16 And Pregnant. Can they still press runaway charges?

[Unregistered]

I am 16 and 4 months pregnant. When I found out I was pregnant, my boyfriend, who is also 16 went to stay with his dad in Kansas so that he could work and make money. Well im still here in Colorado and things are not so great. My brother who used to live in a treatment facillity came home and now all his friends and him are at my house all day eating my all my food (we literally had nothing to eat I had to walk my little brother all the way to my aunts so we could casually eat lunch with her because we were so startving) none of them going to school when they are supposed to, my brothers girlfriend is a runaway and her family has had the cops come over looking for her numerous times but she still allows her to stay, I do online school so I am home all day and cannot stand them listening to loud music and smoking marijuana all day and my mom just doesnt care because she treats my brother like a prince. I finally had the end of it when I came home and my room smelled of sex. I asked my mom talk to my brother about and she was and he was getting upset saying I was lying and if Im going to talk sh*t then hes going to beat my ass so I went upstairs and said 'how am i talking sh*it when you guys are disrespecting my room?' and 'hit me then so ican call the cops' he tried to hit me but my cousin stopped him. Ever since then I have been staying with my grandmother and I have told my mom I will not go home untill his friends are gone and she refuses to tell them so i refuse to go. My granma told me I could stay here as long as I needed to, so I planned on staying until I was done with my college courses in december then iwas going to try to move to kansas. well its become very apparent that she doesnt want me here as hse is used to being alone. I have no friends, no one to turn to and i just feel like i dont belong here any more. I want to be in kansas with my boyfriend soo badly so I am planning to drop my classes and move out there with him. we are pretty sure his dad would be okay with it but now my only concern is could my mom call the cops and tell them where i am and to go get me (the cops came to my house and searched for my brothers girlfriend because her family told her they knew she was there but shes 13) can they get me and force me to go home? would my boyfriends dad get in trouble for 'harboring a runaway?'

[ccsmod1]

Re: 16 And Pregnant. Can they still press runaway charges?

Hi,

Thank you for contacting the National Runaway Switchboard and sharing your story. We’re so sorry to hear about your living situation. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to want a quiet space to do your homework and have food at home. In fact it might be considered neglectful that you do not have sufficient food in your house to keep you, your baby and your little brother nourished. Have you told any adults or the doctor about any of this going on at home?

We wish we could answer your questions directly but every city/state has different laws on how they deal with runaway situations so we cannot say for sure what would happen to you. Typically running away is considered a status offence which means it is not a crime. A parent or legal guardian would have to file you as a runaway. Would they look for you? It really depends on who takes the report and if they feel like it. There isn’t a consistent action all police take on the matter.

We’re very sorry this is happening to you and we want to do our best to help you. It might worth discussing your situation over the phone via our 24 hour confidential hotline 1800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) or if online is easier for you our live chat is available every day from 4-11:30pm central time. We hope this helped.

Best,
NRS Supervisor