Running Away From Home When You're Almost Eighteen

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Ohio

My question pertains more to my girlfriend than to me, I’ll add details to get an accurate answer but I don’t know what is and isn’t relevant in deals like these. The basic plot here is that I am 18, my girlfriend turns 18 in less than 3 months, we’ve been together for almost a year now, we both have jobs, make decent money for our area, and are not in highschool, (she is finishing up an online schooling but is nearly done with it) and have been accepted into college.

Our main problem at this point is her family, they don’t want her to leave. They don’t like the idea of her moving out, going to college, anything like that. They’re extremely old fashioned, not to mention none of them attempted to go to college themselves, they see it as a waste of time and want her to get a factory job. This becomes a problem when they interfere with her trying to get things done, doing small little sabotages here and there like throwing away college letters or trying to get her in legal trouble claiming she’s “a deliquent” a few months back, even calling the police to try and scare the idea out of her head. The cops made a bunch of threats with the idea that she was the normal teenage delinquent threatening to run away from home, and not understanding the full scenario in play here.

The main influencers here are her elderly grandmother who is also her guardian and her uncle. That’s the basics of the scenario here, now out problem is we want to just move out now. College is getting closer and they’re getting harder and harder on her, throwing fits and screaming at her, just making her life much harder than it has to be, so we want to move out as soon as we can, but as I mentioned we still have 3 months before she turns 18. We have the option to both live with her biological mother, who lost custody of her at a young age but now has a home and is willing to help us, but as far as I know she has little to no legal power due to her not having custody.

My biggest question is, if we just left within the next few weeks, would the police or any court even bother with any report filed by her family since she’s so close to being a legal adult? This thread isn’t about running away for love or any teenage angst scenario like many I’ve seen on here, it’s just the daily stress and constant fighting in her house is effecting her a lot recently and she doesn’t want to go through it any longer than she has to. 3 months isn’t that long, but to go through screaming matches every day for 3 months makes it seem like an eternity. Also could her mother or even myself get into any trouble for being the ones “taking her away” from them?

I won’t try and pretend to be a legal expert, I advised her from doing anything drastic yet but she’s been anxious to get out of there for a while now and thinks since she’ll be with her mom that she won’t be in as much legal trouble. Any words of advice?

If they report her to the police, then yes you could get in trouble. For three more months. After that, she can do whatever she wants.

Whether the police would, or would not, take any notice is up to the individual police department. By waiting three months, she can walk out the door and no one can do a thing about it. What's the rush?

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Quoting cbg

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Whether the police would, or would not, take any notice is up to the individual police department. By waiting three months, she can walk out the door and no one can do a thing about it. What's the rush?

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There would only be a rush IMHO if there was a safety issue involved. It always makes me a little nervous when the family tries to prevent someone from going to college.

And since there is nothing whatsoever in the OP's story to suggest there is any safety issue involved, I ask HIM again; why is it that she can't simply wait the three months until she can leave without any question?

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Quoting cbg

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And since there is nothing whatsoever in the OP's story to suggest there is any safety issue involved, I ask HIM again; why is it that she can't simply wait the three months until she can leave without any question?

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The usual impatience of youth.

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Quoting llworking

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There would only be a rush IMHO if there was a safety issue involved. It always makes me a little nervous when the family tries to prevent someone from going to college.

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But logically the two things are not connected. Preventing a kid from going to college (whether for concerns of cost, thinking it is waste of time and money, or whatever) does not have any logical connection with a safety issue. Sure, in general people who go to college earn significantly more over their lifetimes than those who don’t. There is a benefit to a lot of people in going to college, if they are interested and motivated to go. College is not for everyone. But merely keeping a kid from going tells you nothing, absolutely nothing, about any safety issues. I think if there was serious abuse going on the OP would have mentioned it. And if that was the case, the recourse is to call child protective services, not entice his underage girlfriend to leave home.

She will not be able to get government assistance to help pay for college without her parents info and signature. Even if she is 18.

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Quoting Taxing Matters

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But logically the two things are not connected. Preventing a kid from going to college (whether for concerns of cost, thinking it is waste of time and money, or whatever) does not have any logical connection with a safety issue. Sure, in general people who go to college earn significantly more over their lifetimes than those who don’t. There is a benefit to a lot of people in going to college, if they are interested and motivated to go. College is not for everyone. But merely keeping a kid from going tells you nothing, absolutely nothing, about any safety issues. I think if there was serious abuse going on the OP would have mentioned it. And if that was the case, the recourse is to call child protective services, not entice his underage girlfriend to leave home.

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I was using "prevent someone from going to college" as an example of repressive behavior...rather than as someone having a rational objection to college. In some cultures crossing the wishes of your family, even once you are an adult, can be physically dangerous. Attempting to prevent someone from further education tends to raise a red flag with me.

When your girlfriend is 18 she can go to college with or without parental permission...if she has the funds. In order to get financial aid she will require the assistance of her parents and there simply isn't a away around that other than turning 24 or 25...I don't recall which.

When your girlfriend is 18 she can move in with you, regardless of how ill advised that's likely to be, with no fear of consequences for you or for her.

three months is nothing. Since part of being an adult is learning to effectively exercise patience perhaps that what you and she should work on. Then all of your dreams will (not) come true.

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Quoting Seth0714

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My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Ohio

My question pertains more to my girlfriend than to me, I’ll add details to get an accurate answer but I don’t know what is and isn’t relevant in deals like these. The basic plot here is that I am 18, my girlfriend turns 18 in less than 3 months, we’ve been together for almost a year now, we both have jobs, make decent money for our area, and are not in highschool, (she is finishing up an online schooling but is nearly done with it) and have been accepted into college.

Our main problem at this point is her family, they don’t want her to leave. They don’t like the idea of her moving out, going to college, anything like that. They’re extremely old fashioned, not to mention none of them attempted to go to college themselves, they see it as a waste of time and want her to get a factory job. This becomes a problem when they interfere with her trying to get things done, doing small little sabotages here and there like throwing away college letters or trying to get her in legal trouble claiming she’s “a deliquent” a few months back, even calling the police to try and scare the idea out of her head. The cops made a bunch of threats with the idea that she was the normal teenage delinquent threatening to run away from home, and not understanding the full scenario in play here.

The main influencers here are her elderly grandmother who is also her guardian and her uncle. That’s the basics of the scenario here, now out problem is we want to just move out now. College is getting closer and they’re getting harder and harder on her, throwing fits and screaming at her, just making her life much harder than it has to be, so we want to move out as soon as we can, but as I mentioned we still have 3 months before she turns 18. We have the option to both live with her biological mother, who lost custody of her at a young age but now has a home and is willing to help us, but as far as I know she has little to no legal power due to her not having custody.

My biggest question is, if we just left within the next few weeks, would the police or any court even bother with any report filed by her family since she’s so close to being a legal adult? This thread isn’t about running away for love or any teenage angst scenario like many I’ve seen on here, it’s just the daily stress and constant fighting in her house is effecting her a lot recently and she doesn’t want to go through it any longer than she has to. 3 months isn’t that long, but to go through screaming matches every day for 3 months makes it seem like an eternity. Also could her mother or even myself get into any trouble for being the ones “taking her away” from them?

I won’t try and pretend to be a legal expert, I advised her from doing anything drastic yet but she’s been anxious to get out of there for a while now and thinks since she’ll be with her mom that she won’t be in as much legal trouble. Any words of advice?

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Wait the three months until she turns 18 - that will solve all your problems. Once she is 18 they can't stop her.