How Can a Minor Get the Right to Sign a Contract

[cdwjava]

I think you're a pretty awesome young person, in all honesty. I'd be proud if you were my kid.

Okay, I just went all Mom-weird on you. Sorry

Got a great chuckle out of that last line! (I'm a dad a few times over - we don't go "mom" weird, we grunt, nod, and provide a manly hug ... none of this gushy stuff.)

As for the rest, yes, she sounds like a very bright kid. I'm just very leary of trying to litigate for emancipation without the assistance of an attorney because the burden of proof will lie with her to show that it is in her best interests for mom to lose custody and for her to be set loose on her own so early in life.

[Dogmatique]

LOL and you know just what I mean, don't you? ... you find yourself saying something to someone else's child and then (maybe because in today's world some would think it inappropriate? I dunno - when I was a kid, I expected my friends' parents to treat me the same way as they'd treat their children, including scoldings when necessary!) sort of thinking that you've stepped out of place.

Maybe it's just me

[WhatDoYouSay]

I didn't find it out of line at all, I took it as a compliment. Of course, I'm a little bit biased, I've kind of reached a point where I just want to collect lots of motherly figures in my life to make up for my situation right now

[cdwjava]

LOL and you know just what I mean, don't you? ... you find yourself saying something to someone else's child and then (maybe because in today's world some would think it inappropriate? I dunno - when I was a kid, I expected my friends' parents to treat me the same way as they'd treat their children, including scoldings when necessary!) sort of thinking that you've stepped out of place.

Maybe it's just me

Nah - I grew up in that time where it was expected that you might get scolded and even spanked by the neighbor before they dragged you home by your ear for your mom and dad to apologize and then take a swat at you as well! Today ... well, let's say that I have had parents call the police when a neighbor has given a tongue-lashing to a disrespectful punk demanding an arrest! And they wonder why their kids are miscreants!

As a cop I find myself too often reverting to parent mode ... it's a force of habit.

I didn't find it out of line at all, I took it as a compliment. Of course, I'm a little bit biased, I've kind of reached a point where I just want to collect lots of motherly figures in my life to make up for my situation right now

That's' entirely understandable. You need that role somewhere in your life. But, you are in a position where most the big decision making is not up to you. The best you may be able to hope for is that your mother permits you to stay somewhere else until you are 18 and then you can cut any and all ties if that is what you want to do. Until mom commits some horrible act (abuse, beating, serious neglect, etc.) the court may be unlikely to emancipate you over her objections. Though, the specific situation and details that can be proven will weigh into any such evaluation. Keep in mind that one option might be that the state decides that placement into foster care (a home or a group home) may be the best way to proceed, rather than emancipation.

[WhatDoYouSay]

I've refrained from discussing my mother's actions too in depth on here because I really don't want to be taken as self-pitying but I will say, I've had a handful of people recommend I contact CPS over some of the things she's done, and honestly I think in the event she were actually investigated I wouldn't be left in her custody, but I'm not sure what good going in to foster care would do. It just seems like another risk. Could possibly be better for me, but then again, who knows? I've heard both good and bad things about the foster care system and I don't think it's worth the risk.

I am grateful that my mother's actions haven't been so horrific that anyone's jaw would drop and immediately call the police, but on the other hand it is mildly frustrating to be stuck in this grey area of not being entirely safe, and protected, and taken care of but also not in a position where anyone could justify their stepping in and taking over. There's a bright side to everything I suppose, and even if emancipation isn't an option, and I do just have to stay where I'm at, I've already dealt with 3/4 of this. I'm way past halfway done and there's only so much damage someone can do in a year.

[cbg]

I haven't really been a part of this discussion but I've been following it and I want to go on record as agreeing with Doggie - you sound like a wonderful kid with much more maturity than many of the teens who come onto these forums.

[Mercy&Grace]

"Nah - I grew up in that time where it was expected that you might get scolded and even spanked by the neighbor before they dragged you home by your ear for your mom and dad to apologize and then take a swat at you as well! "

I remember those days too. I went to a Catholic all girls high school and it seemed like if a wrong thought crossed your mind, the nuns knew about it before you could even think about it. . LOL

"Today ... well, let's say that I have had parents call the police when a neighbor has given a tongue-lashing to a disrespectful punk demanding an arrest! And they wonder why their kids are miscreants!"

Parents don't want to discipline their children and they don't want anyone else to discipline them either. The end result has been a generation that thinks they are entitled to everything that they want without having to earn it. They want the respect, or what some call respect, of others without showing others respect.

I better go before I get on my soapbox.

[WhatDoYouSay]

Okay, well this is somewhat unrelated, and I apologize for going off course, but I wanted to keep this in context. Yet another shoe has dropped (how many feet does this thing have?).

I have had an online stalker for the past year and a half. My mother has known for a majority of this time. I have taken all measures that I can to block him from as many social media outlets I can. I had eventually gotten him out of everything aside from 2 Facebook like pages, that had no personal information associated to them, aside from where I had posted links to them once, so he knew I was behind them. He keeps 2 blogs, often filled with posts about me. He's several states away, on a coast, so no one was all that concerned about it. I was just keeping an eye on his blogs, and that was all I could really do. The service hosting them wouldn't take them down after being reported either.

He booked a flight to my state yesterday. He came to try and find me. I informed my mother as soon as I saw on his blogs he was going to be at an event she was related to (she has all of her Facebook posts available to the public so he knew she was involved with it indirectly). I have screenshots from where I text her with pictures of him, his name, the links to his blogs, where he said he was going to be, from this morning. Her reaction was focused on protecting the safety of the event's speaker (whom she is very close with).

I found out she wasn't going to be at the event, but she went ahead and informed people what was going on. Through them she found out he was there, and some things he did. She called the sheriff's office about this after all this. Not the morning I told her where he was, or what he was planning to do. It's very plain to see that the only time my "safety" became a priority was after her reputation was damaged with her friends.

Can anyone predict how this will play out? I know this is off topic, and I'm sorry. Between this, the fact I haven't been living with her, her lack of support, this very well documented event, is there any way I can leverage this in my favor? Will her disregard for my safety in this event put me at risk of going in to foster care? I'm very worried about how all of this is going to be played out and/or used against me by her. As far as my stalker being nearby, I'm somewhere safe, where he does not know, with family members aware of the situation.

[Mercy&Grace]

Have you contacted youru local law enforcement agency about this stalker when you realized that he was a stalker ? If you did what did the say? If you didn't, why not ?Anyone that flies across several states to see someone they are stalking is not going to just give up because a family member was not at an event. And I hate to say this, but he may be abe to find out where you are directly or indirectly from your mother. Based on what you have said, you can't depend on her to protect you and not tell anyone where you are.

[WhatDoYouSay]

Authorities have been contacted now, but not before this. I honestly didn't believe he would take it this far. Before this, it was just a bit of a nuisance. The people at the event he attended, my mother idolizes and is in very close contact with so because of that, and their awareness of the situation now, that will hold her accountable to a degree. I don't see her outright giving my location away even if only because that would make her look bad in front of her friends. Now that it has become a matter of her reputation her actions will probably be more appropriate. Right now, I'm at a family member's house, and I plan to stay here. If my mother were to give away my location it would take him to not just me, but our family, so I don't think she would because of that.

Hopefully though the authorities will respond in some way that can give me some peace of mind he's not out looking for me. I don't really know what the laws are for these kinds of things, so I don't know what their options in dealing with it would be. He doesn't seem like the kind a restraining order would stop.

Update: I've heard secondhand from a family member, my mother told them the sheriff's office called her back, and there's nothing they can do about it. I'm not sure what she said in any of these conversations, or how she described the situation. I have a strong suspicion she shifted a lot of blame on to me, or downplayed this. So, I guess that's that. Now to move on to the next thing I suppose.