Travel consent letters for children of separated parents

France: authorisation only when neither parent travels

France reinstated a border-control measure that took effect on 15 January 2017: a minor leaving the country without being accompanied by either parent, on a school trip, with grandparents, or alone, must carry a signed "autorisation de sortie du territoire" (AST) together with a legible photocopy of the ID of the parent who signed it. The rule applies regardless of the parents' relationship status. It does not apply when a child travels with either parent, including a parent whose former partner disagrees with the trip in principle.

For a parent genuinely concerned that a former partner will take the child abroad and not return, French law offers a separate route. An "opposition à la sortie du territoire" can be filed at short notice with a prefecture, or with a local police or gendarmerie station outside office hours, when there is an imminent risk. It registers the child in the Schengen Information System and blocks departure for up to 15 days, after which a family court can issue a longer "interdiction de sortie du territoire" requiring both parents' agreement for any future trip abroad, lasting until the court decides otherwise or the child turns 18.

Why the words for shared care change at every border

England and Wales: the rule lives inside custody law

In England and Wales, taking a child abroad is governed by section 13 of the Children Act 1989 rather than by a standalone travel rule. A parent named in a child arrangements order as the person the child lives with may take the child abroad for a period of less than one month without the other parent's consent, unless the order itself says otherwise. Beyond that period, or where no such order exists, the written consent of everyone who holds parental responsibility for the child is a legal condition of the trip.

Travelling without that consent, or without a court's permission, can amount to an offence under section 1 of the Child Abduction Act 1984. In practice, most separated parents carry a written letter regardless of whether the under-one-month exception technically applies, since airlines, ferry operators, and the destination country's own border staff routinely ask for one and have no way of checking a child arrangements order at a check-in desk.

Germany: a recommendation, not a legal requirement

Germany's foreign ministry, the Auswärtiges Amt, takes a different approach again. It recommends that a child travelling abroad without both parents, whether alone or with only one of them, carry an informal "Einverständniserklärung", a written declaration of consent from the parent or parents not present, along with a photocopy of that parent's identity document. No notarised signature is required for Germany's own advice.

The letter is not a legal requirement the way the AST is in France. Its purpose is to make a border officer's job easier and reduce the chance of a child being stopped on suspicion of abduction. Requirements at the actual destination can differ, and the Auswärtiges Amt itself advises checking that country's specific rules and, where the destination does not use German, having the declaration translated.

What a consent letter should include

None of the three approaches above defines a single template, and no EU-wide standard form exists. In practice, a workable letter names the child and the travelling adult, states the passport or ID numbers of both, gives the exact destination and travel dates, and includes a phone number for the parent who signed it. It is dated and signed by the parent or parents who are not travelling.

Whether it needs notarising or an apostille depends on the destination and, sometimes, the airline, not on the country of departure, so the more reliable check is the embassy or consulate of where the family is going rather than a generic template found online. A letter that was fine for a weekend trip to the Netherlands can be turned away at check-in for a flight to a country with stricter documentation rules.

Keeping the letter ready before travel dates are fixed

The parent asked to sign a consent letter is often the one not travelling, and the request tends to arrive close to departure, once flights are already booked. A signature that has to be tracked down by text message a week before a trip is a common source of avoidable friction, particularly when the two parents are not otherwise in frequent contact.

Coordination tools built for shared care, Lina among them, store documents such as a signed consent letter, a passport photocopy, or a completed AST form in a shared record either parent can find later, rather than in an email thread one of them has since deleted. A template filled in in advance, before a trip is booked rather than the week before departure, needs only a date and a destination added when travel actually comes up.