My 16 yet old ran away

[Guest]

My 16 year old ran away. She is communicating with me daily and letting me know where she is. She is going to school. Without getting into everything. There is a lot of background. She does not want to go into foster care or a mental hospital she just wants to keep staying at different people' houses. It' been since Sunday she left when we were asleep. I don't want to involve the police as i know this will end up with her running away again and not communicating with me. I basically am hoping she will come to her senses. She is transgender and does not have an issue with me but my husband can' accept her being transgender which led to this. Am I obligated to notify police or can I allow this to continue until she comes to her senses? She has a lot of issues and I know if I call police she will never speak to me again and that even worse. She texts me daily with where she is and I know she' going to school she tells me she loves me just can' t live with her dad. Can i allo
w this or do i have to report her?

[ccsmod15]

Hello. We're really glad that you reached out to us today and that you are doing your best to support your daughter. We appreciate you're concerned about what to do under these circumstances. If you know where your daughter is, and you would give her permission to be there, it probably isn't necessary to report her as a runaway. If you don't know where she is, or she is somewhere you wouldn't give her permission to be because you consider it unsafe (or for some other reason), then you may want to consider reporting her as a runaway. Unless you ask them to do so, it's unlikely the police will go looking for your daughter or do anything else. However, reporting the runaway has two benefits worth considering - it protects you from being accused of neglect in case something were to happen to her and if she were to have some kind of an encounter with the police, they would know where she belongs. Running away is not a crime, so there would be no criminal record involved unless she's already on probation or something like that. You may want to consider giving her a couple of telephone numbers she could call for support: one is the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860; the other is the LGBT National Youth Talk Line at 1-800-246-7743. You might also consider the Trans Lifeline as a possible resource for how you could work with her father to create a hospitable environment from both of you. If you want to talk with us further about this, we'd be glad to have you call us 24/7 at 1-800-RUNAWAY. We could help you identify other resources and options, such as counseling services, etc. Thanks again for reaching out to us today. We wish the best for your family.