Living with Another Family at Age 17

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: North Carolina

I am just wondering what exactly I need to do in this situation. My mother has been abusive to me since I was very young, and when I was 14, she forced me to live with someone else. I eventually came back, but soon after left when i saw that things were not getting better in the household. I have not been living with her since then, and this October, it will be 2 years that I have not lived with her. She has not supported me emotionally or monetarily and was not supportive of my grandmother as I have been living with her. Things are progressively getting worse with her. She has been trying to separate me from a family who has taken me in this entire summer. I was told that I had to find somewhere to stay by my grandmother because she was leaving to go to South Carolina for a while this summer, so I have been staying with an amazing family. This family has offered multiple MULTIPLE times to find a way where I do not have to go back, mostly because of my mental state. I have been in early college and I am a senior with only 6 classes left to take, but now that I have a family, I do not want to leave and have to go back to the same old mental trauma. I have tried to find ways to finish classes online without having to fight custody or go through the emancipation process, but it does not seem to be working. I need some advice. I am really terrified to go back to them because I know when i am not wanted or needed. My mother even mentioned today during a text that I should pretend she is dead so I could move on with my life. I am afraid that she is going to try and force to me to go back home and I am not prepared to be depressed again like I have been for years. I am finally at a point where I am pretty stable with my emotions and such. This family has taken me in as their own and made me feel completely at home. "Mom" of this family loves me much and has cried talking to me about how much she loves me being here and how she hates what I have to go through with my family.

My only option I can think of is just not to go back home and stay here. I can easily drop out of school now, because I have so little classes left, and I have trust fund money from my father's death that comes to me for four years. So I am definitely set to go on paying for the remainder of my classes when I turn 18. So if I drop out, I can EASILY pick back up on it. I only need two more high school credits and a few more college credits. I tried to see if she would pay for me to take classes online so I would be able to stay here with this family, but she is not okay with that at all. She says "what, so you can run the roads? don't think so". When I texted her, I was going to ask her about the classes online, but she ignored my phone calls for two days until I finally just texted her and told her to call me. She replies that she has been taking care of "personal business" (yeah, for two days) and what was so important that I just had to talk to her. She has not made attempts to contact me and check on me, ask about me needing money, where I am, and I doubt she even knows where I am. My transportation here and back has been my grandmother (not the one I lived with) and when I did ask my mom if she could give me a ride there or back, she came up with every excuse in the book.

I am very frustrated and my nerves have been torn up for days now because I do not want to go back to her or my grandmother. Because I know I am going to be a target, and my grandmother has turned against me in a lot of cases.

I don't believe there is a way she can MAKE me return home, but what exactly should I do to be sure that she cannot interfere with me anymore?

Please give me some advice.

Who has LEGAL custody of you?

My mother. But I have no lived with her for a while now due to family issues.

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Quoting BaylorKnight

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My mother. But I have no lived with her for a while now due to family issues.

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Then she can make you come back.

How? She has been a negligent parent my entire life. She has forced me to leave once because of her husband and I had to leave a second time because of the issues being unresolved. She has not supported me for almost two years now.

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Quoting BaylorKnight

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How? She has been a negligent parent my entire life. She has forced me to leave once because of her husband and I had to leave a second time because of the issues being unresolved. She has not supported me for almost two years now.

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Doesn't matter. You are a minor and she has legal custody of you.

There is a lot more to it than her just having custody of me. And I'm not considered a minor or an adult. I'm 17.

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Quoting BaylorKnight

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There is a lot more to it than her just having custody of me. And I'm not considered a minor or an adult. I'm 17.

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A 17 year old is still a minor, even in your state.

The juvenile code provides that a juvenile is "A person who has not reached the person's eighteenth birthday and is not married, emancipated, or a member of the Armed Forces of the United States." The criminal code allows for the prosecution of any person over the age of 16 who "knowingly or willfully causes, encourages, or aids any juvenile within the jurisdiction of the court to be in a place or condition, or to commit an act whereby the juvenile could be adjudicated delinquent, undisciplined, abused, or neglected". See NCGS 14-316.1. If you have a family that wants to help you avoid returning to the custody of your mother, they should discuss the situation with a lawyer to make sure that you're not going to land them in a lot of trouble.

I think your proposal to drop out of school is very short-sighted, and is likely to impress upon a court that you are not in a good environment and would be better off with a parent who wants you to complete your education.

The decision was mine and was proposed to not be a good idea by the family here. I look to complete my education, but not in a mentally unstable environment. We have looked into many schools here, but first, we have to deal with this situation with my mother. I do not want to drop out at all, but if it came down to it, I can pay for the classes to be taken on my own rather than through Early College. I don't wish to drop out, but to live in a place where I am able to concentrate on myself and school, not the environment with my biological family.