Persons in need of supervision (PINS) is a term frequently used by social services agencies in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 to describe a juvenile who is not currently in the household of a parent or legal guardian

Legal guardian

A legal guardian is a person who has the legal authority to care for the personal and property interests of another person, called a ward. Usually, a person has the status of guardian because the ward is incapable of caring for his or her own interests due to infancy, incapacity, or disability...

, or is currently not under their control as evidenced by the person's status offense

Status offense

Two common definitions of a status offense or status crime are1. A status offense is an action that is prohibited only to a certain class of people, and most often applied to offenses only committed by minors....

http://www.liftonline.org/pdf/PINS%202.pdf, who is not an emancipated minor. The term is often abbreviated PINS. Usually, a person in need of supervision is a runaway

Runaway youth

A runaway is a minor or a person under an arbitrary age, depending upon the local jurisdiction, who has left the home of his or her parent or legal guardian without permission, or has been thrown out by his or her parent and is considered by the local authorities to lack the capacity to live under...

, an orphan

Orphan

An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...

, a truant

TruANT

Truant is Alien Ant Farm's second album. It was released on August 8, 2003 by DreamWorks Records. The producers of the album were Stone Temple Pilots' guitarist and bassist Robert DeLeo and Dean DeLeo....

, or an unruly child.

The term is most commonly used as a term of art in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where the term is used in a key statute

Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...

 governing the treatment of juveniles. Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 also has the term in its statutes. Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

has a similar designation which it calls "child in need of supervision" (CHINS), not to be confused with the broader designation "child in need of services"(also abbreviated "CHINS"), the "services" in which may be disciplinary/supervisory (due to the child's misbehavior) or assistive (due to parental neglect or abuse).