As parents sometimes we need time away without the kids and if we are lucky enough to have friends we trust it makes sense that we would leave our children in their care. We make sure they have clothes, a favorite toy, and a phone number that we can be reached at in case of an emergency, but is that enough?

I have a close friend whose 4 children I watch frequently while she is working, or when she is away and recently I offered to watch her 2 boys while she took the 2 girls on a girl scout camping trip. She took me up on the offer for one of her sons, but the older one (J.R.) wanted to stay at his friends house and she said it was ok as long as he checked in with me daily.

She left on Friday and on Saturday my husband and I took our son and his friend to the movies and when we returned there was a note on my front door from the local police department to call them regarding J.R. needless to say I was frantic with worry. As it turned out J.R. and his friend were coming home from another friends house when the bike they were riding was hit by a hit and run driver. Thank God neither of them received life threatening injuries they both broke their right leg, but J.R. broke his leg in two places and needed surgery and without the mothers consent they couldn't do surgery to repair it.

In an event like this the hospital can stabilize a child or can treat life threatening injuries under what is called "Implied Consent" (it means the it is implied that a parent would want their child treated), but because of legalities they can't do anything further without written consent of a parent or guardian. This situation caught me off guard because usually my friend leaves me copies of the kids insurance cards, and a notarized letter giving me authority to consent for medical treatment in her absence, but this was the first time we didn't do that, and to make matters worse she was camping and I had no phone number to reach her at.

Eventually I reached my friend and she met us at the hospital, surgery was done the next day and J.R. is on his way to a full recovery but I never want to be in that position again. To think that a little piece of paper was all that stood between help is a scary thing, and all someone needs to do to have it notarized is visit a Bank, Currency Exchange, or UPS Store [they all have notaries on site] and pay a small fee, around $5.00. You can guarantee I will never watch anyone's child again without one if I am to have the child over night.

Both boys are doing well now but they had casts on their right legs for most of the summer, however given the situation it could have been much worse. All I can hope is that others learn from my mistake and in addition to getting emergency phone numbers they get a signed and notarized letter of consent in the event of an emergency that does not qualify as life threatening, so that treatment doesn't need to be delayed and the child doesn't have to be in pain.

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