Help! :Emancipation:

[CagedHeart]

What is the name of your state? California

I've been seeking legal advice for 3 months now, and no one can help.

I'm 15 (16 in April)and I live with my grandmother, cousin and father, in California. I can't stay where I live for much longer because it is such a tence, unstable place for several reasons...

1) My father is bipolar/schotzophrentic and has a drinking problem on top of 3 medications he takes. He smokes 2 packs a day and steals money from my grandmother to fund his habbits.
2) My cousin luke, who is 21, also has a drinking problem and is currently on probation. He is a drug user and ofter takes my father's medication to get high. He dos not pay rent, which drains the money in the house
3) My grandmother is an extreme Christian (why she lets these people in her house, I'll never know) and her religion and mine differ severely. In her oppinion, I cannot be trusted because I am not of her religion.

The house always reeks of ash and my grandmother is always angry about something. My father's half of the family are all very religious and would do whatever it takes to keep me around them.

I've lived on and off with my mother, who has in the past had drug and alcoholic problems, and my baby sister (2) my whole life. She can never support herself long enough to hold a house. I was pulled out of school towards the end of 9th grade to babysit my sister while my mother worked. As a result of this, I am now in homeschooling where I live to make up for lost credits.

I know nither of them would ever be willing to let me go. Honestly, my family would rather destroy me than let me live on my own, away from them.

I don't know what to do. I'll be 16 in 3 months, I'll be starting work as a waitress (part time or full time) and I have a place to go. If I were to be emancipated, I'd be moving to Minnisota to live with a friend's family who have welcomed me to live with them. They've already got the money to fly me there.

I need to get out of here, but they'll never let me go. Is there any possible way around parental permission. Possibly adoption on the part of my friend's family?

*~*Desperate

 

[CagedHeart]

and... I dont have any normal relatives or anyone I can trust that is an adult around me. The people in Minnisota I'd be going to live with have a small "appartment" on the side of their house they rent out. They are my boyfriend's parents and are more than willing to help me. His mother said she would even adopt me if no other choiceis open, but again, they need parental permission and none of my relatives would ever let me go anyways.

I'm not a drama queen, but whenever I try to talk about any of my issues to anyone, thats what they call me. There's no one I have that would help me and every number I've called isn't running anymore. I do not trust the teachers at my school not to tell my grandmother.

If I am to get out, I must do it in one move, or she will call in everything she knows to win the case. No one else knows of my plans but me and my boyfriend and we're afraid someone else will find out so we're searching for live legal advice to help that cannot contact us back.

I do not have any other people in my religion around me because I am Wiccan. No I do not warship the Devil! It's a respect and peace with nature and the Deities. My grandma hates this and never shuts up about her religion, always telling me she knows whats comming and that I dont know anything. She is so full of herself we get in arguments all the time which causes her to think me disrespectful. I respect those who respect me and thats how I function, but she's constantly looking down at me and the feeling of tention is so thick in our house. At least once a day, there is some argument, and at least once a week someone starts screming at the other, usually my grandma to my cousin, becuase he's on drugs. This is what I wake up to every day.

I have always been around people like this my whole life, who all claim they're looking out for my best interests, but don't know anything about me, and if they did, they'd treat me worse.

I cant get out of here!!! Is there any way around parental permission for emancipation?

 

[cbg]

Do you fully understand what emancipation means?

Do you understand that to be emancipated, you need to be able to show yourself as having a proven ability to support yourself, by yourself?

Do you understand that emancipation does not mean moving in with someone else? That moving in with your friends in Minnesota, and being emancipated, are mutually exclusive?

I'm not saying you have no options. I'm saying that you kids get your heads around the idea of emancipation without knowing what it means or what it involved, and decide that this is your first and only option when it isn't.

 

[CagedHeart]

understood

I compleatly understand what it means. I've been wanting to be emancipated for a long time and recently options have been comming up.
I've had long nights to think about it and I want it more and more every time I sit to think about what it means. I understand good and bad comes out of it, but Its better than what I'm dealing with right now.
I can handle myself. I can support myself. I can survive, and I know what it means. If I wasnt sure of what it means, I'm sure I would have turned back already, but I reaserch everyday I can get to the library.

 

[cbg]

Your post does not support that. You're talking about emancipation, but you're also talking about going to live with your friends in Minnesota, and the two are mutually exclusive. You can't be emancipated and go live with them both.

I'm not trying to give you a hard time - you've clearly got a hard enough time as it is. But I need to know what you understand if I'm going to point you in the right direction. So why don't you tell me what your understanding is of what emancipation is and what other options you have. That'll give me, or someone, a starting point.

 

[Ienay]

Yes, both CagedHeart and myself are fully aware of what emancipation means. As she stated, we have been on the subject in-depth for the past three months your overgeneralization is not appreciated. As to emancipation being her only option, we have both tried speaking with her family members but they simply dismiss our every word as disrespect calling us pagans. Every time we bring up this fact they threaten us with loss of communication, it has become her grandmother’s favorite saying, “ If you want to talk to Kyle tonight you will!” I’m not some tool of punishment to be used at her leisure and my expense. I grow tired of her other grandmothers constant nagging about how she could change her appearance lose fat that’s not even there and to “Marry a rich man cause’ that the only way you’ll get by.” Her Ideals Are sickening at best, and her thoughts of how a relationship should work are equally repulsive.

Her family is not our only concern, She has had many encounters recently where cars have slowed down while they pass, leaning out the windows taunting her with sexual slang in Spanish or just plain blaring their horns. This has gotten to the point where she is uncomfortable walking outside after dark alone. We came here mainly to ask how to get her out of this situation without to great of complications. Her grandmother/ mother will refuse to let her go, hence is why we came here. Legal services are our only chance of getting her out of this situation. The reason we chose emancipation, thus would terminate her parents control allowing her freedom to leave their religious and mental persecution until they learn to understand America is supposedly the land of the freedom to worship what you feel is right. Well I’m done ranting on the subject for now, thanks for the time.

 

[Ienay]

Your post does not support that. You're talking about emancipation, but you're also talking about going to live with your friends in Minnesota, and the two are mutually exclusive. You can't be emancipated and go live with them both.

The emancipation is a steppingstone once again… freeing her of her grandmothers control and the situation she is in. And how does it matter if she stays here till her job situation re-stabilizes after the move. Unless you know of another option that her legal guardians don’t have to agree to.

 

[cbg]

Well, you've just proved what I suspected; you don't understand emancipation at all. It is not a stepping stone to get her out from under her grandmother's control; it is being declared by the courts to be an adult who is able to fully care for herself financially and in every other way.

To be emancipated, she will need to prove to a court that she is capable of paying rent, food, clothes, medical care, transportation, school expenses, and ALL of her other expenses, BY HERSELF without any help from anyone, including her friends in Minnesota, and while simultaneously going to school. If she cannot do that, she cannot be emancipated. Period.

And that doesn't mean going into court and saying, I'm going to get a job. It means showing that she is ALREADY earning enough to support herself.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

CHRIST brat, you can't even spell. What in the hell are you going to do if the utility bill comes in and you can't read it.

Here's an idea. Go find a migrant farm worker, a bale of hay and have a good role...then in 9 months you'll find out how 'emancipation' is SO MUCH FUN!!!

 

[CagedHeart]

my opinion

Emancipation: freeing someone from the control of another; especially a parent's relinquishing authority and control over a minor child

Emancipation means supporting yourself without help of another. To be able to stand on your own and apply for insurance, medical, jobs, and enroll yourslef in school.
You must be able to live by yourself by the time you apply.

I undertand all of this

 

[Ienay]

She wont get our help until after she has been declared independent And from the perspective yes Emancipation is only one step in getting away from her family. She has poorly worded her first post. Yes, that is true; I have not, please don’t twist my words into what they are not. I know the requirements as well, I too had looked into them, alas the state of Minnesota does not fund such possibilities. As to our questions, if you are not going to answer them please just stop posting if all you wish to do is accuse us of not understanding what we speak. You took my words and rephrased them to your fastion, I actually asked for your aid and all you managed to do was accuse me of being unknowledgeable.

 

[cbg]

I can't give you any help if I don't fully understand just exactly what it is that YOU understand. Okay, you know all the answers. Then I don't know what you need my help for.

Good luck to you.

 

[Ienay]

CHRIST brat, you can't even spell. What in the hell are you going to do if the utility bill comes in and you can't read it.

Here's an idea. Go find a migrant farm worker, a bale of hay and have a good role...then in 9 months you'll find out how 'emancipation' is SO MUCH FUN!!!

Wow, aren't we special mayhap in "nine" months you'll learn to hold your tongue when it's a disadvantage to speak up. I do believe I seen a warning when I signed up for a two hundred fifty dollar fine in the Terms of service for the behavior you just exhibited. Though I don't really understand how they plan to collect.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

Wow, aren't we special mayhap ....

What the hell is that? Hillbilly speak?

I do believe I seen a warning ...

And where is the trailer in YOUR story?

 

[Ienay]

The emancipation is a steppingstone once again… freeing her of her grandmothers control and the situation she is in. And how does it matter if she stays here till her job situation re-stabilizes after the move. Unless you know of another option that her legal guardians don’t have to agree to.

Sorry, this was mis-phrased I meant to ask if you knew of other opportunities.