Hello. I'm 17 years old, I turn 18 on September 19th, and I live in Florida with my grandparents; however, I have only lived herre for 3-4 weeks, and I move here from Illinois. Let me explain my situation.
Almost a month ago, I was kicked out of my house by my Step-father because of things I said to him in a heated argument we had, in which he said very hurtful things, and I said hurtful things back (no physical violence was threatened), however, for about 12 years, we have always had an unstable relationship. In the past, he has put me in a choke-hold and threatened to choke me until I blacked out, and tried to start a physical fight with me by walking after me and telling me to fight him (which he conviently doesn't remember doing), which resulted in a visit from CPS who determined that no action had to be taken, since it was the first physical incident that had occured. He has also threatened to kick me out multiple times in the past, but that last argument was the one where he followed through with it. Other than that, he has also called me names, and has said that all I knew how to do was to play "games", implying that I wouldn't be able to do anything else-- however, I know verbal abuse doesn't mean much in the legal world, so that's all I'll say on that end. I would also like to mention that when I was around five years old, when my mother married him six months after they met, and about 4-5 months after I met him, he "adopted" me, but in almost all current forms of my identification, it says my birth surname, instead of his, including my Illinois driving permit and former school ID.
Anyway, the only place I had left to go was my grandparents' in Florida, so I stayed with my Great-Aunt for a couple of days, before taking a flight out to my current location-- all with my Mother's assistance and approval. After my plane ticket had already been purchased, and on the night before my flight, he offered to let me back in the house, to which I obviously declined; there was no way I was going to go back into a verbally and sometimes physically abusive household that he had created.
Now that I'm living with my Grandparents, I am the happiest I've been in a very long time. I am obviously still on their insurance, and my Mother still has custody of me. My question is, would there be any way for my Mother to take me away from my grandparents before I'm 18? If so, what legal ways are there to fight against that if that were to happen (which I'm basically 100% certain it will never happen)? I'm only asking because it has been one of my biggest anxieties, and if there is any possibility of that coming to fruition, I'd like to know how to defend myself against it.
Almost a month ago, I was kicked out of my house by my Step-father because of things I said to him in a heated argument we had, in which he said very hurtful things, and I said hurtful things back (no physical violence was threatened), however, for about 12 years, we have always had an unstable relationship. In the past, he has put me in a choke-hold and threatened to choke me until I blacked out, and tried to start a physical fight with me by walking after me and telling me to fight him (which he conviently doesn't remember doing), which resulted in a visit from CPS who determined that no action had to be taken, since it was the first physical incident that had occured. He has also threatened to kick me out multiple times in the past, but that last argument was the one where he followed through with it. Other than that, he has also called me names, and has said that all I knew how to do was to play "games", implying that I wouldn't be able to do anything else-- however, I know verbal abuse doesn't mean much in the legal world, so that's all I'll say on that end. I would also like to mention that when I was around five years old, when my mother married him six months after they met, and about 4-5 months after I met him, he "adopted" me, but in almost all current forms of my identification, it says my birth surname, instead of his, including my Illinois driving permit and former school ID.
Anyway, the only place I had left to go was my grandparents' in Florida, so I stayed with my Great-Aunt for a couple of days, before taking a flight out to my current location-- all with my Mother's assistance and approval. After my plane ticket had already been purchased, and on the night before my flight, he offered to let me back in the house, to which I obviously declined; there was no way I was going to go back into a verbally and sometimes physically abusive household that he had created.
Now that I'm living with my Grandparents, I am the happiest I've been in a very long time. I am obviously still on their insurance, and my Mother still has custody of me. My question is, would there be any way for my Mother to take me away from my grandparents before I'm 18? If so, what legal ways are there to fight against that if that were to happen (which I'm basically 100% certain it will never happen)? I'm only asking because it has been one of my biggest anxieties, and if there is any possibility of that coming to fruition, I'd like to know how to defend myself against it.
