Legalities of traveling with grandchildren

We are traveling with a nephew and had the same question--I liked the format suggested by Dave from San Francisco in this post--you have to scroll down about half way to view it:

Format for notarized letter

Thanks, Sharon. The notarized letter sample looks great.

You should probably also get something that gives you the power to give permission for medical treatment as well since minors can't technically consent to treatment.

Notarization means nothing more than that you have sworn to the notary that you are the person who is signing the document. Be sure to find out from the consulates of the countries to which you will travel, what is needed there. Be VERY sure to get the medical treatment permission mentioned above. Hope you don't need it but get it and enjoy your travels!

These are all good suggestions. My inlaws took our kids to Mexico. We gave them notarized permission slips, notarized permission to get medical treatment, copies of their birth certificates and copies of our passports. It might have been overkill because at the border, they simply asked the kids their names and ages and didn't even look at the documents. I guess their accents identified them as Americans.

Fortunately no medical treatment was needed.

Times are changing and more is being required at the ports of enty all the time. Better to be safe than sorry.

Brad--we had a similar experience with my two-year-old. She went through not with us, but with my parents, who clearly don't look like they'd have a two-year-old of their own. They didn't care a thing about her. Never asked for her passport or a thing about who she was.

On the flip side, a friend of my mother's was driving back to the US from Canada with her adult son not long ago and was questioned about it!

I'm surprised that our government doesn't have a standard legal document for taking kids across borders and returning them safely back to their parents. With all the difficulties involved with divorces and custody (and sometimes kidnapping) the last couple of decades, it seems the government would want a document to verify who's who. I sure can't find it on the web. I do have a year or so to get this taken care of. Thanks everyone for your input.

There is some sort of International Treaty that was signed by most countries about 20 years ago that lays out specific rules for international custody and the transport of children. It was spearheaded by Betty Mahmoody who wrote the bestselling book "Not Without my Daughter". If you recall the Elian Gonzalez incident in Miami 2000, the main reason the US government forcibly took Elian from his relatives in Miami and handed him back to his father in Cuba was because of this treaty. Both the US and Cuba had signed on to it.

Darcy, my wife and I are taking two or our grandchildren on a cruise to Mexico. We needed parent consent forms for each grandchild (which we got from AAA) and, of course, the grandchildren will need passports. Dorsey