It’s important for the child or youth to have normal childhood experiences. As a kinship caregiver, you’ll need to make responsible parenting decisions about when the child or youth can participate in activities.
If the caseworker or court created a safety plan or a supervision plan, follow the plan when you decide what to allow the child or youth to do.
Otherwise, follow “prudent parenting” standards when you make these decisions.
What prudent parenting means
Prudent parenting means you need to:
- Make careful and thoughtful decisions.
- Focus on the child or youth’s health, safety, and best interests.
- Have and enforce boundaries with family members when it’s in the child or youth’s best interests.
- Support the child or youth’s emotional and developmental growth.
You can sign up for a training to learn more about prudent parenting. You can also visit our prudent parenting guide for more information.
When you make decisions about the child or youth’s activities
Use prudent parenting to decide when the child or youth can participate in:
- Recreational activities or hobbies outside of school (like sporting events, community events, or going to the movies)
- Social activities (like summer camp, birthday parties, or going to a friend’s house)
- Overnight activities where you are not present over 24 hours and up to 72 hours (like school trips, or sleepovers at a friend’s house)
- Out-of-state travel within the United States for less than 72 hours
- Travel to the British Columbia areas of BC Rockies, Thompson/Okanogan, and Vancouver Coast and Mountains in Canada for less than 72 hours (map)
Visit our guide for more examples.
You should only allow the child or youth to participate in these activities with people you trust. The people who are with your child or youth during these activities do not need background checks.
You should also use prudent parenting standards to choose someone to care for the child or youth when you need occasional care for less than 72 hours. This could be your partner, a relative, a friend, a roommate, or a babysitter.
Note
You need to get the caseworker’s permission for:
- Activities over 72 hours
- Travel outside of the United States, except if you’re traveling to the British Columbia areas of BC Rockies, Thompson/Okanogan, and Vancouver Coast and Mountains in Canada for less than 72 hours (map)
If the child or youth unintentionally does either of these activities without the caseworker’s permission, tell the caseworker as soon as possible. For example, if the child or youth was supposed to travel out of state for 3 days, but ended up being out of state for 4 days, tell the caseworker as soon as possible.
You need to follow our other rules for:
It’s important to follow our rules, and to get permission from the caseworker when you’re supposed to.
Related content
Read the regulations
For more information read the Washington Administrative Codes (WACs) related to these topics:
- WAC 110-149-0210: Participating in activities
