Single Parent Leaving US With Children?

Factual Questions
41

In 2007 my wife and I took the 15yo daughter of a friend with us to Brazil. I investigated the US angle on this and at the time there was no rule I could find.
As it turned out, nobody cared a whit about who she was or who we were in relation to her, in US airports.

In contrast, my 15yo nephew, who was on the same trip, is Brazilian and his travel is restricted by Brazilian laws. Whenever we go to Rio with just his mother (my SIL), we need to get a special letter from the consulate in NY giving him permission to travel alone with his mother. And they always check the letter in the airport at Rio before letting us all come home.

On that particular trip, they first scrutinized my nephew’s letter carefully and then looked at our friend’s daughter, asking her “Do you speak Portuguese? You’re Brazilian. Where is your letter?” at which point we had to work hard to convince them she wasn’t Brazilian. To be honest, she looks amazingly Brazilian, but there is no connection whatsoever. Once they understood she was an American citizen only, they simply waved us on without any concern about whose daughter she was.

42

OK, I asked my mom for details about the situation she had. By way of background, the kids in question were foster children who were former students of Mom’s, and who sort of latched onto her as an honorary grandmother. Before the trip (to Niagara Falls), she got a letter from their social worker authorizing her to make emergency medical decisions for the kids. The original plan for the trip was to stay on the US side of the Falls, but they ended up crossing the border anyway. That letter from the social worker ended up being the only way she was able to convince the American border guards to let them back into the US.

This was all pre-9-11, though, so I wouldn’t be surprise if the rules were stricter now.

43

That post wasn’t about kids’ passports.