17 year old is living at my house

[Unregistered]

My son's best friend is living at my house. He hasn't been getting along with his family. There are some allegations of abuse, but nothing really proven. We called 911 at one point because the son said the father was strangling him. I've called social services, and they investigated. The family told social services they want the child to come home. Social Services told me to send him home. However, he doesn't want to go, and the family does not allow him to even go in the house. I think the family isn't being truthful with social services & wants him out of their house. The son says he was kicked out. The family might allow him back if he apologized a lot, but I don't think that is likely to happen.

I'm stuck in the middle of all of this drama. I think the teen is not following their rules, and I think his family is crazy. What should I do?

[ccsmod5]

re: 17 year old is living at my house

Hey there,

Thank you for being able to reach out to us here at the National Runaway Safeline, it seems like you and your family are going through a pretty tough time at this point in your life and we are happy that you were able to come to us. We are here to listen and help in the best way we can.

From what you shared, it seems like you are taking the proper steps to handling this situation, he is very lucky to have your family in his life. At this point, it seems like child services has already heard the case and would prefer for him to be home. An option could be that the youth can go to the police department or call them and let them know that he does not feel safe there and if there is something they can potentially do. We are not here to necessarily tell you what to do and we are not legal experts which means that we do not know what would happen in every city or state.

Another option that could be considered is to reach out to the Justice for Children agency, basically what that agency does is offer legal help for youth who are in situations similar to the one that the youth is in and they would help him with how the process is going. The help they offer is typically free, but if you would like more information regarding this program, please feel free to reach out to them and ask some general questions, their number is: 713-225-4357.

Also, please remember that we are here to listen and to help in the best way that we can, if you have any other questions, please feel free to give us a call, we are here 24/7 and would be more than happy to assist you with your questions.

We wish you the best of luck in whatever it is you decide to do, and hope to hear from you soon.


Stay strong,

NRS

[Unregistered2]

Friends 17 year old wants to stay at my house

Hello, there. I had a quick question that I'm not sure how to ask. My Husband's old friend has a 17 year old son who ran away. Today, at midnight, the 17 year old showed up at our house asking to stay the night. Would we get in trouble with Arizona state if we let him stay the night - without permission from his parent, even though we plan to call his Father at a more reasonable hour? Say....8 am?

[ccsmod13]

17 year old is living at my house

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out to the National Runaway Safeline. We’re here to help as much as we can. It seems that you are trying to be supportive by offering a safe place for the 17 year old to stay. We’re not legal experts, so we really cannot tell you if you’d face trouble or not. The best way to find that information out is to call your local law enforcement and hypothetically pose the question. Generally speaking, if a minor leaves without permission from legal guardians, the legal guardian would have the right to make a runaway report. If a report is filed, and the police find the minor, they would just bring them back home. However, anyone that you stay with could potentially be charged for harboring.