16 and going to tn

RE: 16 and going to tn.

Hello there –

Thank you reaching out to us here at the National Runaway Safeline on our public bulletin board. Just know that we are always here to listen to you and help you in any way that we possibly can. From what you have stated in your post it sounds like you have been going through a very difficult time right now dealing with everything. Seems like you and your family don’t really get along on the fact that you are dating your girlfriend. Sounds like things are beginning to get a little overwhelming if you’re thinking about running away.

Like we tell a lot of our callers, the laws on that specific subject of running away vary from state to state, so our advice would be call your local non-emergency police number to get more information on that. Generally what typically happens in each state is if you are below the legal age of majority (18 in most states except Alabama and Nebraska [19 or upon marriage], and Mississippi [21]), what generally happens; her parents like her mother and/or father would be able to make a runaway report in the event that she do leave your house. Since it’s only considered a statues offense and not a crime to run away, the only thing that would happen is that the police will pick her up and bring her back home. There are some cases (based on individual police officers of your state) where they won't take a runaway report because they might view the youth as an adult, especially if the youth is close to turning 18. If her parents do make a runaway report and she is planning on staying with someone else, her parents can press charges on that family for harboring a runaway when they are not giving accurate information on her whereabouts. That could lead to a number of different legal issues. So it is a possibility that she will be forced to go back home until you have reached the age of majority.

Have you tried talking to them about what has been going on with you and your feelings? If you don’t feel like that is something you feel comfortable with doing, we can surely try to help you with that communication with you and your family. We offer a service that is basically a Conference Call where your parents, yourself, and us would be on the phone talking about what has been going on. This way there can be a mediator in between keeping things calm and productive.

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