Minors, Children and Youth
Registering Young Shoalers
Minor Medical Release Form
Any person under 18 years of age who is attending a conference without a parent or legal guardian must have an official conference sponsor (that is, an adult who takes responsibility for the minor while on the island) and must submit a Minor Medical Release Form. In the unlikely event of a major accident, a copy of this permission form must accompany the minor patient for treatment at a mainland medical facility. The Minor Medical Release Form also authorizes our island medical staff to treat routine and non-critical medical conditions on island.
The Island Registrar will collect and manage all Minor Medical Release Forms during the enrollment period. It will be noted in Raiser’s Edge that the form was received. Conference Registrars may need to contact conferees to have a forms submitted after reviewing registration information.
Best Practice: If you are unsure a child if the adult a child is attending with is the parent or legal guardian, contact them via email to verify.
Remember:
In the event that a minor arrives on island without having submitted medical release form:
- We will allow up to 24 hours for conference officials to contact his or her parent or legal guardian and obtain the completed form.
- If we are unable to obtain the medical release from the parents or legal guardian, we will ask the minor to leave the island, accompanied by his or her adult sponsor or conference representative.
Children 8 and Under
Families with children eight years and younger should be housed together, usually on the 2nd floor of the Oceanic Hotel. Until September, the island staff provides hall monitors every evening from 8 to 11 p.m. All families with one or more children eight and under are charged for hall monitoring: the cost is $70 per family ($35 for Pel Reunion, Sar Gathering Family Weekend, and the 4-day YAC Conference) and is automatically added to your room and board bill.
Family conferences should have door tags for children under eight years of age. They are placed on the door of each room with a child under age eight for hall monitoring and are vital to responders in case of an emergency. These tags are required. If the tags could be hung on the door knobs, as opposed to using tacks or tape, that would be preferable.
Junior Teens And Children
For family conferences, junior high (ages 11-13) and younger children are usually housed with or next to parents. Encourage families with one to three children, or two children of different sex and age discrepancy, to give roommate preference. Except for teen-youth conferences, we will not pair off children without family consent. During adult conferences, children and teens may have to share a parent’s room.
Senior Teens
Senior high teens (14 and older) are typically grouped together (usually in Gosport) in rooms. Conferences are required to assign one or more adult persons to act as a monitor in these senior teen areas. The monitor(s) keep an eye on the teens to prevent excessive noise, property damage and other undesired behaviors. We require at least one monitor for every 10 youths and at least one on each teen wing or floor.