Emancipation from Unstable Parents

**Free_Bird74** · 04-01-2007, 11:40 AM

Ok. First of all I have unstable parents. They never got married and I have never lived with both of them at the same time. My mother is an alchoholic and drinks way too much. She is also on medication for something. I know that its for a mental problem but im not sure if it has actually been diagnosed. She is mentally unstable also. I tried to live with her for a time last year and it didnt work out too well. I gained 20 lbs from being depressed. She would (and still does) get drunk on the weekends and then sleep it off on Sunday....which she is currently doing. She has never hit me...ever. But her drinking is very serious. There were many times when she would get drunk on the weekdays and her and my "stepdad" would not wake up so I would be late for school. They have fought many many times. There are holes in the wall where they have thrown things and punched the wall, and my "stepdad" has ripped doors off of the hinges and kicked a hole in the couch in drunken rage. He has hit my mother until she has bled (busted lip) and called her vulgar names and held her against the bed...all while i am there...just like im not even there. It's just not a good situation.

The house is disgusting, as well. The carpet has been so deficated on by their 2 dogs, and four cats that they ripped most of it up exposing only a concrete floor. There is animal urine in many places on the floor that will sit for days....and well, its just gross.

NOW....for my dad who is the hardest to figure out. I have always lived with my dad...he raised me by himself..which is great. I understand that...BUT here in the past couple of years, as I have been getting older, and more independant (he calls it rebellious), he has become very emotionally and mentally abusive. It took me a while to figure out that I dont deserve to be treated the way he treats me.

I felt like I was just a bad teen. If I dont do the house cleaning up to par, then he immediatley yells at me and tells me that no man will ever marry me because i cant do anything right. I mean, yes, what parent doesnt try to get their kids to do more chores....but when the child is responsible for most of the house......then its not right. My dad expects me to pick up after he eats most of the time and tells me that I need to "get off of my lazy ass and clean this shit up". He threatens me with everything. Telling me that I wont get to do this and that if I say anything....blah blah blah. He yells at me telling me that im an "ungrateful little bitch" quite often,...

the main thing is that he yells....and that when he yells, its usually over ridiculous things. and he doesnt just yell, his eyes get wide, his veins pop out of his neck and his face turns red. He has thrown things at me before. and sometimes he unlocks my door and stands over me while im literally cowering like a dog on the floor, begging him nt to hit me...thats not normal.

Its even worse because he doesnt act this way hen others are around (we live alone) so my aunt and uncle think that I must ask for it....which is not true. He makes it look like I just walk up and start yelling and telling him that if I dont get my way, then Im going to have a fit...which aain is not true. The ONLY time I start yelling is when he starts yelling at me first. I have just gotten so fed up with being put down by him, and afraid of him...

I can't handle it anymore. My school work is suffering because I just can't get out of this depression. He doesn't help there either....I was a classic straight A student but here lately I cant be happy. And when he sees my grades suffering, he just yells at me and tells me that I will never be anything...instead of trying to help me. I have tried suggesting counseling but he avoided it.

I am afraid of him....i am afraid to go home.....so I want to get emancipated..now...how will i make it on my own, you ask? well, I plan on buying a vehicle , getting a new job (i was working but had to quit due to an overseas trip) ,leasing my horse which would bring in some more money, and moving in with my 18 y.o. boyfriend. He is financially stable and is about to rent a place with his best friend who is also very stable. We have everything planned out and have thought this through. It's not something that came up over night. Neither one of us is your average teen (well, he is legally an adult). We are both very intelligent and have a plan and some fallback plans. We have thought this through and I would like to know what you guys think.....Do you think it would be possible to get emancipated in the state of Oklahoma or Arkansas (we will live in arkansas but currently live in OK) with the information i have just given you?

**Mr. Knowitall** · 04-01-2007, 12:02 PM

Try using paragraphs.

You live in Arkansas, so you would have to seek emancipation in Arkansas. Oklahoma's emancipation law wouldn't help much anyway, as it pertains to entering into contracts as an adult as opposed to living apart from your parents.

Unfortunately for you, Arkansas has an emancipation law very similar to that of Oklahoma. The Arkansas emancipation statutes (removal of the disability of minority) relate largely to enabling the minor to enter into contractual relationships as if he or she were an adult, and don't speak to parental control. There may be a mechanism to emancipate from a parent in the sense of no longer being in that parent's custody, but the statutes don't really seem to speak to it.

If you get your parents' consent and marry your boyfriend and are not less than 16 years old, marriage would result in emancipation.

**Free_Bird74** · 04-01-2007, 12:05 PM

thank you....we currently live in Oklahoma....but will live in Arkansas. I am 16. I will be 17 in december..he is 18...19 in august...Thank you for your help.