: Where do you start researching something you know nothing about? I have a character with a little back-story I'd like to dribble in here and there as we go. I have something sort of specific

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Not to counter what has already been said by others, but the is a great difference between the letter of the law and the reality of its practice. A 14-yo can live alone in the United States. All it takes is a negligent guardian who enjoys collecting benefit checks, but doesn't follow through with any of their custodial duties to the child. Furthermore, a child might acquire considerable cash assets during the passing of their parents in the form of un-banked "money-in-the-mattress" funds and the benevolence of family friends which would keep them off of the civil radar completely. The sad truth is that our social services departments are so overworked in some regions of the country that in the absence of a complaint or an application for financial aid, a person could go unnoticed by them for a long time.

Additionally, if you change the official ownership of the backwoods home from "her parents" to "unknown", as in an abandoned property, she could be living there with the same cultural anonymity as a homeless person on the streets of any major city. All she would need is a source of ongoing income for food and basic supplies which she could earn by discretely doing chores for her neighbors.

Finally, with another minor change to your story, separating the parents death and the child's birth by a few years, you could give your characters some early teen years on the street, without the child but also without parental guidance. Those years could give her the street wisdom and hardening necessary to portray herself as older than she really is. A 14yo street urchin claiming to be 16 or 17 is much more likely to be believed than a pampered and sheltered child of the same age.

Your original question concerned research and that is a tricky subject when writing fiction. As story tellers, we are professional liars, telling tales of events which never occurred. The biggest question to be applied to any aspect of a telling is not about its factual truth. It is far more important that a story be believable than that it be true. So how do you research the lives of single adolescent parents? You could always find a charity which supports them and volunteer some time. Or you could climb into your creative side, shed the necessary years of confidence and experience, and imagine what it would be like to be one of them. Remember that most of the young women who live the life you are interested in, started with no preparation for what they were getting into. They were just like you were, back some time ago, before you were privileged to walk an easier path.

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