Like how he was held hostage at home for years, but it sounds like when he finally got enrolled in school he was able to go to class with kids his own age?

I don't understand this, either. As someone else mentioned, seems unlikely to be true.

To be fair though, I do know of 18-19 year olds personally who have escaped abusive households and supported themselves; that part is not so surprising to me, and while it is rare for someone 16, it's been done before. Given some other questionable elements of the story, though, who knows for this one.