Mnor traveling with non-parent

I am not a lawyer, however, when I took my children to Europe w. out their dad, I had a signed, notarized letter of permission from him to take them out of country. If you Google it, there are plenty of examples to copy.

Besides the parents' permission letter you need to give a medical permission to the mother for your daughter. Basically you are granting temporary guardianship/.

But to be clear, web forums are not the place to seek such critical legal advice...

Julie, Here is the link to the forms I use when I travel with my nephews and niece.

http://www.familytravelforum.com/how/advice/10545-Required-Documents-For-Travel-With-Minors.html?p=4

They are all I have ever needed and no one has even asked to see them.

Julie,, my husband and I are NOT divorced,, but when one of us travels without the other one, and has one of our kids along,, we get( used to anyways) properly notarized permission letters. Its not exspensive and it gives peace of mind.

In your case I would go to lawyer and ask for letter to allow them to make emergency medical decisions. I would not worry as much about the permission to travel without parent one ,, as at 15 the border guards can tell she is not being kidnapped. We took those type of letters when kids were younger, but once they were 14 or so we stopped.

This trip will be great for daughter, the ability to travel without her parents, yet still supervised and safe, a great opportunity.

Along the same lines: a widowed friend of mine was advised to always have certified copies of her kids' birth certificates and the deceased parent's death certificate when crossing international borders.

Even though 15 may seem too old to be "kidnapped," there is an international convention on abducted minors that justifies border officials denying entry to minors they suspect may be being brought into the country without the permission of the lawful custodial parent or parents. Given the increasing concern about the international trafficking of teenaged girls into prostitution, I presume that these laws may be brought to bear even for older minors.

Again - While we are all enthusiastic travelers, none of us are qualified to give you legal advice!

Your question is serious and you need to be sure you have sound legal guidance. Think of the anguish her friend's mother will experience if things go wrong.

I second Doug on this. However well-informed and well meant the advice from posters here, in such a situation I would never take it as gospel.

Doug is right...the law is specific as to what to do. Listening to people's opinions on what they would do, is dangerous. She's a minor and the local law will always win out over what she "says."

Contact the Ukranian Embassy in Washington or the Ukranian Consulate in New York to find out what their rules are. That's your big concern.

Assuming your daughter is a U.S. citizen, she shouldn't have any problems getting back into the U.S. but you might want to check with the U.S. State Department anyway.

I took a group of teens to Europe. We had a notorized permission slip that basically said "My child, X, has my permission to travel to XYZ with Ms. Carol"

It also had a statement that said we were authorized to "authorize" medical treatement etc.

We were never asked for it at any border, but.... sure as we hadn't had it one of them would have broken a leg when we went parasailing in the Alps!

I DID not mean not to bother consulting a lawyer,, DID I say that??

Get a grip and try not to sound so stuck up .

Directed at????