We are parents of adolescents who have inappropriately chosen to make their own way in the world by quitting school, choosing the wrong crowd, ignoring household rules, abusing substances or running away. We have found that under the old laws we were unable to help our children right themselves because of the interpretation of the old "Persons In Need of Supervision" (PINS) sections of the Family Court Act. Our goal was to reform this Act to raise the eligible age limit for a PINS Petition from 16 to 18 years old and for police to be able to return runaways up to that age. It is our belief that the two extra years of maturity to be gained by an adolescent before he or she can leave home will be a substantial benefit to the parents, to the community and especially to the young person. Our goal was based on the following facts.

Fact- Under Article 7of the Family Court Act, Section 712(a) provided for PINS up to the age of 18 years old for females and only up to age 16 for males.

Fact- Under Article 7 of the Family Court Act, Section 718(a) provided for police to return females under 18 and males under 16 to their parent or legal guardian if they have run away “without just cause".

Fact- Because of a 1972 court decision based on gender bias, the age limit for both sections had been effectively reduced to 16 years old for both genders.

Fact- This measure is intended to protect a child's productivity and development, not to protect abusive parents from appropriate actions.

Fact- This is targeted at troublesome youth, not juvenile delinquents that commit crimes. It is intended to prevent adolescents from getting into deeper trouble.

Fact- The fiscal benefit of this change in terms of reduced future costs for social services, incarceration, and medical care far outweighs the cost of this change.

Fact- New York State is one of the few that could not return a 16- or 17-year-old to parents or to an appropriate helpful setting such as a drug treatment facility, or an alternative supervised living facility.

Fact- Under interstate compact laws, police in NY could return some out-of-state runaways up to age 20, but could not assist NYS parents with their own 16- and 17-year-old runaways.

Fact- Children under 18 years old cannot on their own buy cigarettes or alcohol, get a driver's license, sign a contract, get married, or get a tattoo. However, application of the existing provisions allowed them to run away from home or be truant from school at 16 years old without violating any law, but without having the protection of the adult world.

Fact- Parents remain financially responsible until their child is 21 years old, yet under the old law had no control or empowerment as a parent to enforce their guidelines or over the choices their children made once they reached 16.

We worked endlessly and sought the needed support from our legislators to reform the Family Court Act and raise the age limit for PINS and runaway return to 18 years old for both males and females. We believe this would enable loving and caring parents to help their difficult young adults mature into productive members of the community.