SKOWHEGAN -- The 16-year-old girl in a court emancipation case had lived in six different foster homes in the 19 months before she decided she wanted out of the system.

The girl, and others like her in Maine, wants to be free of her parents, free of state supervision.

In a word -- emancipated.

The process also is referred to as divorcing one's parents.

Court papers first were filed on behalf of the Skowhegan girl in January of this year. The legal notices on the petition for emancipation began appearing in the Morning Sentinel in May.

Under state law, a child can petition the court to free herself from her parents or from state guardianship once she turns 16, can prove that she is sufficiently mature to assume responsibility for her own care and that it is in her best interest to do so.

Her lawyers, which were appointed by the court and named in court documents, have declined to comment on the case.

Dawn DiBlasi, a Waterville lawyer who has worked on child-emancipation cases, says children who petition to free themselves from guardianship often have good reasons to go it on their own.

"I think there's more and more children doing it," DiBlasi said of the emancipation process. "I think there's more and more children either being failed by their parents or being brought up by their grandparents.

"There's a whole generation out there of parents who are struggling with their children, struggling to discipline their children with today's rules."

She said access to computers and multi-media outlets offer children "freedoms" not experienced in previous generations.

Children are growing up more quickly, DiBlasi added, by-passing a part of their youth and heading straight into adulthood.

Suddenly at age 16 and already running much of their own lives, they are ready to be adults and go it alone, she said.

Former Maine Attorney General Andrew Ketterer of Norridgewock, now in private law practice, agreed, saying children, especially girls, are growing up fast and want to be able to live on their own.

Ketterer said he estimates that 75 percent of the emancipation cases in Maine involve female children.

"I think scientifically it's been pretty well proven that young women -- 14, 15, 16, 17 -- are far ahead in terms of emotional maturity than young men are," Ketterer said. "So if you're comparing a 16-year-old female with a 16-year-old male, he wants to know when ESPN is going to be on, she is probably dating someone much older than she is.

"It's emotional maturity issues. Young women, generally in this day and age, are growing up fast and are more likely to look at adult issues. I don't think it rings in that way with young men."

Reasons for a child filing for his or her freedom can be a home life that has become intolerable or, as in the case of the girl is the Skowhegan court, being moved from foster home to foster home with no sturdy life foundation.

In some cases, parents do not want the child living with them anymore and the child is left with few options.

"I have a case where the daughter filed for emancipation because she just could not live within her mother's rules," DiBlasi said. "She'd come from a broken home and she filed for emancipation because she wanted to be able to get a job and live on her own.

"She did get emancipated. Mom did not fight it because she felt her child was able to care for herself."

A summary of Maine's emancipation law states that a child must be 16 or older and living apart from his or her parents or guardians in order to file a petition for emancipation.

The child must go to District Court in the division in which the parent lives and request to be represented in an emancipation case. A formal petition is then filed and can be followed by a process of mediation, in which both parents and child can sit down and discuss the case.

Next, a hearing is set, with the parents or guardians being notified of the date and time.

The child must then convince the judge that he or she has established a place to live and has the ability to access health care and to support herself while continuing her education.

State Department of Health and Human Services officials also can be contacted for continued support of a youth for public assistance or food stamps, even after emancipation.

Often, an assistant attorney general is called in to look at the case as an overseer of the Department of Human Services, Ketterer said.

The judge also can deny the emancipation petition if the criteria for self-support is not met. That denial can be appealed.

Ketterer said denial of a petition can be made when the minor child has not done his or her homework on the legal consequences of an order of emancipation.

"Frequently it's not well thought out by the minor, where they might not be aware as a 15- or 16-year-old of what they are giving up," he said. "If a youngster comes to see me I generally ask him to think it through because sometimes they're upset emotionally about one bad decision a parent made."

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534 ext. 342

dharlow@centralmaine.com