If someone ran way from home, would they be tracked down?
The police wouldn’t track you down, even if you were 12 or 13. They might follow up on leads to see if they can locate you, but I don’t consider this to be tracking someone down but more of a case of routine, expected investigation. Other than that, your name and information would be entered into a national database. If, in the course of their duties, law enforcement runs your information against the database and it produces a hit, they would, particularly if the child is a minor, take the runaway into protective custody. An 18-year-old leaving home is a different matter. In most states the age of emancipation is 18, although some states set the age at 19 for those not having a high school diploma. In most states, then, at 18 you are not a runaway, but a missing adult. As noted, the most law enforcement can do in this situation is to ask that you call your family. A policeman may, and he doesn’t have to, take the additional step of notifying your family and tell them that he found you
