Dear Shiphrah,
Welcome to the Parents Forum. I can see that your daughter, aged 13, has run away a few times to your mother’s home. Your mother instead of letting you know where your daughter was had lied to you and you have had to involve the police.
It doesn’t sound like the police were worried about your daughter’s safety and so no referral has been made to children services.
Sometimes when children run away from home as well as their behaviour changing at school can be worrying signs.
In case there is something worrying, I suggest that you communicate with the school to ensure that you know how she is and whether the school can offer any support. Maybe a mentor or counsellor could speak to her at school about what’s happening.
You could ask for an assessment or seek early help via children services. Here is
information about early help.
You ask about what you can do legally if she runs away to grandmothers again.
You do not need to get a court order as you already have “parental responsibility” for your daughter and grandmother does not. Here is
information about parental responsibility .
But given your daughters age, she is 13, means that your legal rights and responsibilities (parental responsibility) towards your daughter will be slowly diminishing as she grows toward being an adult. At 13, she may be competent to make a lot of her own decisions including staying at her grandmother’s home and you may not be able to stop her.
It can be difficult for parents to adjust to these changes so you could contact
Family Lives who offer very good advice. Have a look at Family Lives- Got a Teenager. Or you could speak to an adviser by telephone.
I hope this helps but please post again if you have any questions or call our advice line on 0808 801 0366.
Best wishes,
Suzie