Lucky you. I assume SS has a passport,

AUTHORIZATION FOR FOREIGN TRAVEL WITH MINOR

To Whom It May Concern:

This letter is in relation to my child, _____________________________________________ [name of child], who is a citizen of the United States of America and a minor born on _________________________ [specify childs date of birth]. My child holds a U.S. passport with the number _________________________.

I do solemnly swear that I have legal custody of my child and that no pending divorce or child custody proceedings involving my child exist. I do hereby grant full authorization and consent for my child to travel outside of the United States with _________________________ [specify name of adult with whom child will travel], who is the _________________________ [specify adultÂs relationship with child] of my child. The purpose of the travel is _________________________ [specify vacation, touring, to visit relatives, to accompany adult on business trip or other reason]. I have approved the following travel plans:

Dates of travel: Destinations/Accommodations:
_________________ ______________________________________
_________________ ______________________________________

I authorize _____________________________________________ [name of adult with whom child will travel] to make any changes whatsoever to the travel plans specified above.

Under penalty of perjury under the laws of the state of ______________________, I attest to the truthfulness, accuracy, and validity of the forgoing statement.

____________________________________ ___________________
Parent 1Âs Signature Date

____________________________________ ___________________
Parent 2Âs Signature Date

Parent #1:

Name: ________________________________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________________________
Home phone: __________________________ Work phone: __________________________
Cell phone: ____________________________ Pager: _______________________________
Email: ________________________________
Additional Contact Information: _____________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Parent #2:
Name: ________________________________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________________________________
Home phone: __________________________ Work phone: __________________________
Cell phone: ____________________________ Pager: _______________________________
Email: ________________________________
Additional Contact Information: _____________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

CERTIFICATE OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF NOTARY PUBLIC

STATE OF __________________
COUNTY OF ________________

Acknowledged before me on ___________________ [date] by __________________________________ [name of principal].

[Notary Seal, if any]:

_______________________________
(Signature of Notarial Officer)

Notary Public for the State of __________________
My commission expires: ______________________

Also make certain notarized authoriztion for medical care and copy of insurance card. Copy of any presciptions.

The airlines usually have a form you can fill out. I always notarized a document for my DD when she was traveling without me, one for outbound, one for inbound. The document basically said:

I, _____________, the mother of ______________, age ____, DOB _______, authorize her to travel on ___________dates to ______________location(s) with ________________ names of responsible parties and their title.

In case of emergency, _________________is/are authorized to make medical decisions. Please contact: (exhaustive list of phone numbers and names in outbound/inbound locations) in case of emergency.

For her, I'd put No known allergies as well, but if your SS has any medical issue I'd make sure it's known.

I would then staple a copy of her birth certificate/photo id to the paper for the notary to seal.

It always gave those responsible for her peace of mind, and me peace of mind too.

Ok, thanks, KKNY and Silver. Where did you get that document for international travel, KKNY? I think we need 2 copies of that one, one for me traveling TO the Carribbean with him and 1 for my cousin/his fiance traveling home with him.

Yes, he has a passport. Thank GOD DH & BM got it last winter, before things got ugly with her. They both had to apply in person TOGETHER at the post office.

I am fortunate in that I am the only one on DD's birth certificate, so when I got her passport, it was easy as pie, since legally I am the only recognized parent.

Just google it, there's tons out there. I'd revise them a bit (I always put flight numbers, dates, times, really too much information on my form) I use one I made up specially for ages. I use it when she's gone for the weekend with family too. And yes, I use a copy of the insurance card as well.

Here's my google search

Be extremely careful with googling. The document I have is from a tour group where we took some of my DDs friends.

One -- some stuff may be domestic travel.

Two -- if not recent, the US now requires everyone to have a passport, even to Mexico or Carribean.

Love, my DD travelled internationally several times a year with different people since she was 10. Any notary will type up a letter for you, it does not have to be a specific form, but anything what kkny suggests sounds OK. As long as names, dates, and destinations are mentioned. actually destinations don't even have to mentioned. I authorised my exMIl to tarvel anywhere between dates such and such and nobody bothered them. I do have old copy somewhere at home, maybe i can find it.

"Two -- if not recent, the US now requires everyone to have a passport, even to Mexico or Carribean"

I know. We have been going to the Carribbean every spring break since I was 4. I believe they changed the laws in 2007 or 2008, requiring EVERYONE to have a passport.

SS DOES have a passport. It doesn't expire until 2015.

Oh my goodness KKNY. I'm a notary, and we'll notarize anything a person wants (within reason and law, of course) and attach our own Acknowledgment form to the document.

That way the legalese is correct and the parent can put what ever they want on the document, and extra papers can be attached, etc. Then they can seal the whole bunch together for a nice legal package.

I made up my own document because I needed extra lines, etc, and I wanted to have it saved in the computer so I didn't have to fill it out every time. My DD travels several times a year, by herself and with various relatives.

here's a form

and here's some information

Of course you can notarize anything -- all you are attesting to is that the person who signed it provided you with identification.

The point is to facilliatate the child traveling OVERSEAS.

Was there anything in the form you provided that mentioned traveling outside the US. A passport number?

funny thing nobody ever asks for those notarized affidavits, we diligently made them yet no one ever asked neither domestically nor internationally.

my ex was asked couple of time to show if she is his daughter during international travel, but never to show if he has custody.

i was never even asked if she is my daughter. we once drove to Canada 4 adults and DD in the car, she was maybe 10, nobody even asked if she is related to anyone in the car, could be anybody taking her anywhere.

have a nice trip, i went to carribean only once last year and it was too hot, summer, but i still loved it!!! i loved the ocean. I grew up by the sea, a really cold one though, so it was like wow, hot water! like taking a bath and very salty. enjoy!!!

lovehadley,

I once traveled back from the Caribbean with DS then 5 and my 1st cousin's son also 5 after a similar family gathering. We were dropping him off in NY for his parents (he traveled down with his aunt/mom's sis and flew back with us) and then we went on to LA.

Cousin got the proper forms, very much like kkny's, from the airline directly, in this case American. She picked it up from one of their sales offices.

As mentioned above, no one asked for the document on either trip, just the passports(we also had copies of the birth certificate, pre-school IDs - loaded for bear This is becase on an earlier trip another cousin did NOT have her kids passports, they left the US ok but couldn't come back. She had to scramble, fly to the counsulate high drama) so now better safe than sorry. Immigration only asked what were the relationships and looked at the passports. I heard the airlines will e-mail the forms to you now if you have purchased tickets. I don't remember them being notarized, not to say they weren't, but is probably a good idea.

"The airlines usually have a form you can fill out. "

And I've never had anyone ask to see a copy. Enjoy your trip!

Yeah, I totally think it is all a better-safe-than-sorry thing. I've traveled plenty with DD, internationally and domestically. When going through customs, not ONCE has anyone asked me where her father is or for me to show a custody order. I have sole custody but no one would ever know that. I could be kidnapping her from her father for all anyone at the airline or immigrations knows! I do always bring along a copy of her birth certificate that shows I am the only parent listed.

So I am sure we will get all this paperwork together and no one will ask to see it---but just in case, it's good to have it.

Exactly Love. I've traveled so much with DD, and with SDD.. It was actually pretty funny last time. SDD was pretty proud of her passport and kept wanting to know why I didn't have one. I explained that I do, but I don't need it for domestic travel, so all I have is my DL. After harping on her passport for hours we got to the ticket counter. I show my ID, ask if they want to see hers. The ticket agent smiles, says, "How old are you? Under 18? Over 2? Is this the person you are supposed to be traveling with? Is this your name? How old are you?" She said yes to all, and then he said they don't check unless there appears to be something amiss. LOL. Here I am with a kid who looks NOTHING like me, we have different last names... etc. I had given him my "minor authorization" form that he barely glanced at. Apparently if you are pro-active enough to pass them tons of paperwork they don't care.

Kinda scary...