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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Just nine Utah teens have petitioned the state's juvenile courts to emancipate from their parents under a law that went into effect in May.
Passed by the 2006 Legislature, the law allows for 16- and 17-year-old youths to seek emancipation if they can prove their ability to take care of themselves.
The law makes it easier for youth to enroll in school, get medical care, sign apartment leases and get a driver's license -- all things which require parental consent.
The law was promoted in part as a solution for the "Lost Boys," the estimated 400 boys from the Hildale, Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who have been kicked out of their community by church elders. The boys were said to be competition for young brides by the polygamy practicing faith.
But the Lost Boys haven't rushed to the courts, state Guardian ad Litem Kristin Brewer said. Instead, there's a mixture of kids seeking their freedom.
"It's a whole gamut a kid living at home who doesn't want to do what mom says to a kid living in foster care who is tired of dealing with the system and wants to be independent," Brewer said.
Among those who have petitioned or are in the process are a 16-year-old boy whose been in foster care but can't return home because his parents substance abuse and mental health problems, a 17-year-old girl who's alleged physical abuse by her mother, and a 17-year-old girl who claims she's been forced to surrender her
paycheck to her mother. Not all the petitions are likely to result in court-ordered emancipation, nor have all of the youth showed up for court after filing, Brewer said.
"Our concern is whether it's a kid just trying to exercise independence basic teenage behavior and doesn't know what emancipation means, or is there something more going on in the household making the child want to leave," Brewer said.
The guardian ad litem office tries to explain the array of options for youth outside of emancipation itself, Brewer adds.
"It may or may not always be in their best interest to be emancipated, but it is some kind of cry for help from the kid," she said. "If it looks more like parent conflict, as opposed to abuse or neglect, we can look at is there room for family or crisis counseling."
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Information from: The Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
