17 year old travelling with us!

[scoobydooby]

Bottom line is get a letter from her parents. A letter you probably won’t need but will serve you well ‘just in case’. More critical is the insurance issue. A random broken ankle, kidney stones, insert other almost certainly won’t happen medical issue, that means she needs you to stay longer than planned with her, could be a problem. Now we all know that almost certainly won’t happen. But as someone who one day didn’t have kidney stones and the next day did. Be prepared. Also as the woman who is never ill. Apart from that one time in Orlando I was so poorly it cost us (happily refunded by insurance) 3,7000$. Check your insurance.

[Mallky555]

We are here now and dd 17 bought her friend with her we had a letter of permission off her parents but nobody asked to see it x

[captain-codeye]

I have this at work, you can get married at 16 but or insurance says you can’t hire a canoe or pedalo without a parent with you!

[Enchanted]

I don’t doubt any of the information, I simply said I was surprised
I’ve been travelling to the US regularly for 30yrs now so not a stranger to it

[fudgie]

Originally Posted by Enchanted

I don’t doubt any of the information, I simply said I was surprised
I’ve been travelling to the US regularly for 30yrs now so not a stranger to it

See more...

I'm surprised too. I went to the US with a friend when we were both 17 and I didn't need any kind of letter from my parents. I was working full time and was very independent but that was back in 1980 when you needed a visa to travel to the US so maybe that made a difference?

[Guest]

Thanks everyone!
Wow lots of food for thought there! A few laws I didn't realise were different in US eg Age of consent!
I will definitely take a letter from her parents anyway. She'll be getting her own insurance but I'll need to check mine too.
Good to know that Mallky555 has had no problems though.
Thanks again for all your helpful advice. Hopefully all will go well xx

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by Guest

The issue is the law in the US (which is a different country and has very different laws)

In the US you can't treat a child (their definition is 18) without their parent or guardians permission - the fact they are UK citizens doesn't change that rule

Equally they can't touch alcohol (never mind actually consume it) until they are 21

They also can't do the sort of things you are allowed to do as partners in the UK at 16 until you are 18 in the US

We aren't being prudish or judgemental or sticks in the mud - we are highlighting the legal differences between the two countries

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In many US states the minimum statutory age to marry is 14 or under. Common law (if no minimum State law, many states have no minimum) is 14 for boys, 12 for girls. Over the past 15 years, according to records, 200,000 girls under 15 were married.

The USA can often be a surprising place...

[kylali]

When we took my DS girlfriend we got a group insurance rather than a family one and put her on it aswell. So all covered under same one.

[DisneyWannabe]

We took our DD1 best friend last year age 16. We took a letter from her parents giving us parental responsibility whilst away (attached photocopies of parents passports just in case). We were on an indirect flight through PHL. Thankfully we never needed it.

I also added her to our travel insurance (cost about £20) but it meant that any issues we were guaranteed to be treated as one family not individuals. Again thankfully not needed.