im 15 and wanting to run away

[ccsmod5]

Hi!
Thanks for reaching out. It’s difficult to figure out your options based on the information you’ve shared, but please feel free to give us a call! We’re here 24/7 to listen and help as much as we can. Take care,
NRS

Hey, I fifteen and figuring out what I need to do to get the hell out of this issue. I also have a few questions regarding Do I have to pay for rent with my grandparents... They think I lied all last school quarter. Please help ASAP.

[ccsmod15]

Thank you for contacting us at the National Runaway Safeline. It sounds like you are going through a difficult situation right now. It takes a lot of courage to reach out for help and we are glad that you decided to reach out for help.
It sounds like your home is not a safe place to be. It is not ok for anyone to be emotionally and physically hurting you. You could consider calling Child Help USA at 1-800-422-4453 and they could help provide you information on filing an abuse report. If you are ever concerned about your safety you can always call 911. Things sound really overwhelming at home. Sometime talking to another family member, friend or even a counselor can be helpful. You could call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) when you are feeling down. If you ever feel sad or depressed and thinking about hurting yourself you could also call 911 or the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). School counselors can also be helpful in many situations. But school counselors are mandated reporters, so if you mention abuse to them they will be mandated to file an abuse report. Family counseling can also be helpful in many situations. It sound like things are so stressful at home that is making you think of running away. Running away from home can be hard in many cases. You may want to think about where you might stay, and how you might pay for food or other living expenses. While we are not legal experts, just speaking generally if you are to leave home without your parents’ permission the police can bring you back home and whoever you are staying with could get trouble in the law. However at 17 laws can vary and you could call your local non-emergency police department to find out what the local laws are.
You could also us at our 24 hour confidential hotline at 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) and we can just listen to you, explore your options and provide any resources.

We wish you the best and hope to hear from you soon.

We hope this response was helpful! We'd love to hear from you about your experience using our crisis email/forum. Your feedback plays an important role in helping us improve our services to support youth and families. Please click the link below to fill out our survey.

Tell us what you think about your experience!

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Best,
NRS

Hi, im 17. I've been abused all my life mentally and physically by both my parents. They were separated when I was young. I got away from my father, he was the worst with the abuse. I left to my moms because he neglected me for months by not speaking or acknowledging me. Everything is a tiny bit better now, there is still mental abuse with my mom and my brother who hits people when he gets mad, he broke my rib a year ago. My mom won't acknowledge hes unsafe to be around and constantly threatens that if I say anything without her permission to authorities I will not be allowed in the house. I'm a very heartfelt person and my family treats me with a lot of disrespect and it hurts. I have a long history of mentle health and have recently become very depressed and have been doing very bad physically. I need to get away I don't wanna wait until something happens. I'm generally a very positive person but I'm afraid i wont be able to feel good again if I don't get away from the situation. I wish I ran way when I was with my father but I was scared then. My marks are getting very low and it's very hard to go to school. I love my family but I feel a lone, everyone's always routed for themselves my whole life and now i need to. I'm worried my situation wont be important enough to go because I'm not getting beat up everyday. Let me know what you think.

[ccsmod5]

Hi, thank you for reaching out. It sounds like you’re in a difficult situation at home and want to leave. We aren’t legal experts, but generally speaking you would need to be 18 to leave home without your parents’ permission. If you leave before that, your family would have the right to file a runaway report and if the police are able to find you they may return you home. That being said, we understand that it can be emotionally exhausting when there are fights almost every week. One option is to ask your guardians for permission to stay elsewhere, like with a friend or a family member. Another option is to try and talk to your parents about how you’ve been feeling; it’s possible that they don’t know how they’re impacting you. If you need help talking to your parents, you might consider asking a guidance counselor or another adult that you trust. Here at NRS, we also offer a conference call service and we are happy to mediate a call between you and one of your parents if you need.
Thank you again for reaching out. We hope this was helpful and we encourage you to reach out by phone if you need additional resources or need help figuring out your options. Our number is 1-800-786-2929 and our lines are always open. If you have a moment, we'd appreciate your feedback of our crisis services at the following link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/we_care_what_you_think

Stay safe!

Lucio Baires -


Im 15 and want to run a away I’ve had it with my family can no longer be here. There’s fights almost every week and I’m always the one who comes out with the punishment. I get treated unfairly and can no longer cope with all this nonsense. Now I know I can’t be living here anymore and need somewhere else to stay what do I do?

[ccsmod4]

Reply: Hi I’m 15 years old. I live in Texas.


Hi there,
Thank you for writing to us here at National Runaway Safeline (NRS).

We understand it takes great courage to reach out, and we appreciate you sharing a little bit about what’s going on.
It sounds like you’re quite overwhelmed by things at home right now and you mentioned trying to harm yourself in the past. We’re sorry you have been going through such a tough time at home.
Suicide does not have to be the option you turn to in order to resolve a situation.
Remember that is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
If you feel at any time you feel at risk or a danger to yourself you might consider reaching out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255

Being supported by family seems to be something you feel is important but they don’t show you any.
That’s unfortunate but good for you in trying to better yourself and your situation.
Your father sounds like someone you would feel good about living with. Having his support probably feels special. You deserve to be happy and treated fairly. You are showing strength by reaching out for help. Running away could put you in an added unwanted situation. Your safety is most important.
Good for you for thinking things through.
You might consider talking with your case manager about family crisis counseling.

If you would like to talk about your situation and explore some options for coping with your situation, please give us a call at 1-800-Runaway (786-2929) or you can choose to live chat with NRS at www.1800Runaway.org
NRS is here to listen and here to help.
We hope that you will begin to feel better about your situation.

Take care,
NRS

Hi I’m 15 years old. I live in Texas. For a while I have been experiencing mental abuse from my family. Which caused me to try & commit suicide. Not because I wanted to die but because I knew that was the only way I could get rid of them. I have a case worker but I feel like nothing is getting better. No one respects my mind or stuff in this house. They don’t support you when you want to better yourself. They say stuff to make you feel bad about yourself. When I say they , I mean my parents & siblings in the household. My biological father wants me to move with him. He have begged my mother multiple times & she refused. She only refused because she know that I will truly be happy there. I want to run away but I don’t want to go to jail or get kinnpped & God know what else. I am really running out of options.

[ccsmod3]

Thanks for contacting NRS, as abuse is wrong and we want to help ensure you stay safe.

We are not legal experts, yet if you do run away your mom could contact the police and file a missing person’s report. The police would be obligated to return you home, unless they or child protective services (CPS) determine it is not safe to return you there. If so, you may then be relocated to transitional living or a foster home.

That would be just one opportunity to speak out about the physical and mental abuse. You have several other ways you can report abuse to including teachers, counselors, doctors, Child Help 1-800-422-4453, or law enforcement officers. Those mandated reporters, along with certain other adults, are legally required to report when abuse is observed or suspected.

NRS is here 24/7/365 at 800-786-2929 to listen about your situation, and to elicit
options. For example, when you are scared at home, we can help locate a shelter so you have a safe place to go. Or, we can place a phone call with you to CPS and you can ask questions anonymously, to learn about the process to report and how they would respond. Our focus will be to help you remain safe and of the streets.

-NRS

I'm a 15 year old girl and get physically and mentally abused on a day to day basis.. I've been planning on running away for a while now but I'm scared that my mum will call the police and I'll be to scared to tell them that when my dad gets mad he punched me over the head,so when I do get home he'll throw me around like a rag doll and they'll both scream at me that I'm "Worthless" "lazy"

Please help me escape

[ccsmod4]

Reply:I feel the same way except ....


Hello,
Thanks for contacting the National Runaway Safeline.
It sounds like you are going through a lot at home some things that sound abusive.

Any mention of abuse raises our concern for your safety and well-being.
That being said. If any harm or abuse is happening at home, you have the right to report it.
You do not deserve to be abused in any way by anyone. You are not at fault for someone’s behavior to act violently. There are laws to protect you against child abuse.

We are not experts on the issue, but generally once it's been reported, social services will either decide whether or not to take the case and further investigate. If they do take the case, they will send out someone from child protective services to do an investigation (interviewing people in the household) and from there they will decide the level of danger within the household. It generally ranges from no danger (the youth stays in the home, some services are given, and the case is closed), moderate danger (they will provide family services with possible temporary displacement) and high danger (they will remove the youth from the home and offer certain services).

If you feel like this is an option you want to explore, you may find this website helpful: https://www.childhelp.org/child-abuse/. We can also help you to file a report if that’s the route you are considering.

You also talked about wanting to know how you can leave home without legal consequences.
The easiest way to leave home is with your parent’s or guardian’s permission.
We understand that might be challenging, however, maybe there’s another family member, relative, or a family friend who might try to be supportive by talking with your parents.


Please be safe and reach out soon by phone or chat so that we may help.

Take care,
NRS

I feel the same way except my mom calls me stupid says I say dumb s*** she hits me hard in my face and today she slammed my head against a picture frame I don’t know if she does this on purpose I don’t want to change schools nor go to a group home I just need to get away from here today she threaten to have me arrested she said "your turning 16 soon you should know what that means" today I lost my temper my mouth wouldn’t stop running I talked back to her as she yelled in my face accusing me of doing things I did' t do. she goes through my things I come home and my things are all messed up and gone through she accuses me of stealing anything that she can't automatically find or she accuses me of giving it to one of my friends. Things at school are bad manly every day going home is something I should be looking forward to instead I am dreading it some days I don’t even want to come home but I know I have to. if there is any way I can leave without getting into trouble I would accept that but I’m kind of getting to the point where I don’t care if I get into trouble or not I mean I know that she isn't abusing me like beating me every day but I’m tired of coming home to things like this and I feel like I can’t talk to her about anything I feel like I don’t belong here they don’t need me I am not needed nor wanted here so why is she keeping me prisoner?

[ccsmod10]

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out to the National Runaway Safeline. It sounds like you have given a lot of thought to leaving home, and we want you to know that your safety is always our number one concern.

We are by no means legal experts, but we do know that the age of majority (when you are considered an adult) is 18. This means that if you leave home without permission, there is a chance that your legal guardians could file a runaway report with the local police. If you were to run into law enforcement, they would most likely have to return you home. Granted, we can’t speak on behalf of all law enforcement- calling your local police and asking might give a better insight.


Having the goal of obtaining a job and saving money are both extremely responsible actions. Having a strong support system to help you out over the next couple years is also important. You can find support in many different forms- teachers, school counselors, friends, family, etc.

We are also here to help and provide support- you can always reach us at 1-800- RUNAWAY.

Best of luck,
NRS

im 15 im mentally drained . my parents they love me but it feels deep down they dont im staying at my best friends house currently and her mother is a great support. i feel at home there like i dont have to lock myself up in my room and hide. my mother has yelled at me said really bad things to me and i think i should permanently live with my friend

[ccsmod3]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out to National Runaway Safeline and sharing a little bit about what is going. It takes a lot of courage to reach out and especially in a time where you have a really tough and complex situation at home with your parent’s divorce. It can be hard to know what to do about your next living situation, especially with the different dynamics that have happened. We can’t tell you what you should or should not do, but we can give you the options that we are aware of for someone in your situation.

It can be difficult to know how to talk to your parents and express your feelings about how you are feeling. We would encourage you to reach out to a trusted adult, teacher, relative, and friend that you can talk to and potentially help you mediate a conversation with your parents about your current situation. At NRS, we do offer a service call conference calling, where you can call into our hotline and then we would reach out to your guardian and help advocate for you, help you express the needs you have to your parents.

Your mental health is important. You can also look at SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) at samhsa.gov or call them directly at 1-877-726-4727 to help you find the support that you need. If you do ever feel in direct danger, to yourself, or some else makes you feel that way, please call out to 911 or reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255)

Another thing that you can do is look into emancipation, where you can have the right of an adult. We are not legal experts, but we can help you get a general sense of how emancipation works. Our general understanding is some states offer formal emancipation statutes while others do not unfortunately. Laws vary depending on your location, but in many states a minor can petition the court for emancipation to take responsibility for their own care before they turn 18. Generally speaking, courts are wary about granting emancipation. In most cases, you would have to prove in court that you have an income and can care for yourself financially, and that you are able to live separately from your parents. It also helps to be in good standing at school. The court will also factor in the mental and physical welfare of your parents in order to establish your best interest. Usually your legal guardian would have to agree to this in court. Once you are emancipated, you can legally choose where you live, but you might still find that you cannot sign a lease or build credit until you turn 18. The emancipation process can take several months or up to a year, and may cost money in the form of court fees and other expenses. Usually, the best way to learn about emancipation in your state is to contact a lawyer. You may also find information at your county family court. We can look up legal aid resources that may be able to help you with the process.
We are here for you and will support you in anyway that we can. Please feel free to call into us directly as we can talk further about your situation and find resources that are best for you in your area. Stay strong and you are not alone in this! Our number is 1-800-RUNAWAY we are open 24/7.

-NRS

We hope this response was helpful! We'd love to hear from you about your experience using our crisis email/forum. Your feedback plays an important role in helping us improve our services to support youth and families. Please click the link below to fill out our survey.

Tell us what you think about your experience!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/we_care_what_you_think