On occasion, host parents may need to leave a participant in the care of a friend or relative for short periods of time. This is permitted when a business trip, family emergency, or other unavoidable situation requires the temporary absence of the host family for up to four nights.
In such cases, the host family may treat the participant as they would their own family member and arrange for appropriate, temporary care without first obtaining permission from AFS. However, prior to leaving their participant with another responsible adult or family, the host parents must inform their AFS liaison of: (1) the duration of the stay, and (2) complete contact information for the adult or family with whom the student will temporarily reside. In these cases, the friend or relative who will host the student on a temporary basis is not required to complete the AFS application process.
If the temporary absence exceeds four nights and/or the host parents are unable to provide temporary care for a student and need assistance from AFS, AFS volunteers or staff will identify a screened family for the temporary placement.
More Information:
- For important information about volunteers who wish to host, click here. This link will take you to the Moves FAQ page.
- For more information about Prudent Parent Stays, please refer to our FAQs about Prudent Parent Stays article.