Documentation for travel from US to Europe with grandchild
 

I've seen several on line forms. Any suggestions on which form you have used would be helpful.

You need a letter stating that you have the parents approval to take the child to europe and another stating that you have the right to act for the child in terms of medical care. In additional naturally to the passport and the medical insurance information.

The letters should be signed by both parents and I would have them notarized to be safe.

It also depends on the age of the child - the younger the child the more careful the airline and security people will be.

I will be in the same situation. Thanks for the useful suggestions. Am taking my granddaughter aged 12 to London, Paris and Amsterdam in June. I was wondering if I should have the parents' letter notarized. Probably makes sense to do so. We live in California.

Are there any other tips you have?

That's what I did when I took the grandsons overseas. Just to play it safe I had the parents have their signatures notarized. Of course since we had the documents we didn't need them.....

I wasn't terribly clear....what I did was what nytraveler suggested.

In France there is a special document called the "autorisation de sortie du territoire" for minors. I would be surprised if it did not exist in other countries.

We have chosen a form we found on line and will have it notorized. It lists parents names,address, phone, permission to travel outside of US,grandparents names & P.P.#'s, what countries visited & dates, name & birthdate & birthplace & P.P.# of child. Along with permission for medical decisions.
That should do it.

Where exactly did you find the forms online?

http://www.us-passport-service-guide...sent-form.html

Lots of choices, that's why I asked the question.
After looking at several sites this is the one we chose. We printed out the blank form and then filled it in.

Thank you. Enjoy your trip. I hope it will be as fulfilling as you anticipate.

What we found at UK border is that if the child is old enough, the immigration officer often asks the child who the adults were and whether the child knows them. They also would like to see a letter of authorisation. While elsewhere in Europe the checks aren't so strict, in these days of international child abduction, all countries are supposed to be alert to the danger and take appropriate measure.

"In France there is a special document called the "autorisation de sortie du territoire" for minors."

It doesn't exist any longer (since 2013).

Immigration officers asked our grandkids who we were.

What did they tell them?

From working at an airport we never asked for any paperwork, weird right? If it was an international flight passports were required but never for domestic. I loved when parents/grandparents would have it ready though. So many people have different last names due to mom keeping her maiden name, divorce, remarriage etc. You do say the names and hope for recognition. We were always alerted by leos if there was an abduction in the area and had pictures but I still think it is lacking. I love how some states issue ids for children. I just think it is something all kids should have. I had a big bugaboo about people with no id and they would say they were under 18. We use to see a lot of Russian traffic and knew in our hearts it was sex trade. They would bring them here, take their passports and send them off to work in strip clubs. Unless they asked for help there was nothing you could do. Off the subject but do think stricter laws should be in place but many don't.

My experience, having traveled to the UK and the continent with niece and nephew, is that the continent is pretty "lassiez faire" about it (I never even had to show the paperwork), but the UK grilled both us, the kids and studied the paperwork pretty carefully. I almost didn't even bother on the third trip - the one where we went to the UK and I was sure glad I did! So be prepared.