Tiffany’s Story
By Lashawnda M. Carter

Tiffany, a 17-year-old female from Little Rock, AR, called the National Runaway Switchboard (NRS) because she had been contemplating running away from home due to constant arguments with her mother regarding her sexuality.

She explained to NRS frontline team member, Jason, that she had met a girl several months before and had fallen in love with her. Soon after the relationship had blossomed, both of their parents found out about their romance and forbid them to see one another.

Tiffany told Jason that her mother had put her on a strict curfew, and she could only go to school and come straight home. She was no longer able to hangout with her friends nor participate in any extra-curricular activities at her school.

Due to her restrictions, Tiffany and her girlfriend had to sneak around to see each other and communicate. Whenever they did see each other, they discussed running away so that they could be together. Tiffany told Jason that she didn’t want to run away or leave home, but she couldn’t think of any other options for her and her girlfriend to be together.

After discussing what running away from home would look like for her, Jason and Tiffany chatted about a few alternatives to running away from home; including having a conference call with her mother to discuss how she was feeling. Tiffany decided that the conference call was the best option for her.

Once Jason was able to get Tiffany and her mother on the conference call they began to open the lines of communication and discuss their feelings regarding Tiffany’s relationship with her girlfriend. Tiffany’s mother stated that she did not want her daughter to leave home and wanted to work through their issues. Both Tiffany and her mother agreed they should seek further counseling in their local area to work on their relationship. Jason gave them several referrals of family counseling resources in their area and reminded them that they were always welcomed to contact NRS if they ever needed any more help.

*The names, photo, and location have been changed to protect anonymity of the caller.