17 Year Old Moving Out, in Texas

[escape.reality333]

My question involves emancipation laws for the State of: Texas

My very good friend is 17 and living with a father that can be considered verbally abusive. He has tried staying & dealing with torment for the past two years that way he can get his license and a job so it'll be easier for him to emmancipated. His Father blocks him off at everything he tries to do. It is getting to the point of suicidal thoughts and other unhealthy thoughts. He is mentally unstable in the household. But, he has two siblings so he doesnt want to get CPS involved because it is ONLY between he and his Father that there is a rift.

I feel it is an obligation to not let him stay in such an unhealthy enviroment and I am genuinly worried about his wellbeing. I know his parents would not agree to letting him move out. My question is, would he be considered a runaway if he left? Could the officers take him home? Would me and my parents get in trouble if we took him in for a short period of time? Just long enough to get him on his feet and in his own place with a job and such?

Please reply soon, this is an urgent matter.

-A worried friend

[FlyinHawk®]

If he runs away he can be returned home, if he does it again he could face other consequences. Anyone that helps him will be charged with harboring a runaway.

If he's being abused he needs to contact CPS, it's not automatic removal. And just because its only occurring to him doesn't mean the rest of the family isn't inflicted by it or could be when he leaves.

[escape.reality333]

I know people that left when they were 17 without consequences, but I've heard mixed responses.

He doesn't want to be removed, he wants to be on his own. The problem I'm facing is that I've told him to wait just about once a week for a good year or so. I dont think hes willing to wait any longer. Where do I go from here? It is damaging him and I dont think its right for me to let him stay there.

This may be true, but at this point how can I ask him to stay any longer? Its hard for me to keep telling him to stay in a position where he is being damaged. Beyond that, he doesnt want CPS involved at all.

[FlyinHawk®]

Without involving CPS his options are limited, he should on monday go to his local CPS office and just talk to them and see what his options are. Wihtout a job and other factors Emancipation will not be one of them. Emancipating someone who is mentally unstable isn't going to be likely either.

If he decides to take things into his own hands he will find himself in a a lot of trouble not just with his parents but with the law as well.

[hagalaz21]

I'm not sure how much help I am, legally, but I can tell you I' ve been in a very similar situation. I was helping a 16 year old whose mother was verbally abusive and an alcoholic. We looked at emancipation for him but I can tell you that he wasn't ready to be out on his own. Most of it was lack of maturity. In the end, he did end up leaving home for a month and came to live with me (with his mother's consent). She then went insane and the whole situation fell apart. She was determined to force him into a boot camp, but luckily his cousins stepped in and too him in. Even though he misses his friends and girlfriend at home, he is in a safer home away from the craziness.

My advice is to look at emancipation ,but you need to make your friend realize that is a very very big step foward and shouldn't be made in a drop of a hat. I definitely recommend being creative and looking at some other options. Maybe his dad would be willing to let him live with you for a while or maybe another one of his relatives would be willing to take him in. He definitely needs help getting away from the craziness. What worked in my siutation was to take him out at night when his mother started drinking and acting like an idiot (I would use stronger language if I could). Every minute he was away from his mother was a minute he could have a happy moment.

Hope this helps

[Save Ferris]

Hey i am in a similar situation. I am 17 years old and turn 18 on January 18th 2009. I am wanting to emancipate myself from my family now... things are not the way they should be i have goen through more trials than i should have to go through. I have been sent away to a therpeutic borading school and graduated and did really well there and am now currently attending a regular boarding school in Lynchburg Va. I have had an investigation filed gaisnt my father for abuse and nothing came out of it they found nothign that showed any singns of child abuse, this was when i was at my therapeutic school and I myself was not questioned by the investigators. My father denies what he did to me as physicalm abuse for his own reason, maybe he is afraid to accept that he has abused me, ashamed that he did or he does not classify what he did to me as abuse becuase he himself was abused terribly as a child and what he has doen to me is nothign compared to what was done to him. Regardless what he has doen to me is physicall abuse and he is still very verbally abusive. I am the only one that gets any of this form him he has never layed a hand on my mother, brother or sister before onyl me...why?... may be becuase i am the oldest just like him and that is his justification.. i will never know and no one wil ever know. While at the therapeutic school i confronted him aboutthe times he abuse dme and he still denied them. I am not trying to emancipate myself becuase of this but becuase i am tired of living under his foot and his, in my opinon, oppressive dictaorship that is our home. I NEED TO KNOW THE REQUIRMENTS AND PROCESS FOR EMANICPATING ONESELF AT THE AGE OF 17 BOTH WITH A LAWYER AND WITH OUT A LAWYER ( IF IT IS POSSIBLE TO REPRESENT MYSELF WITHOUT A LAWYER) AND IF IT IS EVEN POSSIBLE FOR ME TO DO. PLEASE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

[aardvarc]

See this thread:

http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8671

And realize that courts look for reasons to DENY emancipation - and that if you are not able to show that you are COMPLETELY capable of supporting yourself (rent, food, clothing, health insurance, etc.) then there's no need to begin the process.