what legal consequences would my dad suffer if i ran away while with my mother?

[Guest]

my parents are divorced, and currently im in the middle of a tight situation. despite me making it clear that i fear my mother because of things that she has done to me and my 6 year old brothers, the court is ordering that i have visitation with her, and i, according to my dad, cant not go as he’ll get in trouble by my mothers lawyer, like with jail time and sanctions. so, i have to go. there is an ongoing dcpp investigation against my mother because of her verbally and physically abusing us. shes lying about the whole thing and saying that nothing has happened, basically calling me a liar. so far, it seems like no one is taking me seriously or believing that my accusations are true (which they are). i have a trauma assessment on tuesday, and two weeks from today, my parents go to mediation to sort out finances and whatnot with the new court order. my question is: if i were to run away while i am with my mother, before any of that took place, would anything bad happen to my dad? would the trauma or mediation things be put off or postponed because of running away? would i be separated from my dad? what would happen to me?

[ccsmod5]

Hi,
Thanks so much for reaching out. It sounds like you’re in a scary situation. It definitely makes sense that you wouldn’t want to go with your mother, especially because she has done things to you that make you afraid. You deserve to feel safe and supported where you are, and you deserve to be believed. We are by no means legal experts, but we can try to answer your questions as best as we can. However, your best bet for a straight answer would likely be your dad’s lawyer (or any lawyer).
If you were to run away while you’re with your mother, usually what happens is that she could file a runaway report and the police might bring you back to her. However, sometimes police choose not to intervene in custody issues and so they may let you stay with your dad if that’s where you go when you leave your mom’s. We’re honestly not certain of what might happen to your dad, but it seems unlikely that he would face jail time. Again, though, we’re not legal experts, so we can’t be 100% certain on that. If there is a pending abuse case against your mom, it seems unlikely that the courts would separate you from your dad. As for what would happen to you…usually, the answer is nothing. Running away is not a crime punishable by jail time.
Thank you again for reaching out. It sounds like you’re in a tough spot and you’re doing the best you can to think about your options. It’s considerate of you to think about what might happen to your dad, and it shows a lot of maturity and forethought. We wish you the best of luck and we hope this response was helpful! We’d love to hear from you about your experience using our crisis email/forum. Please click the link to fill out our survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/we_care_what_you_think . Stay safe!