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Traveling abroad? Kids need passports, too!

The State Department has now caught up with their backlog of passport applications.  Beginning October 1st, some new travel rules went into effect that require all U.S. visitors to Canada, Mexico, and other locations that did not previously require passports to have a valid passport for re-entry into the United States for all passengers traveling by ship or plane (walking and driving across the borders will require a passport beginning January 1, 2008).    All children, REGARDLESS OF AGE, must also have their own passport, so if your child does not have one and you plan to travel outside the U.S., you should complete and mail in an application.  For children not yet able to sign their own names, the State Department provides the following instructions: a parent may sign for the child by writing the child’s name on the signature line and signing the parent’s name above the child’s name. Example:

Jane Doe for

Child M. Doe

Signature of Bearer