If I run away can I still go to the private school I have been signed into?

[Guest]

I am 13, going to be 14 on the 21st, and all these fights with mom and dad will drive me mad soon, so I feel I should leave. But I also take my academics seriously, and since I have been kicked out of public school because of showing my stress there, I was wondering if the private school that I have been signed into will still let me go there without me having my parents.

[ccsmod10]

Hi, thank you for reaching out. It sounds like you’re having a lot of conflict with your parents. That is a hard situation! This is a great first step and brave of you to do. We are here to help.

We are not legal experts but we can share a little bit about what we understand about the process of running away. It is not illegal for you to run away. It is what is called a status offense; meaning you just cannot do it because of your age. However, if you leave without your parents’ permission, they can file a runaway report. This informs the police that you are gone, so if they do find you, they may return you back home to your parents. So you may want to consider if this is something you think your parents would do. Additionally, if you were to leave without permission and went to stay with someone else and the police find you, whomever you are staying with may or may not be charged with harboring a runaway, which is a criminal offense for that person. Just another thing to keep in mind. As far as school is concerned, there is a federal Act called the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act that ensures that homeless youth can still attend school where they had been attending prior to being homeless. This includes youth who choose to run away and may apply to your situation.

We offer some services here at NRS that you may be interested in. We can conference call with you and your parents if you are interested in talking with them about things that have been going on and would like some help with that. We are youth initiated, which means you have to call or chat us first and then we can talk to you and if you decide you want to conference call, we can bring your parents on the phone and you can talk with them and we will serve as an advocate for you on the call. If you do choose to leave, we want to make sure you stay safe. You may want to consider where you would go and how you would take care of yourself and keep yourself safe.

We are here 24/7 and can talk with you anytime and offer resources such as shelters if you would like that.
Again, you are strong for reaching out. Your situation is really tough. You are motivated to stay active in school and that’s a great thing to have! We are always here to listen and to help. Call or chat us anytime! Thank you for reaching out to us. We want you to stay safe.