Im 17 and living with my father, but i want to move with my mother.

[Unregistered]

i AM A 17 YEAR OLD GIRL AND I LOVE WITH MY FATHER. MY MOTHER LIVES 2 HOURS AWAY.
i REALLY WANT TO LOVE WITH HER. MY FATHER HAS SOLE PHYSICAL CUSTODY BUT MY PARENTS HAVE JOINT CUSTODY.
WHAT CAN I DO?

[ccsmod8]

RE: Im 17 and living with my father, but i want to move with my mother.

Hello there –

Thank you for reaching to us here at the National Runaway Safeline. We are always here to listen and here to help in any way that we can. We hope that by helping you on our public forum that others that might be in similar situations or the same questions, can read through and find our reply helpful.

Like we tell a lot of our callers and/or people that email us, the laws on that specific subject of just leaving home and/or running away vary from state to state. Generally what typically happens in each state is if you are below the legal age of majority (18 in most states except Alabama and Nebraska [19 or upon marriage], and Mississippi [21]), your parents would be able to make a runaway report in the event that you do run away. Since it’s only considered a statues offense and not a crime to run away, the only thing that would happen is that the police will pick you up and bring you back home.

If it’s not in the agreement that you are not allowed to live with your mother, according to the judge’s discretion, your father could press charges against them and take them to court to get all their right removed or face a large fine. Your father may give you permission to live with another family (i.e with your mother), but without getting an official document from the court your father would still be legally responsible for you. Which means that he can also take away that permission at any given moment and take you back home to live with him once again.

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 would love to talk to you a little more about what has been going on recently that is making you want to leave home. We also have an online chat service available every day.