It’s really hard to do from zero to living independently in one day. You need to save for a deposit, or have friends to crash with, a steady source of income, household management skills… Even going into a shelter requires knowing where it is and what the admission rules are.
It’s fairly easy for parents (or abusive spouses) to interrupt the process before your can actually leave. If they won’t fill out FAFSA good luck with college before age 25. They can emotionally punish going for job interviews. If you’re saving to leave but don’t have enough yet they can create an emergency and demand your savings. They can make demands on your schedule or disrupt your sleep so it’s impossible to work consistently.
And all of this can be wrapped in a bunch of physical and emotional abuse that makes everything much harder.
You can’t legally imprison an adult or keep them from leaving your home, but if you control their living situation and have for decades, there are a lot of morally awful but legally fine actions available to weaken your child and raise the difficulty of leaving.
It’s really hard to do from zero to living independently in one day. You need to save for a deposit, or have friends to crash with, a steady source of income, household management skills… Even going into a shelter requires knowing where it is and what the admission rules are.
It’s fairly easy for parents (or abusive spouses) to interrupt the process before your can actually leave. If they won’t fill out FAFSA good luck with college before age 25. They can emotionally punish going for job interviews. If you’re saving to leave but don’t have enough yet they can create an emergency and demand your savings. They can make demands on your schedule or disrupt your sleep so it’s impossible to work consistently.
And all of this can be wrapped in a bunch of physical and emotional abuse that makes everything much harder.
You can’t legally imprison an adult or keep them from leaving your home, but if you control their living situation and have for decades, there are a lot of morally awful but legally fine actions available to weaken your child and raise the difficulty of leaving.