Teen Who Sued Parents for Support Returns Home

The New Jersey teenager who sued to get her parents to support her after she moved out of their home reunited with them Tuesday night, and the family is now asking for privacy.

Rachel Canning’s return does not involve any financial or other considerations, the lawyer for the 18-year-old’s parents said Wednesday. Angelo Sarno said that the dispute had been settled “amicably,” but refused to comment further on the litigation.

“This is a matter that should have been brought in some counselor’s office, not into a courtroom,” Sarno said. “There’s a long road ahead, this is not something that’s going to happen overnight. The point of this process? The healing needs to begin.”

A judge last week had denied the teen’s request for child support and to have her parents pay her remaining high school tuition. But the judge scheduled an April court date to consider the over-arching question of whether the Cannings are obligated to financially support their adult daughter.

State Superior Court Judge Peter Bogaard sounded skeptical of some of the claims in the lawsuit, saying it could lead to teens “thumbing their noses” at their parents, leaving home and then asking for financial support.

Canning had left her parents’ house on Oct. 30, two days before she turned 18 after a tumultuous stretch during which her parents separated and reconciled and the former honors student began getting into uncharacteristic trouble at school.

Canning’s parents, retired Lincoln Park police Chief Sean Canning and his wife, Elizabeth, said their daughter voluntarily left home because she didn’t want to abide by household rules, such as being respectful, keeping a curfew, doing a few chores and ending a relationship with a friend her parents say is a bad influence. They say that shortly before she turned 18, she told her parents that she would be an adult and could do whatever she wanted.

This article appeared in print on page 5 of the March 13th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.