16 and wanting to move in with girlfriend and family.

[Unregistered]

I am 16 years old and will be 17 in 7 months. My mother has recently sent me to live with my dad in Colorado. My dad doesn't have a place of his own so i am living with my great grandmother in Colorado. I've just got back from seeing my girlfriend in Montana. She and I want to move to Michigan together. She is 18 and going to be moving soon. My grandmother had guardianship over me. My mother is absolutely insane and im afraid she'll call me in as a runaway even though she has kicked me out at least 5 times. Would it be possible for me to move to Michigan and have my girlfriends mother take guardianship while i go to school and get a job? What will happen if my mom calls me in as a runaway? Will i get in trouble?

[ccsmod8]

re: 16 and wanting to move in with girlfriend and family.

Hello and thank you for contacting the National Runaway Switchboard online. It seems like you have a lot going on right now and we are glad that you are reaching out to us. You mentioned that your grandmother has legal guardianship over you. While we are not legal experts, we can tell you that if that is the case, then your mom should not have any legal rights as far as reporting you as a runaway. If you were to runaway and your legal guardian does file a runaway report, in most places that is considered a status offense. What that means is that if you were to be picked up by the police, they would return you to your guardian.

It sounds like you really want to be with your girlfriend and be able to leave Colorado. Have you tried talking with your grandmother about wanting to move to Michigan? If you wanted to be removed from your grandmother’s guardianship, one option that you have is emancipation. It can be a long process and not every youth who applies is granted emancipation, but it might be something you could look into. In the state of Colorado there are two legal resources available that you could utilize based on your location. In Boulder, there is Boulder County Legal Services (303-449-7575) and Fort Collins has Colorado Legal Services (970-493-2891) so depending on which is closer, you could contact one of those agencies during weekly business hours to obtain information on issues such as emancipation and your legal rights. Additionally, you could call us at 1-800-RUNAWAY 24 hours a day and we can call with you.

We are always available to talk to you on the phone and we are also here from 4:30-11:30pm (CST) through our website’s live chat. We are so glad that you found us and we hope that we can provide you the support that you are looking for. Hope to hear from you soon.