From: whheydt@pbhya.PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt)
Subject: Re: Unescorted Minors at Events
Reply-To: whheydt@PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt)
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 22:13:10 GMT
Keywords: minors releases

In article <patmcg.719008826@merit.edu> patmcg@home.merit.edu (Pat McGregor) writes:
>whheydt@pbhya.PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt) writes:
>
>>In article <1992Oct12.043544.1059@egf-bbs.uucp> aboz@egf-bbs.uucp (Aboz the Untidy) writes:
>>>At Our last event (the second we've held) a number of people came from an
>>>incipient group about 100 miles away.  The attendees consisted of one adult
>>>and half a dozen or so teen-agers (14 to 17), none of whom had a release
>>>signed by their parents.  
>
>>Welcome to the wonderful world of nightmares....
>
>>>What do you do in a case like that?  Tell them,
>>>Sorry, you drove 2 hours for nothing?  
>
>>That's what your're *supposed* to do.
>
>Excuse me, but where was the "responsible" adult who was the cause 
>of driving these folks to the event? I have several times taken
>teens to events (girls, granted) because I wanted to 
>"foster" them at the event rather than just making them wander around,
>and believe you me I had to swear to their parents I'd be responsible
>for their behavior and safety? Did anyone talk to the adult who
>brought them? *that* gentle should have been responsible for minding
>his charges.

I believe that point was addressed.  I would rephrase you question to:
Why didn't the adult that brought the teens know s/he needed the
Minor's Waiver and Minor's Medical Waivers signed by the parents?
 
I think that's where the failure lies--and why I agreed that making a
point of noting it on the next flyer *might* help.

As it is...  There are at least two major and one minor *adult*
failure in the situation as presented.  The parents didn't provide the
documents (remember that the minors are supposed to *carry* one copy
of the medical authorization with them), the adult that brought them
didn't see to it that the required documents were brought (and at this
point we don't know how much experience the transporting adult had
with the SCA--s/he may not have even *known* about minor's waivers and
minors medical authorizations), and the site personnel let 'em on site
without proper documents.

>We need some way to bring teens into the SCA in a positive way: Forcing
>them to go away until their parents come, they grow up, and/or the
>world ends (;-) ) would have lost the Middle Kingdom some of the finest
>people I know.

They don't have to go away unless tehir parents are around--they just
have to get their parents signatures on those pesky pieces of paper.
The teens are as welcome as their individual behavior makes them.  The
SCA is quite good at rewarding good bahavior on the part of attending
minors, at least in my experience.  We're not terribly good at
chastising bad behavior, though.

>And it would also mean that people in our household couldn't take our
>daughter to events we can't attend. A loss, in my book.

Just send the waivers along and everything is fine.

The whole of the issue goes beyond attendence at events.  At present,
a friend is attempting to get a light fighter authorization set up for
a teen that hangs around his household--along with an adult sibling.
The problem is that the parents aren't at all interested in the
SCA--though the father is willing to sign the relevant forms.  The
difficulty is that (at least locally) the parent that signs the form
is supposed to have a good idea of just what the activity involved
*is*--and since no one has to hand videotapes of light-fighters in
action, the effort is stalled.  

Opening the can of worms a little wider:  What does one do if the teen
wants to participate and the parents are opposed without understanding
what the SCA does?

	--Hal

        Hal Ravn, Province of the Mists, West Kingdom
        Wilson H. Heydt, Jr.,  Albany, CA 94706,  510/524-8321 (home)
-- 
Hal Heydt                    |    "Boycott Time-Warner"
Analyst, Pacific*Bell        |         --J. Danforth Quayle
510-823-5447                 |    "... kill all the lawyers."
whheydt@pbhya.PacBell.COM    |         --William Shakespeare
From: Henry.Best@f120.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Henry Best)
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