I have talked about the faith-based program for troubled teens that my sister is in in Minneapolis. Apparently, a girl who has not been there long said she was going to run away. My sister threatened to tell on her. The girl threatened to tell on my sister for having a picture of her boyfriend which she is not supposed to have. I'm not sure what all transpired, but my sister slapped the girl. They had supposedly worked everything out. Then her (adoptive) mom gets a call Sunday night at midnight that she'd run off with two other girls, including the one she slapped.

I'm not sure what to think. Why would she do this when she was so close to finishing the program? The letters her mom and I have received have been upbeat. It's cold there, and she doesn't know her way around. I'm not sure what these other girls have been in trouble for, but I think they know people there. Her mom filed a missing persons report, and her dad and stepfather are thinking of flying up there tomorrow. They're not sure if there's anything they can do, though. I'm just not sure how worried I should be. I hope they're somewhere safe and warm. I also hope she doesn't end up somewhere she doesn't want to be.

She was going to 'graduate' from that program in March or April. When I saw her in December, we went through a box of our mother's things that I've kept. She has made comments to her mom about our mother's behavior, as in maybe that's why she's like she is (getting into trouble). Her mom had said recently that she hoped she didn't use that as an excuse. Her mom thinks she'll call me because she won't be too keen on calling her or her dad. What do I say if she does?

I just met her in November. Her mom says I haven't seen this side of her. I'm to call her mom if I do hear from her, so I'll pass any info to her and let her call her contacts. I'm sure it's hard for her to deal with from out of state.

I don't think the fact that our mother was in trouble a lot, and that I ran off and got married at 17 helps matters. Except I always made good grades and graduated on time, my dad knew what I was doing and where I was going when I left home on my 17th birthday, and I was never sent to jeebus boot camp.