im 15 and wanting to run away

[ccsmod9]

RE: Im a 15 year old gurl who is just sick of this life struggles

Hello,
Thank you for reaching out to us. It sounds like you have been having a pretty hard time living with your family members. If you need help with depression and suicide you can contact the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. Now, we are a hotline primarily focused around services in the US. It looks like there is a line called Saudi Arabia Child Helpline and you can reach them by dialing 116 111. This is their website http://www.nfsp.org.sa/.
Sorry to hear that you have to put up with all these things at home. It may be worth finding a way that you can avoid conflict with your family. Things like leaving when it get heated at home or finding hobbies that can help you deal with the stress a little better. It is great that you are doing well in school! It may also help trying to talk to someone at school about what is going on. Sometimes people who work at schools can be very helpful in these situations. We hope this helped and you can contact us anytime at 1-800-RUNAWAY. We hope to hear from you soon. Good luck.
NRS

Im a 15 year old gurl who is just sick of this life struggles

Im a 15 year old who unfortunately lives in ksa........my family is the worst...they treat me so horrible all the time. Just few of them are nice but i barely see them cause theyre living out of ksa. For example my older brother who is 20 or something today started a fight then he slapped me 3 times! I always wish i can just die but i cant do it....im always trying to figure out a way to run but i dont know how and i was hoping u can help....my father is always away in a different city working and he frightens me sometimrs i got no idea why...i cry myself to sleep everyday....my mom just treats me really bad all the time and we always fight so she just doesnt care! We are 5 boys and 2 gurls oh actually i have 2 other step brothers and that sucks.......being the youngest sucks....i have been picked on by my family all my life because they always made fun of me cause they thought i had mental problems and i was always crying anyways....we have lost so much....our house that we bought and our car and soo much more because of my father well but i try not to blame him....i have a lot of friends....and im really great at school.i hope u can help me because i cant take living in this life with them for another day... :/

[ccsmod14]

RE: 14 years old SE MN

Hi there,

Thank you so much for reaching out to us here at the National Runaway Safeline. It sounds like you have been going through a difficult time lately and we’re sorry to hear about this. We’re here to help the best that we can.

You shared that you feel like you’re a disappointment to your family and friends. This has got to be a hard thing to feel. What is making you feel this way exactly? You also shared that you have been thinking about running away for a while, but your guidance counselor has been able to talk you out of it in the past. We’re not here to tell you what you should do, because you know your situation better than we do. We just want to help keep you safe in what you decide. It sounds like you have really been thinking through your options and how you would survive, which is a great step to be taking.

You raised great questions about where you would live and how it would affect your education. We’re not experts, but generally speaking, as a minor, it can be difficult to stay in a shelter more than 24 hours without legal guardian consent or notification. If you were filed as a runaway, anyone that you stay with could potentially be charged for harboring you as well. Options can be limited, and there are certain risks that come with each. As far as education, there is something called the McKinney Vento Act that states no minor can be refused an education, no matter the circumstance-essentially, you will not be turned away from getting an education, but questions will be asked at some point, so it is not something to rely on long-term.

It sounds like your guidance counselor was able to help you through a lot of these thoughts in the past, but you cannot talk to her during the summer. We have resources here for counseling if talking to an alternative counselor is something that you would like to explore. In addition, if you decide that you are going to leave, we could try to find shelter resources for a youth your age as well.

We’re here to support you as much as we can. It sounds like talking through things has been helpful in the past, and we are here to do that as well. Please do not hesitate to reach out.

Good luck and stay safe,
NRS

14 years old SE MN

I'm 14 years old and feel like a disappointment to my family and friends. And I want to run away for a few days at least to see if it's an improvement to my life at home. I just don't know what to do. I can take enough food and water to last me about 5 days. I can take my dads bike (I don't have one) and be in Iowa before my parents know I'm gone. But if I do decide to do it permanently how will I live and where will I go. If I decide not to make it permanent will my parents take me back? Will I be arrested? My education is very important to me. How will running away affect my education? My school guidance counselor knows I've been thinking about running away, and has been able to steer me away from it. But I don't know how to reach her with it being summer. Can you please give me some advice?

[ccsmod6]

RE: Want to run...

I'm 15, and I hate living at my house.. It's terrible here - my parents make me do everything as far as house chores, I've sometimes been abused and threatened, and degraded multiple times. I also have a girlfriend, and she knows about some of the things I've been going through. (Her and her mother) I am currently working on filing for emancipation for when I turn 16 next month. (In eight days) Her mother is fine with me living with them, and I really just want to leave right now... Also, my girlfriend's birthday is today, and I highly doubt my parents are just going to let me go. I've already decided that I'm going to be with her on her birthday no matter what, but I don't know what will happen if I just walk out the front door. How much trouble could I get in for that, and could I live with my girlfriend and her mother when I turn 16??

Hello there,

Thank you for reaching out to us here at the National Runaway Safeline. It takes courage and strength to reach out, and we are glad that you did. It sounds like home life is stressful and from what you shared unsafe at times due to abuse. You do not deserve to be mistreated in any way. You have the right to live in a safe environment. If you wanted to file a child abuse report or learn more about the process of reporting, it may be best to contact Child Help USA at 1-800-422-4453. We would be able to help you contact the agency as well as file the report if you were not comfortable with doing so on your own. Additionally, anyone who suspects abuse or is aware of abuse can file a report too. So, your girlfriend and her family could file a report if that is something you wanted to do. The agency would be able to identify resources in your area to help you stay safe and help your family work through any conflict in the home.

It sounds like you have support from your girlfriend and her family which is great to hear, however, it seems a concern you have is that you are wondering what would happen if you stay with them when you turn 16. We are not legal experts, but we can speak generally. Because you are under the age of 18 (which is typically the age of majority in most states), you are expected to reside with your legal guardians until you reach the age of majority. If you were to leave home without consent from your guardians, they may choose to file a runaway/missing person report. Depending on how your city, state, and even county handles cases, the police may search for you and bring you back to your guardians. Running away is not illegal but considered a status offense; you will not get into trouble unless you committed a crime or are currently on probation upon leaving home. Additionally, your girlfriend’s family may be charged with “harboring a runaway” that may or may not result in legal issues such as fines or jail time. A lot of this depends on how your state handles runaway cases. It is often best to reach out to your local non-emergency police department to inquire about runaway laws in your area. If you needed help with contacting the local police, we could always help you with that to find out how runaway laws are handled in your area.

You know what is best for you and we are here to support you in whatever you decide. Our priority is helping to keep you safe whether that means staying at home, going to a trusted family or friend, or going to a runaway shelter. We have a large database of resources and would be glad to help as best as we can. Please know that you can reach out to us by phone any time of day as we are 24/7 by contacting 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929). We are also available through live chat that operates between the hours of 4:30pm-11:30pm Central Standard Time (CST).

We hope this helps and wish you the best.

Please be safe and take good care,

NRS

Want to run...

I'm 15, and I hate living at my house.. It's terrible here - my parents make me do everything as far as house chores, I've sometimes been abused and threatened, and degraded multiple times. I also have a girlfriend, and she knows about some of the things I've been going through. (Her and her mother) I am currently working on filing for emancipation for when I turn 16 next month. (In eight days) Her mother is fine with me living with them, and I really just want to leave right now... Also, my girlfriend's birthday is today, and I highly doubt my parents are just going to let me go. I've already decided that I'm going to be with her on her birthday no matter what, but I don't know what will happen if I just walk out the front door. How much trouble could I get in for that, and could I live with my girlfriend and her mother when I turn 16??

[ccsmod8]

RE: 15 (female)

Hello there –

Thank you for reaching out to us here at the National Runaway Safeline on our public bulletin board. From your bulletin post, it seems that you are going through a very hard time right now living at home and seem to be very overwhelmed with everything that has been going on. Especially if you’re thinking about leaving your house for a week or two. It sound like you are getting pretty frustrated with your parents not understanding how the stress that they put on you affects you so much. Hopefully we can help you come up with some ideas on what your next step might be.

In your post, you asked some pretty great questions about what you can legally do and what you cannot do at the age of 15. Unfortunately, here at the NRS we cannot tell you in definite terms what would happen if you were to leave home without permission because we are not legal experts. Laws on that specific subject vary from state to state, so our advice would be call your local non-emergency police number to get more information on that. But since you are well below the legal age of majority (18 in most states), what generally happens; your parents or legal guardian would be able to make a runaway report in the event that you do run away. Since it’s only considered a statues offense the only thing that would happen is that the police will pick you up and bring you back home. If your parents do make a runaway report and you stay with someone else, your parents can press charges on that family for harboring a runaway when they are not giving accurate information on your whereabouts. So that might be something to keep in mind as well.

You have also stated that you feel that your parents don’t seem to understand that the stress that they put on you is becoming a little overwhelming. 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. How do you feel about that?

If you give us a call on our 24/7 hotline at 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929) we could help you find resources in your area and could potentially help you brainstorm a possible solution to the issues you are having. We also have an online chat service available every night from 4:30-11:30PM CST that is available through our website (www.1800runaway.org).

15 (female)

Im 15 and i really just want to get away from home, my parents stress me out constantly and they have no idea how much it effects me. I have a lot of responsiblitlities at home i do things for myself that other kids seem to take for granted, i dont mind but sometimes it all gets too much. I want to be alone a lot of the time and nobody really seems to understand that. I wish i could just go away for a week or two maybe, still go to school i mean because i dont mind school but just not go home afterwards. Is there any way i could do this without social services or police getting involved?

[ccsmod14]

Re: Run away

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out to us here at the National Runaway Safeline. It sounds like you have been through a tough time recently and we’re glad that you reached out to us. We’re here to help the best that we can.

So you shared that your mom has kicked you out of the house, and your boyfriend has offered you a place to stay. It is good to know that you have his support and help through this. We are not legal experts, but generally speaking if you are kicked out of your home by your legal guardian and they do not provide you a safe, alterative place to stay, you have the right to report this as neglect. If this is something that you are interested in doing, you can call us and we can either help make the report or provide you the number that you would call to do so with Child Protective Services of your state.

If your legal guardian were to make a runaway report because you were staying at your boyfriend’s house, typically all that would happen is the police would bring you home. However, anyone that you stay with could potentially be charged for harboring. This law looks different depending on the state that you are in, and the way that your local police department would handle it. One option you have is to call your local police department and ask hypothetically how they would handle this situation.

If you need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to reach out again. We’re here 24/7.

Good luck and stay safe,
NRS

Run away

Hi im 15 and im thinking of running away sgsin with My boyfriend what could hsppen he is 18 and my Mom kicked me out of The house and I'm tried of her the cops told my aunt they really couldnt do nothing about it because I had left because it was my choice could my boyfriend go to jail for 25 years

[ccsmod1]

RE: I'm a fifteen year old girl and I want to leave home.

Thanks for reaching out to us for help. It sounds like you are in a really tough situation right now with your stepmom. Her behavior sounds really hurtful, and we are sorry to hear that this is going on. It sounds like you want to live on your own, but you don’t have anywhere to go or a plan for how to survive. We understand that you are very unhappy at home, and we are here to help and support you in any way that we can. It sounds like you are thinking about how to continue your education as well. If you run away, your parents can report you to the police, who can force you to return home. Do you have anywhere to stay? It might be very difficult to stay enrolled in school or keep your job if you don’t have anywhere to live. Will your job be enough to pay for everything you will need to survive, like food, clothes, and shelter? It sounds like you have a lot to think about and plan before leaving. We are here to help you in any way that we can. If you need anyone to talk to about all this, we are here for you 24/7. We are looking forward to your call, and wish you the best of luck.

I'm a fifteen year old girl and I want to leave home.

Lately I have been thinking about running away, or moving out. I understand that I am only fifteen, but it's getting to the point where I really just would be a lot happier without my family now. Last year my father got full custody of my twin brother and I. My mother was making bad decisions and he wanted us to stay with him. I have two younger brothers, whom I miss very much and they live with my mother and their dad. I haven't talked to her in over a year. The situation at my father's house.. He has a wife, they got married a long time ago. Even though you would've thought that I would consider her as my mom by now, I do not. She is very rude much of the time and favors her child, my step brother. She is very immature and not understanding. I wish that I could have the mother figure in my life, but I don't. My step mother often ignores me, even though I see her a lot throughout the day. She could go weeks without talking to me, even when I am in the room, I cease to exist. I love my dad but he doesn't ever take my side and he always has excuses for my step mother. I just need to leave, but what I've been thinking about is my education. My education is very important to me, It will help me for my future. Also, I do have a job as a coach for sports. I just need help of where to go? And how will I do it? Thank you

[ccsmod5]

re: I am 15 and I want to move out

Hey there,

Thank you for being able to reach out to us here at the National Runaway Safeline. It seems like you are going through a pretty tough time and we want you to know that we are here to listen and to help you in the best way we can. We’re sorry that your family is treating you this way and you are feeling this way with your siblings.

From what you shared, it sounds like you are pretty stressed and are set on running away. There are some things you might want to consider before you make a sudden decision. We are not here to tell you what to do, but rather explore options and help you brainstorm to see what is best for you. Here are some questions you might want to think of:

What else can I do to improve my home situation before I leave?
What would make me stay at home?
How will I survive?
Is running away safe?
Who can I count on to help me?
Have I given this enough thought?
What are my other options?
If I end up in trouble, who will I call?
When I return home, what will happen?

Another thing to keep in mind is that running away is not illegal, it is rather a status offense which means that you are not allowed to do it because you are a minor. Typically, if your parents file a runaway report and you are found, police officers typically just take you home. There is also a law called “harboring a youth” which means that if police find out you are allowed to stay in a different home, the people you are staying with can get into some legal trouble. The charges can vary from fines to jail time.

We hope that we were able to give you a few options, if you feel like there is something else you want to discuss or if you need look up any resources, out hotline is open 24/7 and we are always happy to help you with exploring your options. We wish you the best of luck in whatever it is you decide to do.

Stay strong,

NRS

I am 15 and I want to move out

I am tired of my parents rules, and no this isnt just a diva talking. My parents let me have no freedom, i cant even go anywhere. My dad and i havent been getting along, and either is my mom. All they care about is my little sister, who is a selfish brat who is spoiled. They pay attention to her and leave out me and my older brother, which is 16. If anything is wrong with my little sister, they immediately take her to the doctors. its a pain in that house. Did i mention i have a 23 year old half sister? She gives me advice whenever i feel like running away. All she says is "wait 3 more years." Well... i can't i really want to be more independent and im tired of having no freedom in that house. I wish i was 18 already. I need advice i am done!!!!

[ccsmod1]

RE: im 15 and wanting to run away

Thanks for reaching out to us for help. We are sorry to hear that you are being abused. Nobody deserves to be emotionally abused, and we are here to support you however we can. However, we are not legal experts. Our organization is located in the United States, and we have no knowledge about the laws regarding running away from home in the UK. Have you thought about reaching out to anyone at your school, or contacting local law enforcement to ask about the laws in your area? If you decide to leave home, do you have somewhere safe to stay and a plan for what you will do? We are here for you if you have any more questions. Best of luck!