Is a 16 year old allowed to live by himself?

[Anonymous]

Our Dr and dentist require a person over 18 to accompany kids under 18 for every appointment-- parent/guardian or someone who has a letter from the parent giving them authority for medical decision making. OP, you need someone who can fill this role, esp for any trips to the emergency room.

[Anonymous]

How hard would it be to find an adult who would benefit from some free rent in exchange for monitoring your son? Maybe someone in college if they were very mature. You could also provide some pay and buy their groceries.

[Anonymous]

Can he go to a boarding school? Sandy Spring Friends school in Olney has boarding, for example, and he could hang out with friends on weekends/ after school while staying on a similar academic track.

[Anonymous]

OP, I agree with everyone else who thinks this is an absolutely terrible and unjustifiably dangerous idea.

You are setting your son up to be a victim of a crime, just for starters. Where do you live that you think a 16 year old with no adults around isn't going to be noticed?? Everyone at his school will know.

You are setting him up to be possibly bullied as well, for all the above reasons.

You are greatly exaggerating the importance of a montgomery county education to get him into a good school. Its no reason at all to place him in this very sad situation. He needs his parents, he is just a KID. I dont care how mature he is. At 16 I was already in college. I would NOT have wanted to stay alone for an indeterminate period of time.

I think the stress of this is causing you to think of non options as options.

You need a family willing to take him, and you are asking a lot, but at least that is the responsible thing to do.

[Anonymous]

There is something called "Partial Emancipation". Use with caution. https://www.peoples-law.org/emancipation-minor#Partial

[Anonymous]

I know someone who lived on his own starting at 15 because his parents couldn't immigrate yet. They had a family friend who was his legal guardian to check in on him and help him, but he lived alone. I would not have been able to handle that as a teen, but he did fine. I also have a friend who went to college at 16, but that's a different scenario. Kids mature at different rates, and you know your kid OP. But your kid needs to be already responsible and self reliant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP here.

So... Who can I contact to confirm that my 16 year old will legally be allowed to live either by himself in my home, or with a friend, for the duration of my immigration process? He’s a US citizen, of course.

What paperwork do I need to sign, for medical care and temporary authorization to live without me, or in the care of someone else?

Thank you. We are very stressed about this, and my immigration attorney is not helpful.

You need to talk to a family law attorney for all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, OP, that you are going through this.
To those who are slamming the OP, it's entirely possible that she could be going to a situation that is not great for a kid, and this is the son's only chance of a real shot at the kind of life you all take for granted.

+1 to this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, OP, that you are going through this.
To those who are slamming the OP, it's entirely possible that she could be going to a situation that is not great for a kid, and this is the son's only chance of a real shot at the kind of life you all take for granted.

The kind of life we all take for granted? You mean, children living in an intact, two-parent home until they are of an age that they can reasonably fend for themselves? Sounds like that's exactly what OP's child has now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
OP here.

So... Who can I contact to confirm that my 16 year old will legally be allowed to live either by himself in my home, or with a friend, for the duration of my immigration process? He’s a US citizen, of course.

What paperwork do I need to sign, for medical care and temporary authorization to live without me, or in the care of someone else?

Thank you. We are very stressed about this, and my immigration attorney is not helpful.

I'm sorry you are in this situation. Ugh. I also don't think it's the nightmare that some people are making it out to be.

Best case scenario you find a family for him to live with. If that's not going to be possible, then I think you do have to find someone that can check in on him, etc.

A Medical Power of Attorney will solve the Dr./emergency issue - google medical power of attorney for minor Maryland. I don't think you want to do a guardianship, which gives someone else parental authority over all decisions.

Best of luck to you - I hope you don't have to leave!

[Anonymous]

Op has a LEGAL obligation to provide care and supervision to the child until the child is a legal adult (i.e. 18).

She can't just say: I pronounce you an adult, kid, ...good luck! She is obligated to supervise the kid or provide appropriate supervision. She could hire someone to be his guardian or find someone to take on the responsibility out of kindness (someone like a friend's parent).

It doesn't matter that tge kid is not a trouble maker.

Imagine how you'd respond if OP's kid was a pain in the butt, truant, belligersnt teen and OP wanted to relocate the kid to an apartment to live by himself....how would you react then? You'd say, "OP, you have to keep raising that kid until he's 18."

You can't just leave him...the state has an interest in teens being SUPERVISED....you are setting yourself up for neglect charges.

[Anonymous]

You should watch Good Morning Call on Netflix, a J drama where 2 high school kids get their own apartment. Maybe your son will also fall in love! Seriously, does this happen a lot in Asia? It seems very common in my Netflix drama rotation. I always wondered.

[Anonymous]

No, don’t leave him here alone. There is too much that could go wrong. Yes to talking to an attorney. In googling I ran across an article that talked about Maryland allowing to designate guardians in case of deportation (I know your situation isn’t like this, but it might give you a sense of what you might need to think about.).

https://wamu.org/story/19/01/09/amid-fears-of-deportation-maryland-immigrant-parents-can-officially-designate-guardians-for-their-children/

Here’s the form it refers to.
https://www.courts.state.md.us/sites/default/files/court-forms/ccgn041.pdf

Wishing you well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Emancipation of a minor can be an option. What’s the story?

There is no emancipation in md.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe this would qualify as neglect if he was not emancipated.

You have a responsibility to ensure his safety and care until he is 18. He's NOT 18. You would be abandoning him. That is neglect. It is not o.k.

You need to arrange for his guardianship. Someone needs to be responsible for him. I do not think you can get him emancipated just because you want to leave the country.

CPS isn't going to get involved with a 16 year old who has a place to live, money, and needs being met. If they took him, he'd go into independent living which is basically a group home loosely supervised. The big issue is if he gets sick or needs help. With under 16 he may need someone to sign but he could email documents to mom and have mom sign.

You are wrong and OP should not believe this.

If they became aware of the situation, they would have to act and place him in foster care until they could determine where his parents are located. Once the child told CPS that his parents were in another country, they would then have to contact immigration.

If a teacher suspects there is no parent, they could call CPS.
If the child becomes injured and has to go to the hospital, they will call CPS.

Op needs to find someone to act as a guardian in their absence.