Obtaining passports for children is becoming more difficult for parents, but is also may be affecting your library. In 2001, the State Department began requiring both parents of children under 14 to sign the passport application. The new law requires children 14 years old and under must be present when applying for a passport. There has been no change in the actual documentation needed from parents, but now those issuing passports such as our local librarians should check the documentation against the actual child.

These extra precautions are necessary in order to place safeguards against children taken out of the
US illegally. This has already helped reduce thousands of international parental child-abduction cases.

Source: Audrey Warren, Law Stiffens on Kid’s Passports. The Wall Street Journal. February 11, 2004.