Q: Im 15 and pregnant can my legal guardians or family members take my baby?

A: No, there are NO laws which say that your family cannot take your baby. If you are under 18 yrs. old, you are considered a "child" in Idaho. If you had sex with a young man prior to becoming 18, he could be charged with a number of crimes. However, if we look beyond that now, since you didn't ask about it, then the question is: are you able to keep you own child, since you gave birth to it, despite your abusive parents or grandparents attempting to take the child from you? As a "legal" child, yes they probably can. However, what if you get a lawyer and file a Petition for Emancipation? Emancipation is a designation by the Court that you are now an adult and can make your own decisions! All you need to do is find a lawyer and show him that, in addition to being capable of impregnation, you are capable of taking care of this child. To take care of a child requires M O N E Y. Do you have money? If you don't have money, how will you pay for the doctor to do check-ups on you and the baby? Formula? Diapers? A Roof over your head? Wheels? Car insurance? If you have all those things figured out, a Judge might say "young lady, congratulations you are an adult!" Being an "adult" isn't all its cracked up to be though. I have to work hard, every day, so I can put gas in my truck and food on my table. It doesn't matter if you're a boy or young lady, soon you will have to do the same thing. Do you have a driver's license? That's pretty big, if you want to be emancipated. See, at age 15, people lot smarter than I am, declared that if two people are going to have a baby, they'd better be grown up enough to take good care of the baby. Right now you produce the food the baby is going to need. But when the baby is about a year old, it's going to need real food. Do you have enough money to buy food for it? I'm sure your parents have given you all the "advice" you need. Your grandparents don't really want to raise that baby. Your parents didn't want to raise that baby. Why did you have that baby, now? Unfortunately, if you're going to have to live with your mom and dad, they are going to still be able to "make the rules." I'm sure they would prefer that you get a job and make enough money to get a baby sitter so that they wouldn't have to do all the baby sitting, all the time. But I'm sure they will do it if they need to. Try to see where they're coming from. They expected YOU to be a Sophomore in high school right now, not having a baby! I think my advice would be to 1) try Try TRY to get along with your folks. If you can't, try again till you can. There is NO easy way for this to end and plenty of misery and unhappiness out there, if you fight everything and everyone. Please don't do that! Take a deep breath and tell your parents, "I'm sure sorry for being 15, please help me?" I'll bet they will help you out just fine! Good luck to you!