What do you do if your 17 year old in stealing from you?

Question

I live in Missouri and by law I can't throw him out until he is 18.

He has stolen household items, tools, and now he stole my debit card to a checking account I was closing and ran up $300 worth of charges, he has a job and gets paid twice a month and never had money to pay me back for the stuff. I have tried to ground him and punish him but he does care what I say or what his Dad says.

Answer 1

Just because you can't throw him out doesn't mean you can't get the law involved. Besides, if you did throw him out wouldn't he just keep doing this and end up in jail?

You need to correct this behavior now before he's out on his own. Call the police on him and have him set straight! He has serious issues and won't be a successful adult if he keeps this up.  

Answer 2

Call the police and have him arrested, charged, tried and sentenced.  He won't be able to steal from you if he's in jail.  You are enabling his dysfunction by not letting him be responsible for his actions.

Answer 3

You can file charges against him for being un ruley, and yes it might mess up his chances of going to the military but he did that himself. You can have him sent to a juvenile center, that is your son and if he wont give you respect in your house he needs to go. I know here in Ohio my mom did that to my brother, and had him removed from the home. Just like kids can call the cops on parents you can call the cops on him and have him put in a juvie center. Your husband probably needs to put a good foot up his *** to get him to listen, I'm not sure if you whoop him or not but the man needs to put his foot down and let it be known that this type of behavior wont be tolerated, and demand respect for his household

Answer 4

is the woman above me INSANE? what the h**l is her problem yeah he may have done something wrong but there is a REASON as a teen you locking him in the house will jsut make him even more mad your on yahoo asking random strangers how to deal with YOUR son . yes i am questioning your parenting your already planing to throw your child out of your house andhe is supose to be able to cope with that? he may have stolen items and tool and your credit card but maybe its for attention , maybe its for less attention at 17 he is trying to cope with adulthood and he might be confused  jsut look at your question, do you see something wrong? what if you read this and your mother wrote this about you..

Answer 5

Don't buy food for him. In fact, don't buy anything for him! Get a lock on your home phone so it can only be used if you have the password, Take away the tv, the stereo, and anything else he may enjoy. Lock them up in your room. A nice big padlock will do it. Take away everything you possibly can from him. Don't give him lifts anywhere, don't help him out, don't do his washing or cooking or clean up anything he's messed up.

If he wants to be selfish let him take care of himself. If he is earning his own money none of this will hurt him but hopefully it might make him think a bit... Hope it helps, and good luck.

Answer 6

I agree that you need to get the police involved. If he was doing this to any one else, they would have called the cops. Just because you are his parents doesn't mean he has the right to break the law with you.

Answer 7

If his future is ruined, he ruined it himself. The military doesn't want thieves. If he pulls anything like this after he enlists, he'll get a whole lot worse than he would get in a juvenile facility. He would be subject to the military code, which is an entirely different legal system.

Meanwhile you're not doing him any favors by allowing him to walk all over you. You only have two options that I can see. Sue your son in small claims court and get a judgment against him, so that his wages are garnished to pay off his debt, or report him to the police for theft. I think the second option is the only one he'll take seriously.