minor emancipation or runaway

[Unregistered]

i want to runaway but do it in a way where it is not having to do anything with the police trying to find me. what are reasons to emancipate a 14 year old living in california? or if i run away to a friend of mine who is over 18 will i be able to go to school? and if i emancipate myself can i move in with a friend over 18? or do i have to support myself, myself?

[ccsmod3]

Re: minor emancipation or runaway

Hello there,

Thanks for reaching out to the National Runaway Switchboard. It sounds like you are considering leaving and are strongly considering emancipation as an option. We aren’t legal experts, but we do have access to some basic information. We can’t say for certain if you’d be able to get emancipated or not and if we know what part of CA you are in, we might be able to provide some more specific resources. Also, we are not sure if you’d be able to move in with your friend who is over 18, that would probably be for the judge to decide. As far as school there was an act that was passed to help homeless youth enroll, but at some point they would probably need to get parent/guardian consent unless you are successfully emancipated.

To our knowledge, in the state of California, there are three ways to become emancipated.
1) get married
2) join the military
3) go to court and have the judge declare you emancipated.
For a judge to declare a minor emancipated, the minor….
o Must be at least fourteen years old.
o Must be living apart from parents with their consent or acquiescence.
o Must be managing finances and have a legal source of income.
o The judge must find that emancipation is in best interest.
o The judge also wants to see that minor is in school or has a GED.

http://www.lsc-sf.org/problems/emancipation.html

McKinney Vento Act (Homeless Education Information) http://nchespp.serve.org/profile/CA

We’d be happy to continue talking to you about your situation. You are welcome to contact us directly either by calling us 24/7 at 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) or through our Live Chat (red button on www.1800runaway.org) from 4:30 to 11:30pm CST. Best of luck to you!