14 year old in an emotionally abusive home.

[Guest]

Hi, I'm supposed to go to school today but I'm not because my parents have me on what's pretty much a suicide watch.
For as long as I can remember I've been depressed and confused as to why I never did anything right. My dad always got mad at me, and I used to think it was my fault. I had no idea what I was doing wrong until I realized it wasn't my fault. My dad is emotionally abusive, and it's ruining my life. The only reason I haven't run away is because I know that I have academic potential, but now that my dad is going to homeschool that potential is lost. My dad being my teacher would undoubtedly cause me to fail and never get into a good college because my dad is a horrible teacher and homeschooling would keep me from pretty much any social interaction, which would make my mental problems 10 times worse. I can't keep living in this house if I don't leave I'm going to snap and hurt myself or someone else and I don't want to do that. I told my dad yesterday that I'd rather die than wake up in the morning, and he called me selfish and kept me home from school. It's his fault that I wish I was dead right now, and as I said I can't stand living in the same house as him anymore. I NEED to get away from here, and I just need to figure out how.

I'm 14 and I live in Michigan. If I run away, can the police force me to come back?
Is there any chance CPS can do anything about my problem or is there no hope because of its only emotional abuse?
If I was to stay at a friend's house for a little, could their parents get in trouble for holding me?

[ccsmod16]

Hi,
Thank you for reaching out to us; we are glad that you did.
It sounds like you are in a very difficult and stressful situation with an emotionally abusive dad. Being treated that way can certainly cause depression, and you are right that it is not your fault – you haven’t done anything to cause him to treat you so badly.
It is understandable that you don’t want to be homeschooled by someone who is abusive towards you and is a horrible teacher. We aren’t legal experts and we don’t know about whether you’d have to be homeschooled, but we hope that you would talk with someone at school about this. Letting a teacher or counselor know about the abuse you’re enduring and that you worry about being homeschooled and having nowhere to be safe from him.
We are not legal experts, but because you are such a young person, the police will search for you and would return you home, but if you tell the officer that you are not safe at home and don’t want to go back, they would probably get your state’s Child Protective Services involved.
If you are feeling suicidal, you can reach out to the nice and supportive people at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1800-273-TALK We would also like to further communicate with you. We can listen and help. You can reach us in either of two ways. You can call our hotline at 1800-RUNAWAY or reach us via live chat through www.1800runaway.org We are here for you 24/7 and our services are completely confidential.
We truly hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
NRS