Open Forum

Hi all! We are discussing how to responsibly take and post photos of children under the age of 18. We have parents/guardians sign release forms that mention potential use for photos in marketing and promotion, but they do not call out social media. We would like to learn what other institutions do. If you have practices that work well for you and protect these young subjects, please send along, including any release form samples. Thanks. Beth

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Beth Houting
Executive Director
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
Pennsburg PA
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Hi Beth! At our museum any childrens programs such as summer camps, fall break camps, or spring camps have parents sign a release form about photography and its usage online. We also try to not take photos that have children's faces to protect their anonymity when we are taking photos in general at events not specifically marked for kids. We also ask the parents if we can take a photo of their child doing an activity at an event and show the parent the image and explain its potential usage on social media. We haven't run into any problems this way and some parents are excited to have us take photos of them with their kids for social media. 

Even with these guides, we still limit the amount of photos of children and teens posted online and instead shift our focus to adults and the art. I hope this is helpful!


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Savannah Smith
Communications Coordinator
Hunter Museum of American Art
Chattanooga TN
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Remember that having a well-written, legally-sound, signed release isn't enough - You would need to be able to identify the child, the adult, and the link between the child and the adult when a legal action came about - perhaps a year or two down the line.  If you have a pile of 500 releases neatly stored in a file cabinet and there is legal action about a three year old in a brochure photo from 2018, can you locate the signed release that goes with that child?  If not, the whole release is just window dressing.

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Mike Watson
San Diego History Center
San Diego CA
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