Consent for Activities (parent and child)
The brief guidance below gives you the basic details for when and in what circumstances parental and child consent is required for a child's involvement in activities. Once you have familiarised yourself with this guidance, you can download the relevant forms here:
Parent or carer consent is needed for any activity for their children at which they are not present. Often this will be implicit, for example through attendance at Sunday School or a youth club. Implicit consent will suffice for regular group activities. Written parental consent forms must be obtained for activities off the premises. These must include contact details of the parent or carer, details of any special needs of the child, and permission as necessary for taking photographs, videos and other images. (Please note that in additional to parental consent for photographs etc, children over the age of must give their own consent before taking or using images of them). Model parental consent forms for activities and trips, transport and photographs are available by following these links and are also included in the Appendices.
Consent by children and young people. It is good practice to obtain agreement from children and young people to any activity in which they are involved, though again this is often implicit in their attendance. If a young person is of sufficient age and understanding in relation to the specific issue they are being asked about, they can give their own agreement independently of their parents. So, for example, while parental consent is always required for a group residential holiday, an older teenager would usually be able to consent to the photos from the holiday being displayed in church. You should record who has given consent for any specific activity