shanmipoll
New Member
I'm a 16 year old female living with my mother and father in North Carolina. My parents are legally separated, and my mother is collecting disability and receiving Medicaid benefits, while my father collects unemployment because he refuses to work. The files say my mom lives in our home and that my dad lives with his mother, so this way they can both keep abusing the system without a hitch. They are both extremely addicted to crack-cocaine, and spend at least $100 a week on the drugs. They allow my 26-year-old sister, who prostitutes herself for heroin, storm in and out of the house at all hours of the day and night with all of her various drug "friends" and drug-dealers, and even allow her to physically abuse me without allowing me to defend myself (or risk being verbally and psychologically abused for indefinite periods of time). Our house is falling apart and should be condemned--the ceiling is full of holes and water damage, black mold is virtually everywhere, the floorboards are caving in, the electricity and wiring throughout the house hasn't been up to code since at least 1977 (we have random electricity fires constantly, with only one way to escape the house because my mother has hoarded cardboard boxes full of useless junk in front of the back door, and none of the windows are capable of opening). The house is infested with roaches of every shape and size, and the tar from cigarette smoke rolls down the walls like maple syrup. Our landlord is too cheap to invest in any of the necessary repairs to our home, and my parents don't mind because it keeps him from having to come into our home. The landlord himself is a convicted sex offender, and has keys to my home. This alone makes me extremely uncomfortable, not to mention everything else. I work hard at school, and as of right now I'm maintaining roughly a 3.85 GPA, but still that isn't enough for either of my parents (who are both first-semester college drop-outs living off of fraudulent government money), and I get verbally abused (not just "yelled at") any time I bring home a grade any lower than an A+. They refuse to let me get a work permit, but complain constantly about how I don't contribute to the household. I've tried applying to 15+ locations, in hopes of proving to my parents that I'm capable and willing to work if they would just help me get a work permit and the occasional ride to work when I couldn't find another way. Each and every opportunity I've been given, however, I've had to let pass by because my parents were too "busy" locked up in their room smoking away the rent money in drugs to help me get a work permit.
If I am able to get emancipated, I have a safe place to stay waiting for me (with transportation and job opportunities that aren't available in my present situation), but will still be expected to pay my share of the rent and utilities. I refuse to drop out of school because I want to make a better life for myself than what my parents have, but the longer I stay in that household, the more I worry I won't make it to adulthood. I'm confident in the fact that once I'm able to leave that house a free woman, I'll be able to handle whatever obstacles life throws my way. It's not going to be easy, and I'm not going to love running headlong into adulthood two years early, but I know I can handle it. It's necessary at this point. I just need to know if I have a legitimate case to present before a judge, and what course of action I should take. And if I don't have a strong enough case, what else could I do?
If I am able to get emancipated, I have a safe place to stay waiting for me (with transportation and job opportunities that aren't available in my present situation), but will still be expected to pay my share of the rent and utilities. I refuse to drop out of school because I want to make a better life for myself than what my parents have, but the longer I stay in that household, the more I worry I won't make it to adulthood. I'm confident in the fact that once I'm able to leave that house a free woman, I'll be able to handle whatever obstacles life throws my way. It's not going to be easy, and I'm not going to love running headlong into adulthood two years early, but I know I can handle it. It's necessary at this point. I just need to know if I have a legitimate case to present before a judge, and what course of action I should take. And if I don't have a strong enough case, what else could I do?
