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  1. #1
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    Aug 2013
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    Default Harboring a Runaway Laws in Texas

    My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Texas
    My daughters friend who is 17 moved out of her home where she was living with her mother and the step-father. Once at my home i had her call her father that lives @ 150 miles away to let him know what is going on. Since that time frame he the father has stated that she may stay at my home but she has to daily check in with him. The mother however is very upset and is telling her daughter she will make her move via by the police. I have checked the forums but i wanted to make sure that is applies to Texas law. Are there guide lines that either i or the young lady need to go by?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Running Away in Texas at Age 17

    The child has the "right" to do what her parents tell her to do.

    There's a statutory defense to harboring a runaway if you inform the child's legal custodian or or law enforcement agency of the child's location within 24 hours.

    You have told us that mom has custody, so it's not at all clear that dad has any right to tell you that you can continue to harbor the child. From what you have told us, dad is not "a person at the child's home".
    Quote Quoting Texas Penal Code Sec. 25.06.
    (a) A person commits an offense if he knowingly harbors a child and he is criminally negligent about whether the child: (1) is younger than 18 years; and (2) has escaped from the custody of a peace officer, a probation officer, the Texas Youth Council, or a detention facility for children, or is voluntarily absent from the child's home without the consent of the child's parent or guardian for a substantial length of time or without the intent to return.

    (b) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the actor was related to the child within the second degree by consanguinity or affinity, as determined under Chapter 573, Government Code.

    (c) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the actor notified:

    (1) the person or agency from which the child escaped or a law enforcement agency of the presence of the child within 24 hours after discovering that the child had escaped from custody; or

    (2) a law enforcement agency or a person at the child's home of the presence of the child within 24 hours after discovering that the child was voluntarily absent from home without the consent of the child's parent or guardian.

    (d) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.

    (e) On the receipt of a report from a peace officer, probation officer, the Texas Youth Council, a foster home, or a detention facility for children that a child has escaped its custody or upon receipt of a report from a parent, guardian, conservator, or legal custodian that a child is missing, a law enforcement agency shall immediately enter a record of the child into the National Crime Information Center.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
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    CT & IL
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    5,273

    Default Re: Running Away in Texas at Age 17

    Explain to the kid that she cannot stay overnight at your house.

    The mother told you so.

    After that, its up to the mother to care for her kid, not you.

    Just the way the law is.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
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    Default Re: Harboring a Runaway Laws in Texas

    Texas is generally liberal about allowing 17 year olds to run away without interference. They are more aggressive about prosecuting adults who harbor them.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Default Re: Harboring a Runaway Laws in Texas

    yes, they are liberal because in may situations, they simply have no jurisdiction to act. While the writing does allow action to be taken, if you think about it, what court is going to initiate proceedings on a 17 yo that in less than a year they will have no jurisdiction over? In today's world, it is just not a reality.
    (2) "Child" means a person who is:
    (A) ten years of age or older and under 17 years of age; or
    (B) seventeen years of age or older and under 18 years of age who is alleged or found to have engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision as a result of acts committed before becoming 17 years of age.
    most will say: as long as the child is not in danger, we have better things to do with our limited resources


    as to being prosecuted; easily avoided:


    (c) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that the actor notified: (1) the person or agency from which the child escaped or a law enforcement agency of the presence of the child within 24 hours after discovering that the child had escaped from custody; or (2) a law enforcement agency or a person at the child's home of the presence of the child within 24 hours after discovering that the child was voluntarily absent from home without the consent of the child's parent or guardian.
    a call to the police or the custodial parents home is all it would take to provide a defense.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Harboring a Runaway Laws in Texas

    Well, the OP very cannily informed us that s/he told the NCP - and not the CP.

    (Likely because s/he knows the CP would throw a fit)

  7. #7
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    Jan 2006
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    Default Re: Harboring a Runaway Laws in Texas

    Quote Quoting Dogmatique
    View Post
    Well, the OP very cannily informed us that s/he told the NCP - and not the CP.

    (Likely because s/he knows the CP would throw a fit)
    but somewhere along the line the CP was informed.

    The mother however is very upset and is telling her daughter she will make her move via by the police.
    unless Texas is really into prosecuting this sort of thing, since the CP is aware of where the child is, I suspect nothing will come of it. The law was intended to prosecute a person that spirits a child away and hides them from their parents.


    and although the CP has not been notified (at least by the OP as far as we know), and the father has, I wonder who has legal custody of the child and if it is shared.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Harboring a Runaway Laws in Texas

    The 24 hour time limit for proper notification is important. IF mom was left to figure things out by herself, that's not notice sufficient to trigger the statutory defense.

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