Legal Forms

Changes to Legal Forms – Information, Questions and Answers (from September 2017)

To participate in any CISV international programme, parents and participants aged 16+, as well as adult leaders and staff, need to sign a legal form. These forms have been reviewed to make sure they are in line with our policies and legal requirements. That has meant a few changes and new forms have been released for the late 2017 programme season onwards.

We hope you find this information helpful in adapting to the updated forms.

What are the names of the new forms?

Child Travelling with Leader Legal Form – For child participants in Village, Interchange, Step Up and Youth Meetings for ages 15 and under; all travelling with an adult leader.
Child Travelling Alone Legal Form – For participants and Junior Counsellors under age18 who are permitted to travel without an adult leader.
Adult Legal Form – For participants, staff and leaders aged 18+

What is the main change and what does it mean for you?

The main change is about age. Our Child Protection Policy and Procedures and Behaviour Policy both state that the age of adulthood is 18. Our old legal forms treated 21 as adult (in line with our previous policy). The updated legal forms treat anyone age 18+ on the day of departure for the programme as an adult. As an adult, they can consent on their own and do not require parental consent.

This means that people aged 18+ who would have used the TWAL before, will now be using the Adult Legal Form and do not require parental consent. Sending and hosting NAs need to be aware of this, including programme staff. As you see in the table that you can download below, this mainly affects programmes where the age of participants includes 18 – 20.

The same change has also been made in the Health Form. Parental signature is now only needed for children and youth under 18. In addition 16 and 17 year olds are also asked to sign the Health Form (in the same way that they are asked to sign the legal form).

Download: Table overview of which legal form to use

What other changes have been made from the old forms?

There is a new paragraph in the “Release” section — it addresses additional leisure travel and the fact that this is not part of the programme; it is not CISV’s responsibility in any way and is entirely up to the participants and families to arrange.
An addition to the Note of Explanation at the end to provide more detail on the meaning of the Release.
In the section on the Health Form, the need to disclose all relevant medical information has been highlighted. When people don’t provide key medical information, this can lead to significant difficulties and risks during the programme.
We no longer speak about membership in CISV International because it is the membership in the NA or Chapter that enables people to participate. We have added a line in the table on the first page to state the NA and Chapter membership. So the relevant section now focuses solely on the question of personal data.
The section on swimming has been removed as it is just one of many possible activities. Please note that if swimming is available during a programme, this should be mentioned in the pre-camp information and there must always be appropriate life-guard supervision and assessments of swimming ability.
In the section on Use of Images and Art or Written Work, please note that now, if this material is published, a child’s name (even first name) must not be used without parental consent.

Are old forms still valid?

No. As of the 2018 programme year, the only accepted legal forms are the Child Travelling with Leader Legal Form, the Child Travelling Alone Legal Form, and the Adult Legal Form. Please make sure that all your programme leaders and staff are aware of this change.