im 16 and i ran away

[Unregistered]

so a few days ago me and my mom got into a huge fight, theres was alot of yelling and screaming and then my step dad came in and just added to the fire, so i walked out of my house to take a walk and cool down, as i got to the bottom of the drive way my step-dad came flying out of the house and started threatening to fight me and telling me im not a man if i dont. in normal circumstances im would have faught him, but dont take that as me being a bad kid, i get good grades, i stay out of trouble and i really dont fight that much but i have a really short fuze, but by some act of god i kept my cool and walked away with him screaming. im scared for what might have happened, but i was not afraid for myself, im afraid that if i go back and that if this evevr happens againg, my step dad will get arrested for fighting a minor and that A) my little brother and sister will grow up with out a dad B) my mom divorces him( my mom was in an abusive realtionship when i was 2 or 3 and we were both beaten really badly) or C) CPS takes all the kids away from my mom and step dad. i dont want anything to happen to my family and thats why im not going home, i have a place to stay but my mom knows where its at and is threatening to report me as a runaway, but i feel like im the only one handeling this responsibly. and if the police really do come and extract me, can the people im staying with really get in trouble? theyre good people andd i dont want them to get in trouble over my mess

[ccsmod2]

Thank you for contacting us and telling us what happened. It sounds like you are going through a lot right now and it was very brave of you to reach out to us. We are sorry to hear that this happened and that you felt you needed to leave home. Nobody should feel unsafe or scared in their homes.

It sounds like you and your mom got into an argument that your stepfather became involved in. You said that you left in an effort to calm down and we are glad to hear that. Sometimes, removing yourself from a situation can be very difficult. It also sounds like you kept your cool and walked away from your stepfather when he chased after you and continued screaming at you. It seems like that was very difficult for you to do. We are also glad that you are currently staying in a safe place but it sounds like you are concerned about any trouble they could get into. Now, we aren’t legally trained here but we can definitely try to find you some resources.

Now, generally speaking, if your mom were to file you as a runaway and the police located you or came to pick you up, there is a possibility that the people you are staying with could get into trouble for harboring a runaway or contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Now, the consequences for those vary from state to state so we aren’t able to tell you what would happen.

You had mentioned that you are concerned about going back home for several reasons that involve your younger siblings. Do you feel they are safe there? If Child Protective Services were to ever become involved, there is a variety of things that could happen. Again, those things vary from state to state so we wouldn’t be able to tell you what specifically.

If you would like to call us, we may be able to locate some resources for you such as shelter, legal aid, counseling, etc…They may be able to provide you with some more specific answers to your questions or provide you with some other options. We are also here if you ever want to just talk about what is going on and see what resources may be available to you. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929). We also have online chat that is available from 4:30 PM-11:30 PM (CST), 7 days a week through our website (http://www.1800runaway.org).

We look forward to hearing from you and wish you the best of luck.

~NRS