Court Procedures / Evidence / Service

Generally, parents must support and care for their children until adulthood. (Generally, legal adulthood means when the children reach age 18.) A parent who makes a child leave the home without proper adult supervision and provisions for the child may be charged with abuse or neglect by the local Child Protective Services agency. The parent may even be criminally charged with endangering the welfare of a child or a similar crime. However, sometimes if a parent feels that it’s not a good environment to have a child in his/her home, the parent may see if the other parent or another relative or responsible person is willing to become the caretaker for the child.  If a non-parent assumes the role, the parent may sign a sort of power of attorney form to allow the non-parent to act in emergencies dealing with life/health.  I am unsure what options you may or may not have regarding this. 

In addition, most states have court-monitoring programs for teens who are out of control through which the judge can order the child to attend counseling or issue other orders.  Here is the information about this option in STATE: NOTE: LOOK UP OUT OF CONTROL TEEN OR CHILD IN NEED OF SUPERVISION WITH HER STATE TO FIND THE INFO.  [THIS IS WHAT I FOUND FOR CONNECTICUT - REMOVE IF NOT CONNECTICUT:  In Connecticut, this option is called a Family With Service Needs (FWSN) referral, and I found some information about it on the Mansfield, CT government website. This site includes links to the state organization and referral form, so, hopefully, it may be useful no matter where in the state your client is located. Here is a referral form for the Connecticut Youth Services Bureau, a community-based organization designed to work with a child who engages in certain negative behaviors. They also offer resources to the child’s family. ] Please know that WomensLaw is not affiliated with these websites and cannot vouch for the information contained in them.

However, parents understandably may not want to involve their child in the criminal or juvenile justice systems because of the possible consequences of involving the court in one’s life.  For legal advice about the pros and cons of involving the court system, you may want to talk to a lawyer first.  Here is a link for legal services: LINK

Lastly, I am including a link to the American Psychological Association, in case you want to find a counselor to help your child or yourself. A therapist can often be a good sounding board, offer advice, talk about healthy boundaries between a parent and teen, provide overall support for the teen or parent, and meet with them separately or together to help mend their relationship.