ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Megan,

One place to start on developing your policies is to check with your state's
guidelines on unaccompanied minors, as well as the policies of other similar
institutions in your area.  Often states do not have a had hard and fast
rule for when children may be left unsupervised but there are usually
guidelines that are helpful to refer to when visitors have questions.

For example in Florida there are recommendations on when a child might be
left at home alone, and certainly a public place should have higher
standards:(http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/programs/childwelfare/caregivers/whent
oleaveyourkidshomealone.shtml)

In Oregon when setting up this policy years ago at Scienceworks Hands-On
museum we used information from the state's recommendations to provide
support for a limit of 14 years and older for unaccompanied minors, and 18
years and older to be considered an accompanying adult. That means a 14 year
with an accompanying 12 year old could not be admitted under this policy.

It is very helpful to have these policies clearly laid out, and perhaps some
references to support them should people have questions.  Good luck!

Chris

Christine Wallace

Catalysis LLC

PO Box 80869

Portland, Oregon 97280 USA

503-200-0442

 

[log in to unmask]

www.catalysisllc.com <http://www.catalysisllc.com/>


From:  Megan Pratt <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To:  Informal Science Education Network
<[log in to unmask]>
Date:  Thu, 9 Jan 2014 12:29:58 -0600
To:  Informal Science Education Network <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:  Re: Unaccompanied minor policy

ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
*

Let me clarify with two examples: One day when we were pretty busy it seems
that a mom did manage to leave her kids in our possession. As the day wound
down, I realized that we had one group that looked like a family, and then
two boys, maybe 12-14 y.o. I asked the staff person, and she had a
recollection of an odd conversation with a mom. About 15 minutes prior to
closing, a woman came bouncing in. Seems she had dropped them off and gone
down the street to get a massage. She was even going to suggest that we
cross market that idea. We had no idea that she had left them alone.

Another example was a kid who was just dropped off, about 13 y.o., without
any money. When the front desk person turned him away, he hung out in front
of our building for half an hour or longer until he was picked up.

We do have camps and classes, where we get emergency contact numbers, etc.
We have teen volunteers who have to provide emergency contact numbers, too.

My two main questions are what is the minimum age someone must be to come
without someone over the age of 18 (or should we allow no unaccompanied
minors)? And, second, if we end up in possession of minors outside of camps
and volunteers, what is a recommended policy for dealing with them,
particularly in an emergency? I know that ultimately these are board of
director policy decisions, but I am hoping some of you have tried-and-true
policies that have worked.

Thanks.
Megan


On Thu, Jan 9, 2014 at 12:08 PM, Erich Rose <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>  Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>  institutions.
> 
>  *****************************************************************************
> 
>  Megan,
> 
>  What age are these "older kids"?  Twelve, younger, older?  This came up at
>  a children's museum I worked for when a parent wanted to leave the kids
>  with the babysitter as chaperon. The kids were under ten and the sitter
>  maybe only 16.  I'm afraid we said no.  The problem with teens is they
>  range all over the map when it comes to responsibility.  You can have a
>  very mature twelve year old and then a sixteen year old total-butt-show.
> 
>  From your web site it looks like you cater to all ages so maybe you can
>  create a great policy for visitors over a certain age. My gut says 16 but
>  that again is an arbitrary number.  18 would of course be the age of
>  adulthood but that doesn't solve your problem.
> 
>  One possibility is to look at this as an opportunity to develop some
>  afternoon/after school teen programs. Possibly an extra fee, but more
>  importantly you run it like a camp with set drop off and pick up times and
>  the paperwork guarantees you have contact info, medical info and a signed
>  agreement from the responsible adult.  Could be a great thing.
> 
>  Erich
> 
>  Erich Rose Design
>  807 The Living End
>  Austin, TX 78746
>  512-626-9930; [log in to unmask]
> 
>  http://www.flickr.com/photos/erichrose/
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  On Jan 9, 2014, at 11:47 AM, Megan Pratt <
>  [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>>  > ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>>  > Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>  institutions.
>>  >
>  *****************************************************************************
>>  >
>>  > The Pensacola MESS Hall is a new museum, and we are slowly working on
>>  > dealing with issues that many of you have probably confronted in the
>  past,
>>  > so I hope you can help. We work to bill ourselves as a "family learning"
>>  > experience, encouraging parents and kids to work together. However, we
>  are
>>  > starting to have parents try to drop their older kids off. While I really
>>  > want my own kids to have freedom to go to things in our town without me
>  as
>>  > they get older, I also am very anxious because of all of the potential
>>  > unknowns that could happen, particularly with kids. (I know from
>>  > experience, for instance, that any kid could suddenly start having
>  seizures
>>  > without anyone having any prior knowledge.)
>>  >
>>  > I was wondering if any of you would be willing to share either you public
>>  > unaccompanied minors policy or your internal procedures for dealing with
>>  > unaccompanied minors, particularly in terms of potential emergencies or
>  if
>>  > the parent doesn't pick up by closing, etc.
>>  >
>>  > Thanks for your help.
>>  >
>>  > Megan
>>  > ------------------------
>>  > Megan Pratt, Ph.D.
>>  > Founder and Executive Director
>>  > Pensacola MESS Hall
>>  > www.pensacolamesshall.org
>>  >
>>  > ***********************************************************************
>>  > For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and
>  the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
>>  >
>>  > Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at
>  www.exhibitfiles.org.
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>  ***********************************************************************
>  For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and
>  the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
> 
>  Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the
Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at
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The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

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