Why didn't Joyce take Faith in?

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Joshua

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Faith was a homeless teenager but also a Slayer, so why didn't Joyce let Faith live with her and Buffy?

I never understood why any of the Scoobies or Joyce didn't Faith live with them. I mean if Joyce invited Faith for Christmas why not just let her her live with them.

Also how was Faith able to go to Sunnydale high? She had no relevant family members to sign the paper work.
 
Lots of reason to be honest. Lack of money or support. Not having the proper tools to deal with Faith. Expecting someone else to do the job (aka, the council should have taken care of this). Not being ready to raise someone else. Not wanting to raise someone else.

Those are all valid reasons. Honestly, it wasn't Joyce's job to offer Faith a home. Would it have been a nice thing to do? Yes, absolutely, but Joyce was under no obligation to do so. If anything, as a watcher, Giles should have been the one looking after Faith's safety.

As for the highschool thing, do we know how old Faith is? In s3, the characters are 17-18, it is possible that she was 18 and could sign her own papers.
 
Most likely, while Joyce was happy to have Faith in Sunnydale so that she could take some of the load off of Buffy's shoulders, she also wanted to try and separate Buffy, at least as much as possible, from the Slaying in general. Having Faith live with them would only serve to keep all that business close at hand.

Faith never attended classes ay Sunnydale High, she just met with Buffy and the others there to plan strategies.

And I've always assumed that Giles gave Faith an allowance for living expenses while he was working as her Watcher, though I must say, if that really was the case, he should have taken more responsibility in seeing that she had proper quarters. The place that she was living seemed to be barely more than a dump.
 
Well, it's not Joyce's responsibility to take care of Faith. Although I think her comment in 'Amends' where she says she doesn't want Faith to spend Christmas eve in a dingy motel, was odd because if she's that concerned they maybe she should take it upon herself to try to help Faith out a little bit more. Joyce just seems like the type that would want to help, but ultimately it was not her responsibility or perhaps she thought that Giles was taking care of Faith. I do think that Giles should have taken more responsibility, but I guess for him he was only concerned about Buffy. I'm curious if the Watcher's Council was paying for her motel room, food and clothes.
 
Basically ignorance of Faith's situation.

Joyce was seperate from a lot of Buffy's slayer life even in S3- did anybody fill her in on Faith's lack of family/support structure and the fact that she's staying in the Hellmouth permenantly?

Add to that Joyce's ignorance of Watcher/Slayer relations (i.e are they an employer, responsible adult who looks after them, do they pay them.), not wanting to 'intrude' into Buffy's other life (which she thought of as Giles' responsibility- see 'Band Candy') and the fact that she's only just getting used the fact that Buffy is the slayer I can understand Joyce's reluctance to interfere.

Also I think @white avenger is right, Joyce ultimately saw Faith as a way for Buffy to get out of the slaying life (hell, even Buffy thought that for a while- see 'Lover's Walk') so she'd want to keep them seperated.
I'm sure that last thought was almost subconscious on her part, and if Joyce had known the full extent of Faith's situation then she might've been more forthcoming with help/support.
 
Not only is it not Joyce's job nor is she expected to take Faith in just because she happens to be a mother, you're talking here like Faith WANTED someone to take her in or she HAD to be taken in.

We have no idea how old Faith is, but it's been a long held belief by myself and others that Faith is actually older than Buffy, which means she would be, at the very least, 18 years old in S3. If that's the case, then there is no legal standing for Faith needing to be living with an adult. This also means that Faith, as stubborn as she is, would be able to use this as an excuse to live by herself. She's 18, they can't actually force her to live with Joyce, Giles or anyone else, Slayer or not. There's no obligation for anyone to take Faith in or for Faith to want to live with anyone.

Would it have been nice for Faith to move in with Joyce or Giles? Yes, probably, but it's not anyone's responsibility.
 
I always thought that Faith was one or two years younger than Buffy. She was called after that two previous Slayers have died. Faith is definitely younger than Buffy.
 
janas said:
I always thought that Faith was one or two years younger than Buffy. She was called after that two previous Slayers have died. Faith is definitely younger than Buffy.
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Faith would have had to be at least 18 in Season 3 in order to rent the room that she lived in before Wilkins set her up with a better place, which would have put her fairly close to Buffy's age at that time. Or maybe not, if she had a false ID. Still, with no confirmation one way or the other as far as I know, I've always just assumed that Faith was 6 or 8 months younger than Buffy.
 
janas said:
I always thought that Faith was one or two years younger than Buffy. She was called after that two previous Slayers have died. Faith is definitely younger than Buffy.
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Kennedy was 19 and a potential. It's definitely possible that Faith was older than Buffy. Either way, it's hard to tell.
 
white avenger said:
I've always just assumed that Faith was 6 or 8 months younger than Buffy.
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This is what I assumed. She didn't go through the cruciamentum at any time in S3 and we know that the older you are the less likely you will get chosen. Faith just seems older cause she so sexualized, which doesn't feel like a 17 year old. Plus it's Sunnydale and the motel is in the bad part of town maybe they didn't check ID, or she had a fake one, which seems like something she would have so she could party where ever. But yea I think Faith stays in the motel because she likes not having rules. Deep down I think Faith wants someone to take care of her, like the Mayor does, but she just doesn't trust anyone and is not willing to open up.

Blaze said:
Kennedy was 19 and a potential. It's definitely possible that Faith was older than Buffy. Either way, it's hard to tell.
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Yea but Kennedy says she is probably too old to be called. We don't don't the age cutoff for being a potential.
 
Fuffy Baith said:
Yea but Kennedy says she is probably too old to be called. We don't don't the age cutoff for being a potential.
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I always took it as something that Kennedy said but didn't really know. Since there's so many potential, I don't know if they just choose randomly and every one has equal odds, or if there is a definite choice which has an expiry date. Not sure what the cutoff is but Nikki was a slayer and definitely on the older side.

Agreed about the motel though. Especially in a small town, sometimes people don't really require valid ID or anything. Last year I rented a house with a 17 yo (that wasn't emancipated or anything), our landlord was a cop, but he didn't give a crap as long as he had his money.
 
I don't know if what is written here is reliable, but on buffy wikia there are the dates of birth of both.
Faith was born December 14, 1980 in South Boston, Massachusetts.
Buffy was born January 19, 1981 in Los Angeles.

So, Faith is one month old more than Buffy
... although, in "I robot, you Jane" Buffy's date of birth is October 24, 1980.
 
janas said:
I don't know what is written here is reliable, but on buffy wikia there are the dates of birth of both.
Faith was born December 14, 1980 in South Boston, Massachusetts.
Buffy was born January 19, 1981 in Los Angeles.

So, Faith is one month old more than Buffy
... although, in "I robot, you Jane" Buffy's date of birth is October 24, 1980.
Click to expand...

Interesting, I don't really trust this. But I do know that in canon they changed Buffy's birthday at some point. Joss commented on it, but I can't seem to find the article/interview.
 
Blaze said:
Interesting, I don't really trust this. But I do know that in canon they changed Buffy's birthday at some point. Joss commented on it, but I can't seem to find the article/interview.
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Interesting. I didn't know that Joss changed Buffy's birthday. Actually, "Surprise" was aired January 19, 1998.
 
Blaze said:
I always took it as something that Kennedy said but didn't really know. Since there's so many potential, I don't know if they just choose randomly and every one has equal odds, or if there is a definite choice which has an expiry date. Not sure what the cutoff is but Nikki was a slayer and definitely on the older side.
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Well it makes sense, since the Watcher's Council want younger slayers that they can control. Nikki Wood could have had Robin at like 16 and was called like a year later, and was good enough to last for a few years as a slayer.

janas said:
I don't know if what is written here is reliable, but on buffy wikia there are the dates of birth of both.
Faith was born December 14, 1980 in South Boston, Massachusetts.
Buffy was born January 19, 1981 in Los Angeles.

So, Faith is one month old more than Buffy
... although, in "I robot, you Jane" Buffy's date of birth is October 24, 1980.
Click to expand...
This is plausible. Whether Faith is older or younger I don't think it's by more than a few months either way. And yea they changed Buffy's birthday a few times until the date they settled on in the 'The Gift' on her gravestone.
 
janas
janas
The Gift. That's right!!
Faith's birthday comes from 'Go Ask Malice' (which is non-canon but it's the only info on Faith's birthday that we have) and she's meant to be the same age as Buffy give or take a few months.
It's also confimed in the RPG which is canon to a certain extent.

I'm certain I read in an interview somewhere that both Kendra and Faith was meant to be the same as Buffy at those respective times to better illustrate the differences between the slayers.
Kendra has been kept controlled by the Watcher's Council her whole life and Faith has had pretty much no guiding influence (apart from her watcher) her whole life- they both represent 'paths not taken' to contrast with Buffy and why she is the 'right' balance of slayer/normal.

About slayer age it's confirmed in Season 9 that Nikki Woods had Robin when she was already a slayer so she could've been any age when called, but I get the impression that Buffy (at 15) was quite young to be called and that 19 is too old.
 
Yeah I really don't think it was Joyce's responsibility and really, did they even know each other that well? Inviting someone to your house for Christmas is one thing, asking if they want to live with you is quite another.
I'd look more to Giles or the Watchers Council generally to provide Faith with some basic support, as Fuffy Baith said, perhaps that's how she was able to stay in that motel and have basic necessities.
 
Same,when I first watched the faith,hope and trick episode I though Faith was about 15 and was really unnerved that nobody seemed to mind about her living alone in a motel room.
 
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