Kelly Callahan

My daughter- 14- wants to attend some traditional dance weekends in the greater New England area this year. We're in Maine- some are within a couple hours, one big one- Flurry- is in Saratoga, NY in February. 

She has several friends- most of them older, up to age 20- who also plan to attend. She can get rides, share hotel rooms, etc. with many of them. They pack the hotel rooms to keep the cost down. 

I feel comfortable with the company she'll be in- I know the kids, their families. However, several of these events will have hundreds of people there, and I imagine they will do some workshops/activities together, but not necessarily all. 

Over the last couple of years, she's had increasing autonomy and independence, from hanging out in town all day with friends - with me 30 min. away at home- to flying across country alone to visit grandparents, navigating a stop-over (at her request, to get used to independent air travel), and also 3 week traveling camps where there were nightly home-stays with different families and a lot of independence and responsibility for running the trip. 

I feel good about her maturity, common sense, and the experience she's had to prepare her for these experiences, which are a next step. I know that traveling is a big part of what she wants to do in the coming years, both here in the US and internationally. 

 I'm wondering about some broader issues with underage teens traveling without a legal guardian...like, what if something medical comes up and she needs admittance to a clinic or hospital? What about if theres some legal issue? What am I *not* thinking of that I should be thinking of? I realized I have no idea about any kind of legality or issues with an underage teen being out in the world for an extended amount of time w/o a guardian. I was 18 when I traveled. 

I am contemplating going to the even that is furthest away- in NY and having my own hotel room. I may not see her much, but at least I'm not 8 hours away. Though if something comes up, I'll be there. She's fine with that, though she wants to stay with her friends, which is cool with me. Plus, I think it would be fun to experience this world she's so excited about. 

In any case all the plans made it seem like a good time to get some input and experiences from others who have already been through similar experiences. 

Those of you who have/had teens who traveled at 14, 15.. what all did you think about and prepare for? 

Thanks! 
Kelly

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Sandra Dodd

-=- I'm wondering about some broader issues with underage teens traveling without a legal guardian...like, what if something medical comes up and she needs admittance to a clinic or hospital? What about if theres some legal issue? -=-

It might be different nowadays, with Skype and electronic signatures and such, to deal with a hospital at a distance.

-=-She has several friends- most of them older, up to age 20- who also plan to attend.-=-

I’m not sure if a 20 year old can be a temporary legal guardian in Maine and New York (or one or the other) but it wouldn’t hurt maybe to make the forms out just in case, if it would make you feel better.

https://www.rocketlawyer.com/interview.rl/67083272?id=99

If you look at both states, you can make your own wording to cover either state (as long as what each state says is included). You might need to take it to the bank or somewhere to get it notarized (depends on the state, too, maybe).

All of my kids travelled as teens. Kirby was 13, 14, 15 when he went to an anime convention in Colorado, from New Mexico, with young adults in his anime club. We didn’t do forms.

Other kids went with us to Society for Creative Anachronism events where such forms WERE required if a minor’s parents weren’t there, so I would fill out the forms myself and get the kids to get their parents to sign and notarize. We never needed to use them; there were three times we needed them.

When Holly went to England, and that family was travelling to France from there for a wedding, we sent temporary guardianship papers and permission to travel internationally, specifically with dates (and extra days in case of emergencies) and stated their address, and that our daughter had our permission to travel with that family to France. I found all the forms online, but customized them to the situation, with plenty of detail, and had my husband sign, too, and it was all notarized.

Marty and Holly both flew as minors, but domestically. They both travelled with other families, but I don’t remember sending temporary guardianship papers. Maybe I did when they went to Gail Higgins’ in Florida to travel to North Carolina to a Live and Learn Conference.

Sandra
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Sandra Dodd

The link I sent wasn’t the one I meant to send; sorry.

https://www.rocketlawyer.com/sem/consent-for-medical-treatment-of-a-minor.rl?id=1896&partnerid=103&cid=246769865&adgid=19408159145&loc_int=&loc_phys=9030456&mt=b&ntwk=g&dv=c&adid=212567464458&kw=%2Btemporary%20%2Bguardianship&adpos=1t1&plc=&trgt=&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0ejNBRCYARIsACEBhDNcLD66nA6MifwsIeFtjYP26wppJDWpxoEsaxucY_AXRv3FUqX9ZssaAgSwEALw_wcB#/

Now I don’t know why the link is so long. :-)

But look online (not just for that one site, but look at a couple and make your own form) for temporary guardianship, and consent for medical treatment.

I don’t think there’s any reason not to combine them. And the first link I sent had a place to add the verbiage / clause about medical treatment.

Sandra

Sandra Dodd

Sorry. Those replies took hours to get from my mail to Yahoo, and came in the wrong order an hour apart.

Sometimes the internet is the greatest thing ever. Sometimes. Usually. :-)

If a kid travels, send an insurance card and some sort of ID if you have one. Passport, if he has one. Or a school ID of some sort. When my kids were younger there was a discount to ride city buses if one had a school ID, but we didn’t have one so we got them official state ID’s—like a driver’s license, but no permission to drive. Then they could get the bus pass. Then they hardly rode the bus, but it was still a bit of fun to go to motor vehicles with birth certificates and get IDs.

Maybe not all states will do that. But it’s an idea, anyway.

I’m full of ideas. Sometimes. Usually. :-)

Sandra
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Kelly Callahan



On Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 10:01 PM, Sandra Dodd Sandra@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:
 

Sorry. Those replies took hours to get from my mail to Yahoo, and came in the wrong order an hour apart.

Sometimes the internet is the greatest thing ever. Sometimes. Usually. :-)


Thanks! I was a little confused, but I got it ;) 

We've done the temporary guardianship before/medical release, when my kids have visited grandparents without us, and it was needed when my daughter broke her elbow on a trampoline there.

In the case of the New York dance weekend, she's in a group with no adult 'in charge' though I could ask the 20 yr. old if she was willing, and would happily pay her as well. However, I have decided to go to the weekend myself, inviting a friend who i think would enjoy it and Raelin (my daughter) can do the weekend as she likes with her friends, but I'll at least be there geographically should something go down. 

I'm not going to be with her everytime, however. 

I did a bit of googling, and it's very telling what you find- virtually nothing on teens independent of parents outside of flying- assuming they will go from adult to adult- some stuff from Europe about going to hostels, Eurorail, etc. , and articles like- 
"is your teen ready for independent study abroad?"  Again, always assuming the teen will be simple transferred from one authority to another. 

It makes sense, because that is what happens for the majority of teens...though it does make clear in another way how how society has created this huge division between 17, and 18.