The following guidelines provide a framework in which to interpret various legal issues that may arise.
General Guidance
- Do not speak directly with any outside lawyers. Advise participants not to give statements to the police without prior advice from legal counsel.
- If you are contacted by an outside lawyer on an AFS-related matter, please take their number and give this information to your Participant Support and Learning Specialist or the AFS-USA Duty Officer immediately.
AFS's Legal Responsibility
- AFS can be held responsible for a volunteer's action, as long as the volunteer acts within the scope of their duties.
- AFS volunteers are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the AFS Volunteer Agreement and Policies.
- AFS is not legally responsible for the acts of participants.
- AFS must adhere to the U.S. Department of State J-1 Exchange Visitor Program - Secondary School Student regulations.
- All participants are subject to the laws of the host state/country.
Host Family Legal Responsibility
- Host families are NOT the legal guardians of the participants they host, nor are they legally responsible for the participant's actions.
- The host family-participant relationship is a "host-guest" relationship. This means that host families are expected to give due care to participants, but are not legally responsible for them.
- Sending parents always have the final say with respect to decisions affecting their children in terms of legal representation or lawsuits.
- Sending parents are responsible for legal fees.
- If schools or any other agencies require a parent or legal guardian signatures on any document, natural families must sign for the participant. Host families cannot sign any document as the legal guardian or parent of the participant. Any discussion about host family/participant responsibility beyond this guideline should be referred to the appropriate staff who can then refer it to the AFS lawyer as needed. For more information, see Activity Waivers.
Communications
- If the sending parent of a participant hosted in the United States decides to request a refund or to sue AFS, their legal action would be taken against the partner country that sent the participant on the program. In cases like these, our partners depend on us to be able to supply them with well documented, objective, and consistent information from the participant’s file showing how the case unfolded and what actions were taken at each step of the way. For participants we send abroad the same is true in reverse.
- All communication written for a participant’s file should be simple, professional, clear, and specific. There should be no judgment or personal comments included - only the facts. It is important to remember that all documentation can be used and will be subject to production if a legal action arises.
- Special note on email as legal evidence: email messages, like any paper document, can be used as legal evidence in litigation and can be required to be produced when a legal action arises. It is important to exercise good judgment when exchanging email within AFS and with people outside the organization. Also, AFS cannot control information sent by email once it has been sent, and messages may be forwarded or sent to unintended recipients. Since it may be possible for unintended recipients to read email messages all comments and materials that may be considered harmful or embarrassing to others should not be sent via email.
- A best practice is to carefully review all messages before sending them. While reviewing the message, imagine that everyone involved is also receiving the message. If this would cause significant problems, perhaps a telephone call or a re-worded message would be a better approach.
Threats of Legal Action and Complaints
- There may be times when a sending parent, host family, volunteer, or participant threatens to sue or take legal action against AFS, whether warranted or not. If this threat comes to you in writing, send it to your Participant Support and Learning Specialist.
- Do not try to defend AFS when a caller is very angry and upset and threatens legal action on the phone. Rather, listen to the complaint, write down notes from the conversation, and if need be, ask the caller to send complaints in writing to the Participant Support and Learning Specialist. Advise your Participant Support and Learning Specialist of such conversations so they may be prepared for a call or letter.
Request for Refund
- If a sending family or participant calls or writes to you requesting a refund, refer them to the Participant Support and Learning Specialist. All requests for refunds must be submitted in writing.
- When a Participant Support and Learning Manager receives a request for a refund, they will do a review of the participant’s file, and it may be necessary for Support and Learning staff to contact volunteers who worked with a given participant to further clarify aspects of their experience.
Bank Accounts and Cell Phones
Participants should not share a bank account or cell phone plan with their host families. For additional information, please see the following articles providing guidance in the Help and Learning for Host Families platform: