School Enrolment, Medical Consent and Travel Without Custody in NZ
The Problem With Informal Care
You have been raising your grandchild for months — maybe years — but you have no court order. The care arrangement started during a crisis, and formalising it never seemed urgent until an institution asked for proof.
Then the school asks who has legal authority to enrol the child. The GP says they need a guardian's signature before treating. You want to take the child on holiday, and the airline asks for consent from both parents. Each of these moments exposes the same gap: without a formal court order, institutions do not know who you are in legal terms.
School Enrolment
Parents and legal guardians are responsible for enrolling children from age six, and schools must enrol eligible students under their enrolment schemes. If you are caring for a child without guardianship, ask the school what evidence or authorisation it needs. In practice, most primary schools accept informal caregivers — they want children in classrooms, not stuck in bureaucratic limbo.
But enrolment forms ask for the names of parents or legal guardians. If you are not a guardian, the school may accept a statutory declaration or a letter from the parent confirming the child lives with you. Some schools are satisfied with this; others are not, especially when it comes to:
- Authorising school trips or activities — permission slips typically require a parent or guardian signature
- Receiving academic records and reports — your access may depend on whether you are a parent or guardian and on the child's circumstances
- Making decisions about the child's education — choosing a school, approving special learning support, or consenting to assessments
A parenting order giving you day-to-day care can document your care role when dealing with the school. If you also need authority over major educational decisions (such as which school or language instruction), you may need a guardianship order under Section 27 of the Care of Children Act 2004, because those decisions fall under Section 16 guardian responsibilities.
Medical Consent
Consent for medical care depends on the treatment and the child's capacity to consent. Guardians are responsible for decisions about important matters affecting the child, including major medical or surgical treatment.
A grandparent without guardianship should check with the provider what authority is needed for the child's care. For important medical decisions, the child's guardian or guardians may need to be involved:
- Vaccinations and immunisations — many providers require guardian consent
- Dental treatment under sedation
- Mental health assessments or counselling referrals
- Surgery or hospital admission
In a genuine emergency, the Health and Disability Commissioner's Code of Rights allows treatment without consent when delay would endanger the patient's life. But relying on the emergency exception for every medical need is not sustainable.
An additional guardianship order under Section 27 makes you a guardian with responsibility for major decisions, including major medical or surgical treatment. A day-to-day care parenting order alone does not — it governs where the child lives and who provides physical care, not who makes major life decisions.
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Travel Within New Zealand
Domestic travel does not usually require formal documentation, but airlines and bus companies carrying unaccompanied minors or minors with non-parent adults may ask questions. A parenting order naming you as the child's day-to-day carer resolves this cleanly.
The more difficult scenario is relocation. If you have a parenting order and another guardian has a contact order, moving the child to a distant part of New Zealand in a way that disrupts contact can breach the order or require a court variation. The Care of Children Act treats a significant change of residence as a guardianship decision under Section 16.
International Travel and Passports
This is where the lack of a formal order creates the most acute problems.
Passport applications. The Department of Internal Affairs requires the consent of every legal guardian before issuing a child's passport. If both parents are guardians (the default unless a court has removed guardianship), both must sign the application — even if one parent is absent, in prison, or has no involvement with the child. If a guardian refuses or cannot give consent, another guardian can apply to the Family Court to settle the disagreement under Section 46R of the Care of Children Act.
Border controls. New Zealand Customs has no routine exit-check system that stops children leaving the country, but if there is an Order Preventing Removal in place under Section 77, Customs and Police at international airports are alerted. If you suspect a parent may try to take the child overseas without your knowledge, you can apply urgently for a prevention-of-removal order.
Airline requirements. Most airlines require a consent letter from both parents when a child travels internationally with a grandparent. A sealed court order showing your guardianship or day-to-day care authority is the cleanest document to carry.
The Case for Getting a Formal Order
Each of these problems — school authority, medical consent, travel documents — resolves once you hold the right court orders. A parenting order under Section 48 covers day-to-day care and contact. A guardianship order under Section 27 adds authority over education, medical consent, travel, and name changes.
Grandparents applying for a parenting order need the court's leave under Section 47(1)(d). The $257 NZD filing fee applies to a Section 48 parenting-order application; there is no separate filing fee for a Section 27 guardianship application. The parenting-order fee may be waived for qualifying applicants. Pre-filing requirements include a Parenting Through Separation course and Family Dispute Resolution, with exemptions for family violence or urgency.
The NZ Parenting Orders and Guardianship guide walks through every step from leave to apply through to the sealed order you take to the school, the doctor, and the passport office.
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