Amtgard Youth Policy

1. Minors or youth are defined as anyone who has not reached the age of legal majority. This varies between countries, states and other jurisdictions. Be sure of the age(s) of majority in your area.
2. Amtgard is a member, family, and youth friendly social organization. Amtgard encourages the participation of minors in its activities, but typically does not hold any youth specific activities. Any Amtgard group holding youth specific activities shall adopt youth safety protocols including at a minimum: a “two-deep” leadership policy and a no one-on-one interaction policy regarding adults and youth involved in youth specific activities.
3. Whether or not youth specific activities are occurring, parents or guardians of minors shall have ultimate responsibility for the welfare and behavior of their minors at all times. It is the responsibility of the parent or guardian who is responsible for the minor to ensure that the minor is safe and not in danger. At events and activities in which minors participate in any way, participating minors must either have a parent or legal guardian present on site at the event/activity, or a temporary guardian present on site in possession of a properly executed document authorizing the temporary guardian, at a minimum, to obtain medical care for the minor. This document must designate an adult present on site at the event or activity as able to authorize medical treatment in the case of emergency (and for purposes of this policy is considered a type of temporary guardianship). No policies developed regarding minors relieve parents/guardians of their primary responsibility for the welfare and behavior of their minors. This policy requires parents/guardians to ensure that their minors are appropriately supervised at all times.
4. It is generally appropriate for law enforcement authorities to be contacted if a minor is involved in any crime. If a minor appears to have been the victim of a violent crime, law enforcement authorities MUST be contacted.
5. No one-on-one interactions: One on one interactions between adults and minor members must be avoided except for members of the minor’s family, and any person designated as the temporary guardian of the minor by the minor’s parent or legal guardian, except that one on one interactions between an adult and minor are permitted if they occur at an observable and interruptible distance by another adult. It shall not be a violation of this policy for an adult to have one-on-one interaction with a minor provided the adult is no more than three years older than the minor. Interaction means communication or direct involvement between an adult and a minor. Incidental contact or actions taken to avoid or promptly terminate one-on-one interactions are not considered interactions within the meaning of this policy.

Rulebook 8.6.3

Editor's Note

The Amtgard Youth Policy is maintained and updated by Amtgard International and is included here purely as a reference for Code of Conduct #7. The Amtgard Youth Policy is not a part of the Amtgard Rules of Play, and as such it cannot be modified by the standard Rules Revision Process.

The most up-to-date version of this policy can be found at [Amtgard.com].

The policy listed here is up-to-date as of September 27, 2024.