Are They Emancipated? Family Law/ Legal Advice

Location: California

TLDR: My friend F (17) recently found out no one has custody or guardianship of them, after her mother died in 2021 and her father was deported when she was a young, are they free to leave the house they are forced stay at?

I'm writing this because my friend doesn't understand reddit and we just learned over the weekend no one has custody.

My friend's dad was deported when she was young, and when she was 8 years old, her mother and her moved in with aunt, the mother's sister.

At 12 years old, 2021, her mother went to Lass Vegas and passed away.

She has been living with the aunt ever since, however no one ever got custody or guardianship. For two years the schools were calling her deceased mother and the phone continued to go to voicemail. It wasn't till she switched high schools that the school district was informed she passed away, and since it had already been two years they never verified guardianship and transferred the paperwork to my friend's aunt.

Ever since then she has been locked inside, taking care of the aunt's 4-year-old daughter all day all night, and cleaning the house. Complete Cinderella situation. They don't want her to continue to college, as she's going to be 17 when she starts. They want her to get a job and pay half the bills as everyone in that house either works minimum wage or is on disability and pitches in together.

Fast forward to this weekend, I was attempting to enroll her in the junior college in my town, when we realized no one has guardianship. We only found this out by prying the information out of the aunt under the guise of her getting in legal trouble if they lied. For reference the aunt has been saying she has had legal guardianship.

However now that she knows no one has guardianship, could she technically just leave? and then they would have to petition for custody. If this is true, she would leave right after graduation in May to give them even less leverage and stop them from blocking college. Any advice is helpful.