My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Texas
Our 17 year old daughter has a friend who has a very emotionally abusive family situation in his home. Recently it became so bad that the young man came to us and asked us if he could come live with us. We agreed to him staying under certain conditions...he must continue to go to school (he will be a senior), he will have chores the same as our children do, and he will have to contribute to the water, electric, and grocery bill as it is going to be increased due to his living here. He has agreed and has been here going on a week. The problem is we believe his mother is "Bi-Polar" or heaven knows what kind of mental issues she has but she is calling our house and sending emails threatening us with legal intervention (lawyers, CPS, etc.) for allowing him to stay. Also his father is a paranoid schizofrenic (forgive spelling please) and possibly an alcoholic. The young man is 18 years old and we believe in the state of Texas he is able to make decisions for himself on his living arrangements. He has been no problem in our house thus far. We set him up a bed on the couch, a desk for his schoolwork and a closet for his clothes in our game room until we can get him a real bed. He goes to work and does his chores. We have been talking to him about working things out with his parents and encouraging him that family is forever but he is very leery of returning as he believes that the situation will never change. We are also concerned that his mother cycles into these rages every few days and there are two very young children in that house witnessing this behavior. What are our legal obligations? Can the young man choose for himself or is he forced to stay in his parents home if he does not wish to given that he is already 18? And just in case it is of any concern, no my daughter is not interested in him as anything other than a friend and there is nothing going on between them. She thinks he is a very nice young man but she says she could never stand being tied to his family from what she has witnessed of his parents behavior.

