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OREM - Utah's emancipation law bought 16-year-old "Kaye" some time and an audience before a juvenile court judge.
But it probably won't buy her freedom from Turn-About Ranch, a Utah boarding school for troubled teens.
On Tuesday, 4th District Juvenile Court Judge Sterling Sainsbury postponed testimony on Kaye's bid to be emancipated from her parents, urging the teen instead to work through family grievances outside the court.
"You both love each other as far as I can see," said Sainsbury, addressing Kaye and her mother, Lori Allen. "I would like to see some counseling, an attempt to mend fences, before we get to trial. That's how we solve things in juvenile court. We try to heal things, not make them worse."
Earlier this month, Kaye - an alias used to protect the teen's identity - petitioned the court for adulthood in a bid to escape confinement at Turn-About in remote Escalante.
The teen argues she's a "good student with no juvenile record" and that her "incarceration" at the ranch will rob her of a year's worth of schooling and her dreams to attend college and become a veterinarian.
Kaye further alleged that Allen and her stepfather Steve Allen "slap her around," bloodying her nose on more than one occasion.
She asked the judge for permission to move to Washington state to live with a maternal aunt and work as a nanny.
Confirming Kaye's version of events are another maternal aunt, uncle and the girl's paternal grandmother.
Kaye's three younger siblings also have become estranged from their mother and have been staying with a neighbor.
Two investigations by Utah's Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS), however, failed to yield evidence of abuse or neglect.
Absent that evidence, Sainsbury said he has no right to intervene in Allen's parenting decisions.
The judge rejected a motion by Kaye's attorney to allow the teen to stay with a relative or foster family while the family seeks counseling.
"The law is on your side," Sainsbury told Allen. But he urged the Saratoga Springs mother to be "the bigger person" and think twice before sending Kaye back to Turn-About.
"Young people go through difficult times, especially when a parent dies," said Sainsbury, referring to Allen's divorce from her late ex-husband, Kaye's father, and his suicide last June. Allen's remarriage also may have been disruptive, suggested Sainsbury.
Allen agreed to work with a therapist to help her family "heal."
But her lawyer Ron Wilkinson said Kaye may return to Turn-About, where she's thriving academically. Allen placed Kaye, her oldest, at the ranch because she says the teen was failing school, depressed and prone to fits of rage.
The 90-day program costs more than $300 a day, and the tuition is nonrefundable, said Wilkinson.
Sainsbury scheduled a follow-up hearing next month. But whether Kaye's petition for emancipation will yield results is uncertain.
Utah's emancipation law, which went into effect last May, was created to aid homeless, runaway and other "throwaway" youth.
The law allows 16- and 17-year-olds to petition a juvenile judge for adulthood. The teens must show they can live independently and manage their own affairs. The process requires that parents be notified and given a chance to respond. If granted, emancipation gives teens limited adult rights to sign leases, enroll in school, borrow money or seek medical care.
Frustrated by Sainsbury's decision, Kaye lamented never getting a chance to voice her complaints.
"This is supposed to be about me, but everyone else is doing the talking and making the decisions," she said.
"I'm starting to think going back to the ranch would be better than going back to my mom."