My question involves a person located in the state of: Colorado
My niece is 16 and living with her mother's ex-boyfriend, who is a good father figure. Her mother is an addict and living in her car. The child's father is not really in the picture. My niece has a part-time job, is going to high school with good grades and earning college credits. Every time her mother gets mad at the ex, she threatens to take her away from him and make her live in the car with her. This would take my niece out of school and be hugely detrimental to her welfare.

I have read there is no legal court procedure for emancipation in Colorado, and if the child is self-sufficient and living away from her parents can be emancipated at 16. My question is, how does she protect herself from her mother? And how does she prove emancipation? The child's grandmother is supportive of her living with the ex-boyfriend.