Help With Emancipation

I am a foster care child /ward of the court in California. I am 16 and want out of the foster care system. I have been looking in emancipation and I think I qualify. I have a place set up to live in outside the system. My question is do i need to be out of the foster home before I apply for emancipation to show I can take care of myself? I am afraid if I leave the foster home the courts will pick me up and put me in another group home. But I am also afraid of trying to go through emancipation process and the court saying I can't care for myself if I am not on my own yet.

So should I file before i leave foster care. or should I file and show I have a place to go?

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My question is do i need to be out of the foster home before I apply for emancipation to show I can take care of myself?

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Yes, and in many jurisdictions, you need to have been supporting yourself entirely for 6 to 12 months before you can even file.

This place you have "set up"...are you alone paying the rent and utilities?

Do you have a full-time job?

Have you made suitable arrangements allowing you to continue your education?

Can you demonstrably show that you can (and are) completely supporting yourself, 100%, without assistance at all?

Can you present the judge with a well reasoned, legal argument as to why it would be in your best interests to be emancipated?

If you can't answer yes to all of those, you cannot be emancipated.

The reality is you'll probably turn 18 before you'd be successful getting emancipated as a minor.

Being a Ward of the state will make getting emancipated even more difficult