When can you legally kick a kid out- 18?

[Anonymous]

In the other post, it wasn't formally answered. Is it 18? What if your kid is making your life difficult or terrorizing you at 16 ? Just send them to boot camp? I hear some of those camps can make your kid worse.

[Anonymous]

It's 18. But I think if they are still in highschool at 18 you have to wait until they have graduated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's 18. But I think if they are still in highschool at 18 you have to wait until they have graduated.

I don't think that's right. It's possible that child support obligations may extend until then because parents usually don't kick their kids out before they graduate, but I do not think you're legally required to keep an 18-year-old high school student in your house. What if the kid stretechs it out for a few years? Never graduates?

OP, there is one precise, fixed answer in your jurisdiction, and if you're seriously ready to throw your child out, call a local family lawyer--well worth the $100-200 to be precise.

[Anonymous]

The OP is referring to a 16 yo, I think.

[Anonymous]

What kind of "terrorizing?" Good grief -- this is sad. I don't doubt that you're at your wit's end and I'm sorry. Have you gotten into family therapy, NAMI support groups if the child is mentally ill, etc? Throwing a child out the moment s/he hits 18 (and looking forward to that day for years) is the nuclear option.

[Anonymous]

Please whether you kick him out or not, get the child help. I don't really want to be running into a terrorizing kid with pent up anger toward his family either.

[Anonymous]

Please don't do it, try compassion first. Obviously I don't know what you are going thru, but there are times when I have felt the same

[Anonymous]

Some parents who are sick of their kids bring them to the ED and try to get them admitted to a psych facility temporarily. Are you or other children in the house scared of the 16 year old? It's a lot easier to psychiatrically admit kids when family members are fearful of being injured or when you can slap a oppositional defiant disorder diagnosis on the kid.

[Anonymous]

When someone turns 18 they become an adult. It does not matter if they attend middle school or college. If you want them out the door then kick them in the ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please don't do it, try compassion first. Obviously I don't know what you are going thru, but there are times when I have felt the same

I agree with this. Family counseling maybe.

My neighbor would say that her teen son "terrified" her too. He had several learning disabilities like dyslexia and ADHD that were not being addressed at school. She couldn't spring for tutoring but could afford to have her kitchen remodeled. He may very well have had a lot of anger and frustration pent up. When he graduated, he joined the army and went to Afghanistan. Don't know what happened to him b/c she moved away.

[Anonymous]

Just fyi, if you live in the District, you have a duty to support your child financially until s/he turns 21, unless s/he is legally emancipated. So no, you may not simply be able to simply kick your child out.

I'm not sure what your child's issues are, but I would hope that you try counseling, drug treatment etc. before you resort to "boot camp." Those places are poorly regulated and often dangerous.