Taking along a non relative child

[Shooby doo]

Jojo I downloaded a form I found on Google, it included permission in the event of an emergency in relation to hospital treatment. We spent 3 weeks in the states, never an issue, but I was asked for the letter when we landed in Gatwick! So it was ok to "kidnap" her & take her out of the UK just not alright to bring her back!
As far as rooms/beds, the only thing I can think of is that they can't have their own "room" as in suite not a room as part of a bigger one as you have to have an adult assigned to each room- of course there's no room police checking who is sleeping where!
SD

[DonnaD]

Originally Posted by 123

Are you staying in a hotel? A hotel will insist she has a separate room (i.e. she can't share with your son) until they are 18.

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The hotel will only care about the age of the person booking the room. Many won't even allow under 21's to mske a booking. They aren't going to be asking about her age or relationship with others in the group.

However if her boyfriend is over 18 you are correct that there is a potential issue of consent. It is 18 here although there is a "Romeo and Juliette law" for age gaps of less than 4 years. Very unlikely to come up but worth being aware of.

16/17 year olds are definitely considered children here and do not travel to hotels with same age friends without chaperones (school groups) or family etc. Post GCSE trips with friends were a big surprise to me after growing up in the US.

[Jojo]

I've booked all the rooms as if I'm sharing with her, my partner with his son, and my two boys together (oldest is 18) so hopefully it'll be ok. We'll then just switch who sleeps where. Hopefully won't have any issues.

[Chatnoir]

sorry to jump on this thread... but how do the letter work? I mean anyone can write a letter that says they have permission... do you take a copy of the parents passports?

I'm travelling with my Nieces and my mum (nieces grandmother) in August and was wondering if we need a letter?
How do they know we haven't written it...so thought we should take a copy of their mums passport but then they have different surname to their mum! so all very complicated. or am i just over thinking it?
Nieces are 12 and 14 so not toddlers so could confirm they are freely travelling with us...

[motors_d]

You can download one from the internet and they tell you were you insert names etc. we included each parents contact details. My niece was 13 so did confirm she was travelling with us freely but they still wanted to see the letter. As another poster said, if I were kidnapping her then I wouldn’t be bringing her back 😂 but definitely glad we had it. It does also show that you’re authorised to make emergency medical decisions should their parents be uncontactable.

[Shooby doo]

I'm fairly sure that the form I used was just names & contact details, the girl's parents were separated so I made sure both signed it. TBH it was something I never even considered when we invited her but I'm fairly sure it was due to a thread on here that put me on to the form.
SD

[Jojo]

I'm on the case getting her to get a letter and both her separated parents to sign it. I hadn't considered it with her being 16 really

[MamaG]

Does anyone have a template I could use by any chance please? taking my daughters 14 year old friend with us next week. Do I need something signed giving me permission to consent for health care in an emergency?

[shell22]

I have just done insurance gor taking my grandson. They said without a letter of consent from guardian the insurance wouldn't cover him if needed so a letter is essential

[TheBounce]

My DS has his dad's surname not mine (we never married) and we've flown all over the world including the US many times. Never been an issue. All they tend to do is ask the child some questions about their connection to the people they're travelling with and last time we went to WDW they asked me a couple of questions about what I did for a living and how come I could afford to be there if I wasn't working (I had savings). Nothing scary or untoward, just the usual stuff they'd ask at any airport. I took a letter from my ex the first time we went and my son's birth certificate but it's never been needed.