Authorisation form for minors template for Word

Authorisation form for minors template for Word

There is a moment when a trip or an outing stops at a counter because one piece of paper is missing. A grandmother takes her grandson to another city and the agent asks who gave permission; the school organises a camp and needs the guardian's written consent; the child arrives at the emergency room with an aunt and nobody can find the father's signature. In all three cases the problem was neither the trip nor the emergency: it was a permission that was discussed over the phone, promised in a message and never written down.

This authorisation form for minors template for Word exists to settle that scene on a single sheet. It takes a few minutes to fill in, it gets signed and it gets filed: a short document stating who authorises, who is authorised, for which activity or trip, on which dates and with which specific powers. It is written for families arranging a trip, for schools and clubs that take minors out of the classroom, and for small businesses that look after children: school transport, daycare centres, sports schools, recreation groups and companies that organise outings with employees' children.

It is worth saying from the start what this is and what it is not. It is an internal-use template, tidy and cautious, that puts in writing a permission the family has already decided to give. It does not replace a decision by an authority, it does not replace a notarial step, and it does not claim to cover the requirements of every country. It is the sensible minimum: writing down the same thing you would say over the phone, with names, identity documents, dates and signatures.

What it is and what it is for

The authorisation is not a permit to travel: it is the record that whoever is responsible for the minor decided the trip or the activity should go ahead, and decided it with concrete information. In practice it is used in these situations:

• When the minor travels with a relative, an acquaintance or a companion who is not the guardian, and someone along the way is going to ask why.
• When the school, the club or the youth group organises an outing, a camp or a competition outside the city.
• When the minor needs emergency medical care and the guardian is not there to authorise it at that moment.
• When someone other than the guardian must collect the minor at the end of school, the workshop or the training session.
• When the transfer happens regularly, for instance school transport, and it should be clear who hands the child over and who receives them.
• When the trip crosses a border and you have to show the reason, the dates and who is travelling with the minor, knowing the authority may ask for additional formalities.

What the template includes

The file carries the complete form, with its eight sections, the signatures and a closing notice. The table below sums up what goes in each part.

Section five deserves a pause, because it is the one that prevents the most arguments. The five powers are marked separately, and each one has its own meaning:

How to use it step by step

1. Download the file and save it under a name you will still understand later: the minor's name and the month of the trip. Always work on a copy, never on the original downloaded file.
2. Replace the name shown in the page footer of the document with the name of whoever issues the authorisation: the family, the school, the club or the company. That footer identifies the form and usually keeps the sample name.
3. Update the control table: write the document code where the code label appears, adjust the version number, enter today's date and note who is responsible for the document.
4. Fill in the minor's details exactly as they appear on the identity document. If the name carries two surnames, both go in; if the date is written with day and month, do not swap them out of habit from another country.
5. Complete the authorising person's details with document, relationship or capacity, and a phone number that really gets answered during the trip.
6. Describe the trip or activity in enough detail for a third person to understand what was authorised: reason, origin, destination, dates, transport and accommodation.
7. Go through the five powers and mark yes or no on each one. Leave no box blank: a blank box reads as doubt, and doubt gets resolved in the most inconvenient way.
8. Sign. The person authorising, a witness and the person receiving the authorisation all sign with name, document and signature. Print two copies: one for whoever accompanies the minor and one for the file.
9. If anything changes before the trip, whether the date, the companion or the destination, make a new authorisation. Correcting a signed document by hand is the easiest way to have nobody accept it.

What to check before signing

• That the person signing really is the one responsible for the minor. A signature given in good faith by someone who is not the guardian settles nothing at a counter.
• That the minor's details match the identity document exactly: full name, number and date of birth. One misspelled surname means doing the whole thing again.
• That the dates are clear and match the real trip. If in your country the order of day and month invites confusion, write the month out in words.
• That the powers are marked one by one, with no crossings out and no amendments that later need explaining.
• That the companion's phone number is there, along with two contacts who answer. An authorisation with no contact is a pretty sheet of paper and nothing more.
• That all three signatures are in place, and that whoever accompanies the minor carries their copy with them rather than in the checked bag.

When it pays to move to a system

The template handles the individual case, and handles it well. The problem shows up when there are many: the school issuing dozens every year, the club that needs to know which authorisations are signed and which are not, or the company that has to find Saturday's permission slip in two minutes. A folder of files with different names turns into a maze, and a lost authorisation is an authorisation that does not exist. At that point it is worth looking at Kardex Tauro, which files these forms by folder and keeps a record of who signed, when and with which document, without changing the way they are filled in. While the volume is one or two sheets a year, the Word template is enough and it is faster.

This template is part of the index of Word templates, which gathers them grouped by family.

Important notice: this is an internal-use template

This template is a general guide for internal use, meant to tidy up a permission the family has already decided to give. It is not legal advice and it does not pretend to be. The rules of each country, and even the practice of each school or transport company, may ask for different formal requirements and different content, and the person who knows them best is an adviser.

If the trip crosses a border, bear in mind that the authority may require formalities of its own, such as legalisation or apostille of the document, or additional requirements about who signs and how the relationship to the minor is proved. Those steps are checked with the adviser before buying the ticket, because they depend on the destination, on who accompanies the minor and on the minor's age. Do not assume that an authorisation signed at home will be enough at the border: check it beforehand.

Three practical tips prevent almost every problem. First, always carry a printed copy as well as the copy on your phone, because in an emergency or at a checkpoint nobody wants to depend on battery life. Second, before signing, check letter by letter that the minor's details match the identity document. And third, only the person responsible for the minor should sign; if there are two guardians, the safest course is for both to sign, or for the one who does not sign to leave a written note that they agree.