Parents leaving the country without 17 year old. Is this considered abandonment?

[Guest]

My 17 year old nephew left home and is on the road with a friend. He had been having issues with his parents for years and stopped going to school at fifteen. He has his GED now and hasn't been in any real trouble, but doesn't want to live at home anymore. His parents have alcohol and depression issues and are having a hard time. Now they are thinking about going back to my brother-law's home country. My nephew does not want to go.
Is it considered abandonment if they leave without him? What happens if he gets in trouble before he turns 18 and they are not here?

[ccsmod4]

Parents leaving the country without 17 year old. Is this considered abandonment?



Hello,
Thank you for writing to us here at the National Runaway Safeline.

We understand it takes great courage to reach out, and we appreciate you sharing a little bit about what’s going on. We are not legal experts so you might consider contacting the police or child services about what is considered abandonment by a parent or guardian. Also it’s possible that he might be detained if he is picked up by the police and there is no parent or guardian to contact. Child services would most likely be contacted for their assistance. Again this is general information.

We want you to know that we are here as support to help you through this challenging time. We can best help by phone or chat as NRS is unable to respond more than twice by email or bulletin for assistance. If you would like to talk more in detail and share more about how we can help specifically, please call or chat soon.

Our contact information is 1-800-RUNAWAY (786-2929); www.1800runaway.org (click on the chat button).


Take care,
NRS