Parents cannot just kick children out of their homes. The Family Law Act 1975 is very clear about this: parents have a responsibility to care for their children until they are considered adults.

Once a minor is legally emancipated, parents no longer have to feed, house, or pay child support for the emancipated minor. Kicking an underage child (meaning under 18 in most states) out of the house, without the child being emancipated, can often be considered child abandonment, which is a crime.

If they decide to do this, they still have to provide for and communicate with their child until they turn 18.

Section 4AB defines family violence, covering within its scope violent, threatening or other behavior by a person that coerces or controls a member of the family or causes that member to be fearful. Further, 4AB(2) sets out a list of behaviors that may constitute family violence, including assault, stalking, repeated derogatory taunts, intentionally damaging or destroying property, and unreasonably withholding financial support. The Act provides for divorce and nullity of marriage if the marriage has broken down irreparably. Furthermore, section 65AA deals with parental orders. The court must, pursuant to section 60CG, facilitate the child’s best interest but also to the extent possible ensure that any parental order is consistent with any family violence order and does not expose a person to an unacceptable risk of family violence.

Legal Information Institute

Call CPS. You are a minor in the eyes of the law. They can help you. Your family actually has a legal obligation to house you and can be taken to court for kicking you out.

Directory for State Child Abuse & Neglect Reporting Numbers

Kicking an underage child (meaning under 18 in most states) out of the house, without the child being emancipated, can often be considered child abandonment, which is a crime.

Specific examples of abandonment vary, but common actions that may lead to charges include:

• Being unwilling to provide care, support, or supervision for the child.

• Making only minimal efforts to support and communicate with a child;

• Fail to send some sort of money to support them, or

• Failing to participate in a suitable plan or program designed to reunite the parent or guardian with a child;

• Leaving a child with another person without provision for the child's support and without meaningful communication with the child for a period of three months;

• Failing to respond to notice of child protective proceedings; or

• Being absent from the home for a period of time that created a substantial risk of serious harm to a child left in the home;

• Also keep in mind that depending on the laws of your state, a neighbor or school administrator in these cases may be legally required to report a parent for child abandonment.

Even if you aren't leaving your child on a proverbial street corner, you will be legally abandoning them.

The laws vary from state to state. Many states include deserting a child within its child abuse laws and vice versa, while some states have laws specifically targeting the act of abandoning a child.

Most states classify abandonment as a felony, which may include situations where a parent or guardian physically abandons a child in any place with the intent of relinquishing all rights and responsibilities to the child.

Other states classify the desertion of a child as a misdemeanor (with lesser penalties), including situations that involve non-physical acts of abandonment.

In general, child abandonment occurs when a parent, guardian, or other person has physical custody or control of a child and, when acting without regard for the mental or physical health, safety, or welfare of the child:

Knowing leaves a child (typically under the age of 13) without supervision by a responsible person (typically over the age of 14); or

Fails to maintain contact with the child or provide reasonable support for a specified period of time.

In the criminal context, child desertion is defined as physically abandoning a child, but may also include emotional abandonment such as failing to provide basic needs to a child. For example, in some states, a parent may be guilty of abandonment if they fail to provide necessary clothing, food, shelter or medical care for their child. In other states, however, parents are only punished for deserting a child with the intent to abandon the child.

Depending on the state, a person charged with criminal child abandonment faces a wide range of penalties and sentencing options, depending on whether the state makes it a felony or misdemeanor. A court will take the factors listed above into consideration - but the penalties may include fines, termination of parental rights, supervised access to the child, and jail time.

In addition, a person may face reckless abandonment charges of a greater penalty if a child dies as a result of the desertion.