Travelling with someone else’s kids this year? Good news: The Canadian government travel site, Travel.gc.ca, has updated the child travel consent form you need to prove parental consent.
Travel.gc.ca has made it easy to fill out the child travel consent form: fill in their form, download the pdf, or create your own with their template. You can use Travel.gc’s interactive form to create a letter, or download a sample consent letter in Adobe or Word format. Choose the format that works for you.
Who needs a parental travel consent form?
If you’re travelling outside of Canada with children who aren’t yours, you should carry the form. If you’re a teacher, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or even an older sibling, it’s best to have a parental travel consent form on hand. This is especially important abroad in countries where red tape is the norm, or where officials might not understand the relationship you have with the child.
Officials in France, for example, are notorious sticklers for such paperwork, and might even expect to see it translated into French! One particularly complicated visit to the Louvre with a group of high school students comes to mind…they wouldn’t let the group in, even with a reservation, until the teachers provided paperwork to prove the parents authorized the trip!
More tips for prepping a trip with any child
We really like Travel.gc’s Travelling with children FAQs. Here are some of the tips we found most useful, and how we’d use them:
- Have the child carry a card with her own ID information in case you get separated: print her full name, birthday, your name, the hotel address or other pertinent contact information on a fun card, and tape it inside her backpack.
- Carry a recent photograph of the child: before you leave your hotel, why not take a quick snapshot of your travel companion? That way you’ll know exactly what she was wearing.
Here’s one of our own tips: travel medical insurance for Canadians is a must, no matter how big or small the traveller! Make sure both you and your travel buddies are covered for unexpected misadventures, be it in another province within Canada, or abroad.
For more information about the best destinations or how to travel with kids, read these!
Travelling with Grandchildren: 3 Things to Remember
4 European Cities Kids Will Love
Is My Passport Valid for Travel?
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