Oh how I love having parents sign Permission and Release Forms! I wonder if some parents think that I relish the opportunity to get them to re-fill their information (child name, date of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, medical info, emergency contact, and on and on) many times!
Now I am NOT a lawyer, so please do not take what I do as the truth or defensible law. Nor is the Church Law Group your lawyer, so make sure you do your own important homework with these things.
I appreciated the advice and recommendations put forth in the video and in practice have used this same advice and warnings in our ministry setting with children and youth. We regularly and with prudent diligence obtain written permission from parents to transport and care for children and youth offsite. It is not always fun (and I know because we do a lot of offsite activities!), but it is extremely necessary. I’ve actually had to use the forms on a couple of occasions to bring children to the hospital, and they worked.
These are always tricky things to navigate and I wish there were clear-cut solutions, but when dealing with the courts and the legal system, things are far from clear-cut. What I’ve learned is that you do your best and try to safeguard the best you can and then go from there should the need arise.
HT Relevant Children’s Ministry
source YouTube
