15 and i want to get emancipated when i turn 16 in 5 months.

[Guest]

I want to get emancipated when i turn 16 to escape verbal and mental abuse but i need help.

[ccsmod8]

Hello there –

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to get into contact with us here at the National Runaway Safeline on our public forum, we are always here to listen and here to help in any way that we can. Hopefully by supporting you there are other that are reading through this thread that can relate can feel helped as well. No one deserves to be treated like that at all. Just know that you always have the right to report any abuse (physical, mental, sexual, or neglect/abandonment) to your local child protective service in your state. You have rights too. If calling out to child protective services is something that you don’t really feel comfortable with doing, you can always give us a call to help answer any questions about the process or to walk you through what steps there are. One other thing that may be helpful for you is to note when the abuse/yelling is happening or any triggers of the abuse/yelling ( some examples would be like after your abuser comes from work or after dinner and/or right when you get home) and to try to find things that can keep yourself away from home during those times (after school programs, sports program, study group at a friend’s house, getting involved in your volunteering/hobby, etc).

Just note that we are not legal experts so we cannot tell you exactly how everything works, but we can give you information to what we know. If you were looking into emancipation we can give you some general knowledge of that process, but we are not legal experts. Those laws regarding emancipation are different in every state because some states don’t even have emancipation as an option. What we know is that getting emancipated by the court is a process that does take a while. There also needs to be proof that the youth is able to support him or herself on their own. Other requirements sometime indicate that they have had to have lived independently from their parents for a certain amount of time, wishes to be free from parental control, has an acceptable plan for independent living, and be able to manage their own financial affairs. So it does not look like there is going to be a fast track to getting emancipated or website to file because it does go through the court system and you will have to wait for a judge to see you and hear your case. The petition has be filed with the juvenile court for your county. The court may order mediation between the youth and parents to take place first, and if the mediation is unsuccessful, a hearing may be appointed where a judge would decide if the youth is mature enough to become emancipated.

Other information that we have regarding emancipation is that you can also become a legal adult if you enter a valid marriage or are serving on active duty with the US Armed Forces. Having a solid plan about what you plan to do if you were emancipated might be helpful because that would be something that a judge would look at when making that decision.

If you give us a call on our 24/7 hotline at 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) we could help you find resources in your area and could potentially help you brainstorm a possible solution to the issues you are having. We would love to talk to you about what has been going on recently that is making you want to leave home. We also have an online chat service available every day.