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At least in Maryland CS is the property of the child, not the custodial parent. It is paid to the CP on behalf of the child. I would assume this is the case in all states. How to enact it - I really don't know. There are free or low coat legal centers that csn help. A list should be available through the court.
But usually a minor child has no property rights, even to have a bank account or to take a loan, they have to have a parent's signature and the parent is the real owner until age 18.
I think it depends on how close this kid is to being 18.
I agree that the parents need to pay (and not just financially) for their part in this, and I think the kid needs more help than just getting a few bucks thrown at him. Both reasons why you should be calling the authorities in my mind.
From what you've said I can't imagine him making the best decisions with the money if he was to receive child support. Another family would end up bailing him out, and he would continue learning nothing.
Have you checked with something like Job Corps? They have dormitories and career training. I know of a couple who was having trouble with their kid at home, he was being thick-headed and a problem, and Job Corps was helpful in his case.
Thanks! I looked into Job Corps. It looks like he will qualify if he can prove he is estranged. I talked with him briefly about it. He's not making the wisest decisions right now. He doesn't like the sounds of it. He hasn't hit rock bottom yet. He doesn't realize how dire his situation is.
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Originally Posted by Momma_bear
Great post. I hate to pass judgement on people I don't even know, but to toss a kid onto the street because he missed a car payment seems extreme. If you want to teach him responsibility sell the car or let it be repossessed (if its in his name) but kicking the kid to the curb before he finished high school is irresponsible.
The car is in his name. There is no loan. He has paid everything for it, except a remaining few hundred dollars he owes his father.
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Originally Posted by NEOhioBound
I think the police need to be called even before CYS. The parents CAN be charged and SHOULD go to jail.
Here's an new development that might result in something similar. He is going to the magistrate to file against his parents for keeping his car, which is in his name. His argument is that since they are no longer paying to support him, he shouldn't owe them any money for the car since what is owed on the car far exceeds what they would pay in child support. This will bring the parents before a judge to address the car and the fact he was kicked out.
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Originally Posted by chicagojlo
I agree that the parents need to pay (and not just financially) for their part in this, and I think the kid needs more help than just getting a few bucks thrown at him. Both reasons why you should be calling the authorities in my mind.
I'm going to talk to his guidance counselor on Monday. The high school has a guidance counselor that is a social worker. I've already talked to the director of social services for our county. (She's someone I know personally, and even she isn't recommending CYS being the best solution.) It's not like I'm avoiding calling the authorities. This all landed in my lap on Friday night. I'm researching the options for the best possible solution.
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Originally Posted by chicagojlo
From what you've said I can't imagine him making the best decisions with the money if he was to receive child support. Another family would end up bailing him out, and he would continue learning nothing.
I'm way past seeing if he can receive child support from his parents. That was just one thing I was wondering at the moment I started this thread. He probably wouldn't make the best decisions with the money, but he's got to start learning sometime how to make decisions about money. In June, he will be on his own even if he goes into foster care. One way or another, he will be fending for himself and having to make decisions about money within the next six months.
But surely if he was 'in the system' he'd get access to resources to help him with that, I keep hearing how they are trying to do more for kids who are aging out with nowhere to go.
But surely if he was 'in the system' he'd get access to resources to help him with that, I keep hearing how they are trying to do more for kids who are aging out with nowhere to go.
I know. That is always in the back of my head. He'd be set for furthering his education if he was in foster care when he turns 18. I guess I don't want to be THE PERSON who does it to him because he will never realize it's for his own good. If he were younger, I wouldn't feel it would be for his own good, but he would gain so many benefits for just being in the system for a few months. Then again, he has had such a bad year, I think it's a shame that he needs to be uprooted again. Deep down I'm hoping like the guidance counselor or the magistrate do something this coming week.
I was thinking more about how to manage money and get utilities and housing etc. I think he needs to learn how to stand on his own two feet instead of continuing to rely on others always coming to his rescue.
And I'm not really understanding how he's going to be in court and not have this come up?!
I believe that in this case, the judge may order the child's parents to take him back in, or send him to a REAL, qualified foster home. It is unlikely in the extreme that the judge will order the parents to pay him money - even if he WERE paying for his own expenses. Which he is not. He is living off the kindness of strangers. If he is truly a 'problem child' who refuses to follow home rules and the parents have documented proof, and you get a judge who sees kids like this all the time, he may reprimand YOU, possibly fine you for interfering in the relationship between the parent and the child and send the child to a juvenile detention center for whatever he had done to cause his parents to 'kick him out'.
If the car is in his name, and the judge decided not to order the child to go back home, he MAY order the car returned to the child, if he can prove he has car insurance on it and the funds/wherewithal to pay for the next car registration. But this too is unlikely.
I believe that in this case, the judge may order the child's parents to take him back in, or send him to a REAL, qualified foster home. It is unlikely in the extreme that the judge will order the parents to pay him money - even if he WERE paying for his own expenses. Which he is not. He is living off the kindness of strangers. If he is truly a 'problem child' who refuses to follow home rules and the parents have documented proof, and you get a judge who sees kids like this all the time, he may reprimand YOU, possibly fine you for interfering in the relationship between the parent and the child and send the child to a juvenile detention center for whatever he had done to cause his parents to 'kick him out'.
If the car is in his name, and the judge decided not to order the child to go back home, he MAY order the car returned to the child, if he can prove he has car insurance on it and the funds/wherewithal to pay for the next car registration. But this too is unlikely.
What's the basis of law for any of what I put in bold? Judges are bound by law and they cannot be entirely arbitrary. Unless there is a statute or case law in the jurisdiction in question, that allows for any of this, which my educated guess (I hold a J.D.) is that there is not, then this isn't going to happen.
I cannot imagine a state passing a law where a third party would be fined for "interfering" in a parent-child relationship for advocating on the part of a neglected child. If this teenager has been pushed out of the house, that arguably falls under neglect because the parents are no longer providing for that child's basic needs. If there were any such law, it would serve to silence reports to that state's child protective services and I state legislatures aren't interested in that kind of outcome.
Additionally, a judge just cannot send a child to juvie for "mouthing off" to his parents or being a problem child. The child has to have broken some law and the kid would have to go through the juvenile court system to make such a determination. Due process is a constitutional right in this in the this country.
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