement

**Unregistered** · 05-09-2011, 10:17 PM

RE: School

Hello,

We thank you for writing to us and sharing your concerns about school. We appreciate you stating what your true feelings are now and telling us why you felt you had to leave. We imagine you had your reasons but we are pleased to hear of your happiness. We are not in a position to tell you what to do but our main priority is your safety. We imagine you are going through quite a lot right now but it sounds like you are trying to stay the course with school. You certainly do have a right to an education.

There are laws that protects your rights to an education if now considered "an accompanied minor." The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistace Act ensures educational rights and protection and guaranteed qualified youth the right to remain in their school of origin (to the extent possible), transportation to and from school of origin, immediate enrollment in your new school even if you do not have the typical required documents (e.g. proof of guardianship) and allows you to recieve school meals and services such as basic needs and counseling services.

Some school officials are not always aware of your rights and may need to check it out more on www.serve.org/nche or you can find contacts to your local state coordinators at http://www.serve.org/nche/states/stateresources.php. It is certainly possible that you may run into some obstacles but you can call us to help advocate for you. We do not track you. We simply want to know how we can help and what resources we can provide to help you.

Although we are not legal experts and do not give legal advice we can only give a general overview of what may or may not happen if you run away. In most states it is not considered illegal to run away from home. The most you may get is a status offense that gets removed when you are found. It is expected for the police to take you home if you are found. We are not sure how this may apply in your case if you are a ward of the state. What do you think your caseworker will do because you ran away? Do you risk losing placement with the foster home?

The reason we asked is because it may be different to run away if you are ward of the state. Do you think your caseworker may issue a warrant instead? If you do need to find these things out we can always call your casewoker with you to conduct a conference call. We can help sort these issues out with your caseworker if you wish to get a better sense of what they have in mind. We do not want to take away from how you are feeling because it is optimistic to hear that you are trying to do what is best for you. We simply can advocate for you with whatever agency or guardian you have if this is something you want to do.

If your caseworker or your foster parents called you in as a runaway to the police it is likely they may or may not come looking for you. It is not always their priority. How will you continue to survive? If you ever find that you need resources we can provide them if you need a place to stay or food in the future. We are always here for you. Good luck.

-NRS

**Unregistered** · 05-10-2011, 10:06 PM

Well, from what I heard she's beginning to put posters up of me around. Because I am already 17- almost 18, they reported me as a missing person instead of a runaway- no warrants or anything. My mother said to just call the police station and let them know I'm okay, and then they will remove my missing persons status. Is this true?

I refuse to go back, so I really don't care about my placement in the foster care system. I have a place to stay, food to eat, and everything. Like I said earlier, my main concern is school. I am safe- very safe, just letting you know

If I do go to school, will police or CPS come and take me from school? Or what? Because I do plan on going back to school for my senior year, since it's too late to go to school now.

I also have another question; If you aren't a U.S citizen, does this make you not a ward of the state/country? I heard you can't be in the system if you aren't a U.S citizen. Just wondering.

**ccsmod8** · 05-11-2011, 12:04 AM

Re: School?

Hello,

Thank you for writing back to us in such a short time. It just goes to show how much this issue is on your mind and how eager you are to solve it soon. If your parents put up posters it may be because it comes down to what is usually required of them to show that they did their best to find you. If they do not report you as a runaway they may run the risk of getting charged with neglect because if something were to happen to you when you were gone it may fall back on them to answer to it.

In terms of calling the police to tell you are okay it may come down to police discretion. Every state differ when it comes to runaways. We have been told by some police that to remove the report it is the parents that are expected to call it off. We do not know if it changes base on whether it is a missing person versus a runaway report but these two reports can mean the same thing. The difference may come down to whether the police have to come out to your parents house to prove you are no longer missing. We do not know if they will need prove that you are home or safe if you are missing. It may help to call the police department in case you need to resolve this matter.

As stated, the McKinney-Vento may help you sought out some of the issues surrounding school. However, the police has the option to pick you up from school. It may depend on what your parents do from here to keep on it. These are all questions the police local to you may be able to answer since we are national and may not know how they function locally due to different laws.

Regarding issues of citizenship it may something where you are still allowed to stay in the system but we are not entirely sure about it. You may be able to find the answers to these questions by calling your local police or child and family services to find out more. What if it was the case where your parents are no longer living here but you were? The state may still have to look out for your needs. Therefore, this may be an issue to call legal aid local to you also. Please let us know if you wish to call and get legal aid numbers but we hope you call us directly to keep it more confidential in person than on the post here. We wish you all the best and hope you continue to remain safe.

-NRS

**Unregistered** · 05-16-2011, 07:36 PM

I'm in foster care (x both my parents know I'm okay. It's the case worker who said she was going to "put them up."
And yes, I have been living here with my parents living in another state. I know how to take care of myself

Is it true that if I get married, they won't be able to bring me back into the system? Even after the marriage has been consummated?

**ccsmod0** · 05-16-2011, 08:12 PM

School

Hi there,
Thanks again for posting here at the National Runaway Switchboard. We are glad that you are safe and thinking of your future. It must be confusing trying to figure all of this out. We are here to help but as we previously said we are not legal experts nor can we give legal advice so we are unable to say whether or not a marriage would solve this issue. We are more than happy to give you legal aid phone numbers so you can more easily get all the answers that you need. If you can call us here at 1-800-RUNAWAY we are available 24/7 are anonymous and confidential, we are also free from a payphone. You can also reach us by chat from 4:30-7:00pm CST. We really would like to continue to help as best we can. Hope to hear from you soon.
Good Luck,
NRS

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