Running away to another state

[Guest]

Hello, I've been thinking about running away for a while now, I live with my "past abusive" father whom recently divorced my mother, whom is an alcoholic. I have bags that I could pack and I already know what I would take for food and whatnot, I have some money I could take with my and I have enough stuff I could sell and get more. I would like to run away from the state of Texas and go to South Carolina. If I can get there I'm pretty sure I would be fine, but my problem is getting there. I might be able to get someone to drive me there or at least part of the way. I'm also fairly sure I could get someone in South Carolina to pick me up when I get into the state. I'm a little nervous about my parents calling the cops and if i got picked up by them I'm nervous what my dad would do when he got me back here. Really I suppose I just want a few ideas that I might be able to use to get there. I apologize if the thread wasn't in the right category, I wasn't really sure where to put it. Anyways, any help would be nice, thank you.

[ccsmod15]

Thank you for reaching out to NRS and having the strength to share your story with us. We are sorry to hear about your situation and what you’ve been dealing with. Ideally, home would be a place where people feel safe, loved, and valued, and you do not deserve to be treated that way. You’ve been very courageous to reach out for help and try your best despite the circumstances.

We aren’t here to tell you what to do, whether to leave or not to leave. What is important is that you are safe. From what you wrote, it sounds like there may be someone in South Carolina that you can stay with? If not, we would be happy to talk through options of a safe place to stay. Options of how to get to South Carolina may depend on your age, as to whether you could travel via Greyhound for example (a ticket from Dallas, TX to Charleston, SC is $170 just to give you an idea of cost). We would be happy to talk through the details of your situation (probably best to not post cities of your coming and going for confidentiality/safety reason).

You also mentioned being nervous about having the police called on you. It’s normal to be nervous. We aren’t legal experts, but can speak generally to what happens when a minor leaves home without the parent’s consent, which is that parents can file a runaway report. Being a runaway is a status offense, and while you would not be charged with a crime, if police came across you, they would probably return you home. We’d be happy to talk about what it may look like if you were returned home. If you would like to talk about other resources and support, feel free to call our 24 hour hotline, 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) or use our Live Chat.

We hope this information was helpful and take care.