15 and planing on going to Florida.

[Unregistered]

Ok I'm 15 years old and I live in Illinois. The reason I'm planing on running away to Florida is because my stepmom some what abuses me. I tried to tell my dad but he doesn't listen. Or he just doesn't believe me. Anyway, I have almost $8,000 and I really need to leave. Is there anyway I can continue to go you school( I'm us freshman)? Every day my neighbors warm up there car in the afternoon about 2:30 3:00 ish. It's a Chevy impla lt and I was going to take it to Florida as my mod of transportation and shelter. So, what would happen if I'm caught over star lines with a stolen car? And when I run out money can I get a job? If not, would I be able to get a job at 16 or 18? I was planing to leave but the weather wasn't the best. So now I'm tryin to mane some more money before I leave. I have my clothes together and ready to be put into a suitcase. Nd into the trunk of their car. I'm just not sure what would happen if I'm caught before I turn 18.

[ccsmod2]

Thank you for reaching out to us and telling us your story. Sometimes, it is hard to ask people for help and we think it was courageous of you to do so. Now, we aren’t legally trained here so we wouldn’t be able to tell you what would happen but we can discuss generalities with you; we can also provide you with some other resources that may be able to give you more specific answers.

It sounds like you are currently living in IL but want to run away to FL because your step mom is being abusive towards you. It also sounds like you have tried to talk with your dad about it but he doesn’t believe you. That must have been hard for you to do and we’re sorry to hear that he didn’t believe you. Can you tell us more about the abuse you are experiencing?

It sounds like you have saved $8,000 and have a plan on how to get to FL but you are concerned about what will happen if you were to leave. Do you think that your parents or neighbors would call the police? If they did and the police found you, there is a possibility that you could get into trouble for taking their car across state lines. Again, we aren’t legally trained so we wouldn’t be able to tell you what specifically would happen if you were caught.

Generally speaking, if you are under 18 years old, you would need your parents to sign off on enrollment papers for school. You may be able to call the school that you are interested in attending and ask what their enrollment policy is. Also, each state may have their own laws in regards to allowing minors to work so we wouldn’t be able to tell you if you could get a job once you arrive in FL.

Do you know where you would stay or how you would survive in FL? On our website, we have a list of questions to think about before leaving home (http://www.1800runaway.org/youth/nrs_can_help/). What do you think about those? Here at the National Runaway Safeline, we are a confidential and anonymous hotline for youth in crisis. We have a database of resources for youth; if you were to go to FL and needed a shelter or safe place to go, we could help you find those. We can also help to make conference calls to those agencies if you would like us to. We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) if you would like to explore these options. If you are unable to call, we have online chat services from 4:30 PM-11:30 PM (CST) and those can be found on our website also.

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

~NRS