Permission slips

[Wëlënakwsu 57]

Always required one for any outside of CO activity. Primarily to make sure parent/guardian knew where the boy was and to be sure we had their urrent phone number.  (For some phone number seemed to change a lot!)

 

Knew they were worthless regarding liability if there was negligence.  Never sure if it was needed at an emergency room.

[perdidochas 658]

ROFL, I asked the same question and got the same answer. When you ask a lawyer they tell you permissions slips are useless. A few years back we went over to the BSA consent form. We collect them electronically from the parents/guardians and keep them on file (secure Google drive). The Scouting blog answered this question here. We make sure there is an (electronic) page that describes all activities and that the parents understand that 1) the events have at least some inherent dangers (e.g. camping usually means seeing snakes, raccoons, etc.) and 2) that their Scout will not be under supervision 100% of the times (e.g., boys need to use good judgement and not go unapproved night time rock climbing).

 

Hope that helps.

 

[@@qwazse beat me to the punch]

 

IMHO, permission slips are useful.  Not that they actually mean anything, but I can't imagine facing a lawsuit WITHOUT a permission slip from the parents. 

[Krampus 696]

IMHO, permission slips are useful.  Not that they actually mean anything, but I can't imagine facing a lawsuit WITHOUT a permission slip from the parents. 

 

Totally agree. I can point to it as full disclosure of what the risks were and the parent's consent for the Scout to go. We have a code of conduct on our form that the Scout signs. Violate that and you are culpable.