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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    1

    Default Emancipation in Kentucky

    My question involves guardianship in the State of: Kentucky.

    my best friend is in an abusive family. her dad has physically, sexually, and verbally abused her. her mom mostly verbally abuses her. but this happens on a daily basis. she's told the school guidance counselor, shes talked to a police officer, my parents know, and her grandma is in disbelief about it. the school counselor couldnt do anything because she didnt have any "marks" no "evidence" so she couldnt help. she told someone and they arrested her dad and then she decided to give him a "second chance", but later she told me if he went to jail, whenever he got out he'd come looking for her, and kill her. but it def. made me mad she gave him that second chance. my parents have tried to help me but its hard when shes so afraid to do anything or seek any help. she has tried to commit suicide more than once. she ate a bunch of these pills her mom was prescribed for something and it made her extremely sick. she ended up having to get her stomach pumped, but she told the doctors she ate something and must have got "food poisoning".

    the stories she tells me are very unsettling. im only 15! what am i supposed to do? ive talked to grown ups and that only got her mad at me. shes tried to run away a couple times, i still care about her, i dont want her on her own. but i dont want her in that house.

    her parents wont sign guardianship papers either. they were extremely mad about that.

    i figured maybe she can get an emancipation.

    but the school guidance counselor told me that they're was no emancipation laws for kentucky?!?

    what steps do i take to sort this out and help her with this legal stuff??

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Posts
    2,357

    Default Re: Emancipation in Kentucky

    Read the stickies at the top of this forum. She is not a candidate for emancipation because she does not have a history of totally supporting herself and she does have a history of mental instability and suicide attempts.

    Do you mean to tell me, however, that she refuses to report the abuse to a teacher, priest or minister, guidance counselor or other trusted adult? Has she seen a doctor for her physical injuries or for her mental health? Physicians are required to report physical abuse. Has she told ANYBODY else but you about this?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    24,521

    Default Re: Emancipation in Kentucky

    She is also not a candidate for emancipation because there are only two states that will even consider emancipating a 15 year old and KY is not one of the two.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Emancipation in Kentucky

    Quote Quoting peanut2013
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    she's told the school guidance counselor, shes talked to a police officer, my parents know, and her grandma is in disbelief about it. the school counselor couldnt do anything because she didnt have any "marks" no "evidence" so she couldnt help. she told someone and they arrested her dad and then she decided to give him a "second chance"
    Ok. So there was a complaint made, and an arrest occurred. So police (possibly in conjunction with CPS) found SOMETHING that gave them probable cause for the arrest. BUT.....there is no such thing as a minor deciding to give someone arrested for ANY type of abuse, a "second chance". If she's telling you that this is what happened, then she is blowing some serious smoke up your fanny, or she is suffering from severe distortion of reality, or both. Him returning to the home absolutely was NOT up to HER. There are a few possibilities, none of which are within HER control: (a) the DA didn't have enough evidence to make the case and dropped the charges, freeing him to return to his home whether she wanted him to or not, or, (b) the case is still in process and hasn't been heard, in which case the court absolutely wouldn't allow him to return home (IF the arrest had to do with abuse against her, and not for some OTHER charge). If the criminal case is still pending, and he has returned to the house (if MOM allowed him to return), then odds are that there is a restraining order in place saying he can't return to the home where the victim resides. So the questions are:

    1) Is everyone assuming that the arrest is DIRECTLY related to her complaints of abuse, and not for some OTHER criminal charge? The EXACT charge is important to know, and no helpful speculation can reasonably occur without knowing that vital piece of information.

    2) What is the status of the criminal case? Pending? Charges dropped? (It's unlikely he'd be ALLOWED to return home, if a criminal case for child abuse was still ongoing - and if mom brought him home against the order of the court, then she needs to notify police ASAP so they can remove her from the home due to mom's failure to protect in violation of any standing restraining order).

    What can YOU do? Other than be supportive, probably very little. You can and should absolutely continue to encourage her to IMMEDIATELY report any criminal acts committed against her. If YOU notice that she shows up with new injuries, and tries to play them off, YOU can report to a teacher or police that you suspect abuse as well. As Patty pointed out, her suicide attempt absolutely sealed off ANY possibility of emancipation, even IF she were able to support herself financially. At this point she's got two realistic avenues: either dad gets convicted of the charges pending or incurs NEW charges that get him locked up, or, she reports any subsequent abuse immediately so that it can be documented, opening the door for CPS to remove her from the home.

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