Law regarding 17 year old runaways in Missouri

[PizzaRolls]

Jurisdiction

Missouri

My friend is a bad home situation, and I'm trying to get him out as soon as legally possible, with as few consequences as possible. I read somewhere that if a person was 17 in Missouri, they were able to run away and the courts and police couldn't force them to go back. I need to know if this is true, as well as any and all details regarding it if so.

 

[mightymoose]

If your friend is having trouble you should do nothing more than offer moral support and direct him to social services for help
Encouraging him or helping him to run away from home could lead to legal problems for you for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

 

[cbg]

Missouri is one of those states where, because of an anomaly in the way the law was written, law enforcement officers are sometimes reluctant to return home a runaway 17 year old.

Do not mistake, "reluctant to" as meaning "prohibited from". They do not mean the same thing. A police officer may choose not to force a 17 year old back home. They also may choose to. They are not prevented by law from doing so.

There is also nothing preventing Mom and Dad from forcibly dragging their kid back home, and because of the same anomaly, the law will not interfere with that, either.

 

[army judge]

Over and over and over and over and over, like a scratched up record, over and over and over...