Emancipation from DYFS

[koalbish]

My question involves emancipation laws for the State of: NJ

We have been fighting dyfs about child support for our daughter for the past 2 years and we want to know if we can now emancipate her.
She was out of control and a real threat to her younger siblings. She did not want treatment for her mental illness and chose to stay with dyfs instead of following our rules and getting help. We have given up parental rights in court so she could be adopted by a relative. The adoption never went through because of her behavior and Dyfs came back charging us with a lot of child support. Way more than we could afford. Over $950 a month. They garnish my husbands pay and they actually charge me a separate support and she isn't even my biological child and I haven't worked in over 17 years. We have 4 small children at home and I am still nursing the youngest.
Our daughter is 18 years old and lives in her own apartment under DYFS supervision. She works and has to pay her own bills. We have no say about anything she does and her case worker isn't even allowed to speak with us about her. We show the courts that we are in foreclosure and we can't afford the bills. They don't care that we have 4 small boys in the home. They took our tax return so we can't even get caught up with the mortgage.
It just isn't fair. We have no parent child relationship and she basically is getting her way by doing what she wants. Under DYFS care she was able to get a full back tattoo, piercings and spend weekends with a man in his twenties.

[Dogmatique]

Even if she is now legally emancipated, this doesn't wipe out any child support arrears.

Is that what you're asking?

[koalbish]

She is not emancipated. We payed all of our arrears when they took our tax refund. We are fighting to emancipate. What are the chances we will win? I am going to file a motion to go back to court and I want to have a good argument. I have been to court so many times and we have been treated so unfairly because we are going against dyfs that I get so sick when I have to go back. The child support is only half the story.

[cbg]

A child is automatically emancipated, by virtue of becoming a legal adult, at the age of 18 unless there is a court order that specifically says they are not.

Is there such an order?

[koalbish]

The order is not specific. It says 18 or until graduating high school whichever comes first. She turned 18 in Oct and graduates high school in June. But the last time we went to court to beg for the amount to be lowered they threatened that we might have to pay until she is out of collage and they wouldn't lower the amount either. Again, she is not even my biological child, she is from my husbands previous marriage and her mother left her when she was 2. We have no parental rights. And she chose to not come home.

This all started when the police brought her to the hospital because she was a threat to herself and others but by law she was able to refuse treatment. She has a mental illness. Her therapist told us to leave her in the hospital where she and her brothers would be kept safe. We were charged with neglect because of it and that's how DYFS got involved. That's why the courts are so hard on us. We look like we neglected this kid and just left her. That's another court case. We are still fighting those charges.