16 and wanting to move out but there are other problems

[Guest]

I'm 16 an I want to move to Florida with my boyfriend whom is 18 with his mom whom has a room waiting for us but that's besides the point, my mom approves an tells me to just go but I'm worried cause if we fly theirs gonna be some complications because I'm moving their an only 16 I feel like I need proof that my mom gave me permission to move to Florida with my boyfriend so question is, does my mom have to sign any legal documents stating That she gave Me full approval to move to Florida ?! Please help me someone its much appreciated!!

[ccsmod7]

Hello there, thanks for reaching out.

Since you have your mom’s permission to move to Florida with your boyfriend, it is legal for you to go. It is legal for unaccompanied minors to fly alone with parental permission. Depending on the airlines you are flying with, you might not even need parental permission at the age of 16. You would want to look on the airline’s website or call their customer service number to figure out what permission paperwork (if any) you would need. Most airlines have different unaccompanied minors polices.

Best of luck,

NRS

[Guest]

I am 15 years old , I'll be 16 in November. me and my boyfriend are trying to get set up to where we can live together by the time I turn 16. but the only thing stopping that is my parents. is there any way I could leave home without having to come back ? how would all of that work ?

[ccsmod10]

First of all thank you for reaching out to the National Runaway Safeline! It sounds like you have been going through a difficult time at home and are thinking about leaving so it’s great that you are using all of your resources to figure out what your best options are. You mention that you and your boyfriend want to live on your own by the time you are 16. We here at NRS are not legal experts but what we can say is that if you decide to leave home and your parents are not okay with it they can file a runaway report with the police. Every police department handles these a little differently. Some may come searching for you and return you home, some may investigate the situation a little more to see what the best living option for your family would be, some may just put your name on a list until someone finds you, and some may charge anyone that you are staying with that is over 18 years old with harboring a runaway. The best way to better understand how your local police department handles runaway reports is by calling them and asking them hypothetically.

If you decide to leave home it is important that you have a safe place to live and are able to fully provide for yourself. Doing both of those can be difficult but they are very important to your wellbeing. If you ever need additional resources or support feel free to call us at 1-800-RUNAWAY. We are available 24/7 and are always ready to talk. We wish you good luck with everything!

[Guest]

I’m 16 and want to move out

I have a place to go I’m getting a job and I would still be going to school but I’m on probation and my parents will not let me move I’ve been wanting to move out since I was 13 my parents are not bad people but I think it is time for me to go

[ccsmod15]

Hello there!

Thank you for reaching out in your time of difficulty. It sounds like you are feeling that it’s time for you to leave home. We are not legal experts, but we can give some general information about what would happen at the age of 16 if you decided to run away.

The first thing to note is that if you run away under the age of 18 and your parents file a runaway report, the police could find you and force you to come home. However, your parents could give you permission to live elsewhere.

Another option that some people pursue is legal emancipation. Not every state allows emancipation and there are a great many barriers to obtaining it. It is positive that you have a place to go and a way to support yourself. Also, emancipation decisions can take up to a year.

Since you did mention that your parents are not bad people, it could be productive to have a calm conversation with them about how you’re feeling.

We’re not here to decide for you what the right thing to do is. However, if you want to talk more in depth about what’s going on and brainstorm solutions, please call our phone hotline anytime, 24/7. We are 100% confidential.

Best of luck in whatever you decide!
- NRS

[Guest]

I’m 16, I’ve been living with my friend for about a week now and my mom knows and my dad keeps saying he is going to call the cops and put me in jail. My parents are in the process of getting a divorce too. Can I get introuble if my mom says it’s okay but my dad doesn’t

[ccsmod11]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out to us about the difficult situations you’re facing as a runaway. It sounds like you’ve been through a lot, and we hope to help.

We really are glad you’ve found a safe place to stay as a runaway, and we hope that you remain in a safe situation. If you feel like your safety is ever threatened, please let us know and we may be able to provide you with resources that can help you remain safe. As far as your question goes, we are not legal experts, but from what we understand, if your dad is your guardian, he can file you as a runaway for leaving home without parental permission. Running away usually isn’t considered a crime in the U.S., however, and won’t usually result in you getting arrested or anything like that. Oftentimes what will happen to runaway youth who are located by police is they will bring that youth home, and not much else will happen. If you want, you can call us at 1-800-786-2929 and ask us to call your local non-emergency police department to ask them anonymously what penalties exist for runaways in your area.

We hope this response was helpful! We’d love to hear from you about your experience using our crisis email/forum. Your feedback plays an important role in helping us improve our services to youth and families. Please click the link to fill out our survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/we_care_what_you_think

[Guest]

I am 15 but ill be 16 in a month. When i turn 16, can i move out without being emancipated and not being forced to stay, to keep me from being on my own. I can not stand being home anymore with my sister and especially my mom. They both like team up against me and are always yelling at me telling me to do everything every minute. Theres always arguing with my mom and sister when i honestly do absolutely nothing wrong. Please help me, i really want to move out. i even have someone else who is willing to let me stay with them over the age of 18, its my best friends cousin.

[ccsmod10]

Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out to NRS!

We are always here to listen and here to help in any way that we can. It can be very frustrating not knowing what to do or what your next step might be from this point on. It’s brave of you to reach out during your time of need. If you wanted to talk more about your situation, we’re always here.

Living in a home where you’re constantly being ganged up on by your family isn’t very healthy. You shouldn’t be treated like that, especially not by family. It sounds like you are interested in emancipation. We are not legal experts, but we can help you get a general sense of how emancipation works. Our general understanding is some states offer formal emancipation statutes while others do not unfortunately. Laws vary depending on your location, but in many states a minor can petition the court for emancipation to take responsibility for their own care before they turn 18. Generally speaking, courts are wary about granting emancipation. In most cases, you would have to prove in court that you have an income and can care for yourself financially, and that you are able to live separately from your parents. It also helps to be in good standing at school. Once you are emancipated, you can legally choose where you live, but you might still find that you cannot sign a lease or build credit until you turn 18. The emancipation process can take several months or up to a year, and may cost money in the form of court fees and other expenses. Usually, the best way to learn about emancipation in your state is to contact a lawyer. You may also find information at your county family court. We can look up legal aid resources that may be able to help you with the process.

Please do not hesitate to call or chat if you have questions, need legal resources, or need to talk. We can explore your situation, go over all your options, and come up with a plan and resources to deal with your situation over the phone or on live chat. We are looking forward to hearing from you soon, and wish you the best of luck.

-NRS

[Guest]

I am currently 16 years old and wanting to move out. I hate living at home and I am adopted. My parents are not abusive and another wise good parents. They send me to a private school and everything but I hate them. They do not physically make me do anything but they do not support my dreams and goals and this is why I want to move out. I also recently got caught smoking pot by my parents and they will not let me leave home without there consent. I live in louisiana and I would like to move to Colorado with a friend and go to a public high school there. If I just leave they would file a missing persons report as well. I also do not have a job, car, or any money. Can I move out, if so how?

[ccsmod10]

Hi there,
Hi there,

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to reach out to us here at the National Runaway Safeline. From your email to us here, we can see that you have very similar questions to a lot of our callers and you’re looking for some answers. It seems like there must be a lot going on in your life, especially at home, dealing with your adoptive parents being overly controlling. It’s great that you were able to find out some information about our hotline. Hopefully we can help.

Legally you are a minor and under your guardian’s supervision until you are 18 or are emancipated by a court of law. If you decide to leave home before then your guardians could file a runaway report on you. Running away is not a crime, but it is a status offense. This means the police could detain you until they release you to the care of your guardians. We have legal aid resources in our database. While we’re not law experts, we can try to find one in your area, there may be legal ways for you to be able to move out of your house. We’re here to try to brainstorm options with you.

You are always welcome to call into our 24/7 crisis center, or use our chatting services via our website. However, the chatting service is not open 24/7. So the best way to tell us everything would be to just call into our hotline and talk to one of our trained liners.

Be safe, NRS

[Guest]

i want to move out when i turn 16 ( im 14 currently soon to be 15) with 2 of my best friends because they are in the same boat as me, we all hate our families. my dad is a total jerk to me for no reason and im really fed up. but im scared he will turn on me and not help me when im struggling all because i left him. i dont want to stress my mom out by moving in with her and i also dont want to leave my friends at my school. i found a nice apartment to wheres me and 2 other people can split rent and bills. but if i move out what will i do about college? foes the states support me, will i owe them money? im confused on how this works and i want to figure it out because i want to do this. i cant wait till im 18 because my dad and i will end up fighting. im a female too so he will wind up in jail and my family will then turn on me. i just need understanding on how this works

[ccsmod11]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out for information. Sorry to hear your dad is a jerk to you, and it makes sense why you would want to leave home given those circumstances. If your dad ever does hit you, you should know that you don’t deserve that, and you can feel free to call the police, or report the violence to child protective services through our number (1-800-786-2929).

We’re glad to hear you don’t want to stress out your mom by moving in with her as a runaway. However, your idea for finding an apartment at age 16 may not be the most realistic one. Most landlords are not going to rent out to people who are 16 years of age. There are a lot of legal issues with doing that, and so you may wind up not being able to sign onto a lease at that age, even if you are financially stable enough to do so. As far as attending college as a runaway, by the time you attended college, you would most likely be considered an adult in your state, and so you probably wouldn’t have many problems with enrolling as a consequence of your prior runaway status. The state will not support you as a runaway unless you are entitled to benefits through child protective services, or another government agency. You may be able to get support for housing through child protective services if you report abuse that child protective services deems to be severe enough that you should be taken out of the home.

We’re not legal experts, so what we tell you may not apply in your community, even if it applies in most of the U.S. If you leave home without permission from a guardian, you can be reported to the police as a runaway. Usually, if a runaway report is filed on a youth, the police are authorized to search for the youth and return them home. In most parts of the U.S., running away is not illegal and won’t result in a youth getting arrested or fined. Adults who you stay with could be charged for harboring a runaway, which is a very rare charge, but a charge you may want to know about. Penalties for this charge vary widely across the U.S.

Hopefully this helped. Thanks so much for reaching out to us. If you have any questions or want to talk more, please call us at 1-800-786-2929.

Best,
NRS

[Guest]

I'm am 16 years old my parents are stressing me out a lot about school and pushing me way too hard on school I'm junior high school student in waco texas and I can't stand living with my parents they are really hard on me and I'm stressing out a lot that it hurting my mental health EVERYDAY and can I move out of my parents I'm 16 years old I'm about to be 17 years old in March 30 I'm not doing okay with school I have my senior year coming up nexted year is it okay to move out before my senior year hits around.

[ccsmod15]

Hi there,
Thank you for writing to us here at National Runaway Safeline (NRS). We understand it takes great courage to reach out, and we appreciate you sharing a little bit about what’s going on. It seems there is a lot that you are faced with right now and you’re feeling like leaving is one of your only options. School is understandably difficult to deal with with COVID going on, especially if you are facing extra pressure from you parents. It might be worth asking for tutoring or some other support instead of just pressure coming from the.
It seems you want to know some information on runaway laws. While we are not experts on the law, 18 is generally the age that an individual may leave home without parent permission. If you are under 18 and leave home, your parent/guardian may file you as a runaway and you may be returned home. Also, those you stay with may run the risk of being charged with harboring a runaway. For more specifics on the law, the local non-emergency police or legal aid may better answer legal questions.
We are here as support to help through this challenging time. We can best help by phone or chat as NRS is unable to respond more than twice by email to assist you. If you would like to talk more in detail please call or chat soon.
Our contact information is 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929); www.1800runaway.org (click on the chat button).
If you are at risk of any danger or feeling unsafe, we encourage you to reach out to 911 or seek emergency assistance immediately.
Be safe,
NRS