Unaccompanied minor needing legal help in California

[Guest]

Hello! I am currently 17 and I have been "unaccompanied" since May of 2017 when I graduated high school and my parents kicked me out. I've been unable to contact them since, and I've moved in with a close family friend who lets me stay with them so long as I take care of their home. I have stayed far from anything that will cause me legal issues, but have been able to register for college since I know the majority of my information without having any proper documentation.
I currently have my birth certificate, and I know my social security number. I have no proper proof of address because I have no bank account, bills, etc. However, I cannot continue to pay for college because of my lack of funds (spent all of my savings and it's difficult to get a job when you're trying to avoid legal confrontation), so I want to apply for FAFSA. The main problem here is that for FAFSA, since I don't have any parental information, I need to prove my situation (being an unaccompanied minor) and provide government issued ID to be able to do that. I have no ID, and to acquire once, I need proof of residency.
I'm not sure how to go about handling things from here, as I still don't turn 18 until March, and I need to get this all figured out before January if I want to continue going to school (and the person letting me live with them will kick me out if I cannot go to school this semester). There is no avoiding this situation until my birthday, so any and all help anyone can provide me is IMMENSELY appreciated. Thank you SO much in advance.

[ccsmod10]

Hey there,

Thank you for reaching out! It sounds like you are in a tough situation and that you are doing everything you can to take care of yourself and stay in school.
It sounds stressful to worry that your housing is dependent on keeping yourself in school and that you don’t have the resources to be able to do that.
We aren’t legal experts here but we can do our best to give you some useful information and connect you with other resources.

From what you wrote, it sounds like your most pressing issue is that you need to be able to fill out your FAFSA so that you can stay in school You mentioned that in order to do that, you need a government issued ID and proof of address.

You say in your post that you’ve been going to school but that you are running out of funds. Is there a financial guidance counselor at your school that you could talk to about this issue? It’s possible that your school might be able to provide you with the documentation you need to prove residency or might have more information specific to your state.

If you’d like to talk with us in more detail about your situation or would like some local resource that might be able to help answer legal questions, you are always welcome to call 1-800-RUNAWAY or chat with us on our website from 4:30-11:30pm CST.