Last Monday, police issued a call for help and the pair were located at a Te Kaha address on Thursday morning.
LA's father Chris Tukerangi said the first thing the family did when LA came home three days ago was "lots of hugs and kisses".
"We seriously haven't asked any questions, and that is the honest truth. When your daughter has gone through some hard times you would be silly to say, 'what did you do, what went wrong' and what not.
"There was anger at the time and I reckon that was natural for a father. You just want to protect your kids at all costs but obviously you don't want to do anything silly. We're definitely grateful as to how things turned out, it could've been a different situation."
Her mother Marie agreed: "We don't have all the answers ... because we don't want to ask our daughter. It's really sensitive."
Mr Tukerangi said the family initially acted because of the messages mentioning kidnapping.
He did not say whether the family still believed that to be the case.
LA looked traumatised when she first saw her family but was "smiling more every day", he said.
"The thing that just sticks with me was when we first saw our daughter, just the look on her face. The look said 1000 words."
LA has been taken in by the Whanau Ora programme, run out of the marae.
Manukau Urban Maori Authority chief executive Willie Jackson said she will be working with social workers.
Mr Jackson said it was about providing holistic support for the family.
"We hope to get [LA] on the right track," he said.
"The whanau have been traumatised by this whole thing."
Social workers have not yet met LA, who was released from police care three days ago.
