Seattle Public Schools Caregiver Form: Enrolling a Grandchild or Relative's Child

Seattle Has Its Own Enrollment Forms

Washington's 295 school districts each handle kinship caregiver enrollment differently, and Seattle Public Schools (SPS) runs one of the more structured processes in the state. If you're a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or family friend enrolling a child in an SPS school, you'll encounter forms and procedures that look different from what a rural or suburban district would hand you.

The core document is the Authority and Responsibility for a Minor Student form — sometimes referred to alongside the Host-Family / Caregiver Form — which SPS uses to authorize a non-parent to enroll a child, receive school communications, sign permission slips, and act as the primary educational contact.

What SPS Actually Requires

To enroll a child through Seattle's centralized Enrollment Services, you need three things:

Proof of residency within the district. A utility bill, lease agreement, or caregiver affidavit showing the child lives at your Seattle address can document residency. Ask Enrollment Services what documentation it accepts.

Proof of the child's age and identity. A birth certificate, passport, official adoption record, or a certified statement from a physician or government agency. If a document is unavailable, ask Enrollment Services what alternate proof it accepts. If the child qualifies under McKinney-Vento, immediate enrollment rules apply.

Immunization records. A completed Certificate of Immunization Status (CIS), a valid exemption, or evidence that the child has received at least the first dose of each required vaccine series. Provisional enrollment may last up to 30 calendar days when records are missing and the child has received the first dose of each required vaccine series.

What SPS cannot require: a court custody order, legal guardianship papers, or a signed parental consent to enroll. If a registrar tells you otherwise, they are wrong — OSPI policy prohibits districts from demanding formal court documents as a condition of enrollment.

How the Caregiver Authorization Works

The SPS caregiver form establishes you as the responsible adult for school purposes. Once on file, you can:

• Receive report cards, attendance notices, and disciplinary communications
• Sign field trip permission slips and emergency contact forms
• Designate who can pick up the child
• Attend parent-teacher conferences
• Access educational records under FERPA (the school treats you as the parent for records purposes when you've enrolled the child)

The form is typically valid for one school year and renewed at re-enrollment. It does not grant legal custody or interfere with parental rights — a parent can still contact the school, and the district will navigate competing contacts on a case-by-case basis.

The Medical Side Is Separate

The SPS caregiver form handles education. For medical care — pediatrician visits, dental cleanings, prescriptions, sports physicals — you need a separate RCW 7.70.065 health declaration. The school nurse may ask for a copy of the health declaration on file, but it is not a condition of enrollment.

If the child needs a sports physical to join a school team, the health declaration covers that examination. If the child needs medication administered during the school day, you'll also need a medication authorization form signed by both you and the prescribing provider under RCW 28A.210.260.

When SPS Pushes Back

Seattle's centralized enrollment system is generally well-informed about kinship caregiver rights, but individual school offices vary. If a registrar or front-desk staff member tells you they need a court order:

1. Ask to speak with the school's enrollment specialist or the building principal
2. Reference OSPI's Foster Care Enrollment Strategies guidance, which explicitly directs districts to enroll children living with informal relative caregivers
3. Request that the district's McKinney-Vento Liaison review the enrollment — this liaison is trained to resolve exactly these situations
4. If the district still refuses, contact the Governor's Office of the Education Ombuds (OEO) at 1-866-297-2597

SPS provides enrollment packets translated into over nine languages. Ask Enrollment Services for a translated packet if you need one.

The Broader Toolkit

School enrollment is one piece of the puzzle. Getting the child to a doctor, handling immunization catch-ups, understanding when a power of attorney makes more sense than a caregiver declaration, and knowing when to escalate to formal guardianship are all connected.

The Washington Consent Guide for Kinship Caregivers covers the full set of forms — health declaration, school authorization, parental power of attorney — with district-specific guidance for Seattle and rural Washington districts, step-by-step completion instructions, and escalation scripts for every common refusal scenario.

See more Washington guides →