help me please

KiaraA

I'm 18 years old and I live in Dublin. My parents have threatened to kick me out as soon as I've done my leaving cert. I have no money and no relatives living here to help me. What do I do?

JDD

Not sure of what your situation is, but if it's likely you won't have somewhere to live by July you need to take some steps now:

Get a part time job and save the money as a deposit and first months rent on bedroom in a shared house/apartment. That won't be easy while you're doing your leaving cert but you can save now while you don't have to pay rent. It's going to be difficult to find somewhere that will take someone with no renting history so you'll have to be willing to accept accommodation that might be some way outside the city.

As soon as your leaving cert is done sign up to temp recruitment agencies. You'll be able to secure an office administrative job fairly quickly I'd imagine. Given rent prices you are probably going to have to live on the outskirts and commute in every day, and its not likely you'll have much money left over for yourself, so you'll have to get used to feeding and clothing yourself on a strict budget.

As for university, you can present yourself as estranged from your parents and secure a Susi grant in your own right. It's difficult to prove estrangement though and in the absence of garda reports or court orders you might need to present yourself to the HSE (I'm not sure how you'd do this) and set out your situation, proving your paying your own rent. Grants are notoriously slow to be paid during the academic year, and without a stock of savings or anyone to lend you money, it might be difficult to survive on that. I would defer any college placement for a year until you sort yourself out.

This is all assuming, of course, that you can't mend your relationship with your parents.