The "LEGAL" age is 18, but you can be emancipated as young as 16. This is basically a document issued by the court stating that you are responsible for yourself and that no adult will be responsible for your actions. It would be wise to first check the Missouri Statutes covering this to get the exact definition.
There are times when teens should leave home. Enduring sexual abuse, physical beatings, starvation, forced labor, is good cause at any age. Report to a police station or house of worship and they will guide you to foster care (very strict) or institution (very, very strict).
The vast majority of teens see life at home as a cage in which they are restricted from having fun. Required homework, house chores, clean rooms, appropriate grades, curfews, no drugs, no tattoos simply do not qualify as cause.
Kids with their own room, a computer, lots of good food, stereos, video playthings, TV, phone and use of a car, often see themselves as "deprived."
If you are well fed, have goodies and are allowed to work for pocket money, you should take a look at reality before jumping ship.When parents have provided essentials, they appear as a birthright - they are not. Getting kicked out at 18 is tragic enough, leaving earlier defies all statistics and common sense.
Rent, food, clothing, transportation and factors of self-support are reality if you move out. Will you finish school? By the way if you move out you might find out that you own nothing - that's right. Your parents legally own everything, TV, computer - all of it.
Moving in with friends has no shot. None. Zip. Neither brothers, sisters, best friends, boy friend/girlfriend succeed because teens, each in their own way, want what they had at home, a free ride.
Squabbles over, who owns what food, who is a slob, who has too many bed partners, who does drugs, who didn't pay his share, and who stole my wallet results in combative conditions far worse than anything experienced at home.
Please spend an afternoon watching Judge Judy. There is an endless procession of relationships that have gone bad.
Somewhere between abuse and wholesome home life is gray area called "unreasonable" If you exist in this gray area, endure until you graduate from high school and have means of self-support. DO NOT MOVE IN WITH ANYONE!
Legally, you can leave at 18. Tactically, if you want to hide out, it is not likely that there will be any legal consequences at 17. Mail can be sent to a Post Office Box. I understand emancipation is possible at 16 if no one objects. The correct approach is to consult a lawyer. Oh, you have no money for an attorney? That's reality.
2006-07-17 16:24:01
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answer #1
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answered by heidielizabeth69 7
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