Mandatory requirements for legal guardians

What requirements must a legal guardian meet ?: Guide for students abroad

We have made the decision: Our children will travel to Ireland for the first time this summer for a summer camp in English. Maybe to spend a full school year or for that dreamed Erasmus ... But of course, they are minors and do not yet have the legal capacity to make certain decisions.

This assumption that we have presented is one of the most frequent questions asked by parents of young people who will finally travel abroad to carry out their first solo adventure, for educational purposes.

Before starting this little odyssey, we must know that there are certain legal procedures that we must carry out, both in origin (in our case in Spain) and in destination (Ireland)

Perhaps the most important of all of them is to appoint a legal guardian for our children during the time they are in Ireland.

This is especially sensitive since if you need any procedure, or want to carry out any type of legal action abroad, you will need the assistance of a guardian, in the same way that in Spain we must accompany them for this purpose like their parents.

In this article we explain what legal guardianship consists of, what is a temporary legal guardianship and how this procedure works in Ireland.

Guardianship grant: What you should know

As we have said, the legal guardianship of a minor is the figure through which a designated adult, be it a biological father or mother or adoptive adult to an adult can perform the legal representation of a minor, give express consent for certain acts, or take really key decisions in the life of a minor if necessary.

Let's take an example to understand it better. Our daughter has gone to Ireland, and we have appointed an adult member of the host family as legal guardian. If, unfortunately, you were to suffer an accident and need medical attention, the legal guardian would have the last word at that time. Also in legal acts of representation such as when making a complaint to the police or to carry out certain procedures.

This makes clear the importance of this figure, and because it is especially sensitive, carry out this management properly to avoid displeasure.

Legal guardianship is an enormous responsibility and when we speak of the guardianship subsidy, it is the act of "temporary transfer of said guardianship"

Guardianship Allowance Ireland

At this point, we must distinguish between the legal procedures carried out by individuals and families in a private capacity, in case we have found the host family on our own, or that we do it through a representation agency.

In the latter case, what is most important and interesting for families is that the procedures are carried out by the agency's own professionals, and in addition to this, they will appoint a legal guardian upon the minor's arrival in Ireland who will be available 24 hours a day so that if necessary, you can make the appropriate decisions under the instructions of your parents at key moments.

This is undoubtedly an investment in peace of mind, since we should not entrust the guardianship of our children to an unknown family, and we can trust that the specialized agency will have the corresponding insurance and permits in force.

These agencies sign an agreement with clear instructions from the families to exercise the guardianship of the minor, so their decisions will always be under the indications previously agreed upon by the parents.

We strongly recommend hiring professionals through specialized agencies for this purpose.

Last conclusions

As you have seen, in this article, legal guardianship and legal guardianship subsidy are especially relevant figures that can seriously affect the minor if they have not done it correctly.

Not skimping on resources at the time of hiring will save us many headaches for the future.