Caregiver Authorization Affidavit for Military Families in California

A caregiver's authorization affidavit is a California form, signed by the adult a child lives with, that lets that adult enroll the child in school and consent to school-related medical care. A caregiver who is a relative can also authorize other medical and dental care. It does not give anyone legal custody.

Most people facing this question are in the middle of a hard handoff. A service member in San Diego County may have orders in hand. Perhaps a former spouse is also unavailable. Perhaps a grandparent in Chula Vista or a sister in Orange County is about to take in the children for months. The family wants to know one thing. Will a school office or a pediatrician accept that adult's word without a judge being involved? And what happens to the custody order that already exists?

This page explains what the affidavit is and who completes it. It covers what the document reaches and where it stops. It also explains how it sits beside a military Family Care Plan and the custody rules California applies when a parent deploys.

What a Caregiver Authorization Affidavit Does Under California Law

Family Code section 6550 and the sections that follow it create the caregiver's authorization affidavit. It is a sworn statement that lets an adult who is caring for a child at home act for that child in two settings: school and health care. No court is involved. The form itself tells schools and providers that "a seal or signature from a court is not required."

The statute uses "caregiver" to mean the adult the child lives with. That adult must be 18 or older. Section 6550(a) sets out two levels of authority:

• Any adult caregiver who completes items 1 to 4 of the form and signs it may "enroll a minor in school and consent to school-related medical care on behalf of the minor."
• A caregiver who is a relative and completes items 1 to 8 "shall have the same rights to authorize medical care and dental care for the minor that are given to guardians under Section 2353 of the Probate Code." That care "may include mental health treatment subject to the limitations of Section 2356 of the Probate Code."

One point surprises many families. The caregiver signs the affidavit, not the parent. Section 6550 and the form in section 6552 are both written in the caregiver's voice: "The minor named below lives in my home and I am 18 years of age or older."

The most important limit is printed on the form. Under section 6552, the affidavit "does not affect the rights of the minor's parents or legal guardian regarding the care, custody, and control of the minor, and does not mean that the caregiver has legal custody of the minor."

There is no separate military version of this affidavit. Section 6552 sets out the form that every caregiver uses. Military families use the same document as anyone else. It simply fits a deployment well, because the child stays with a trusted adult and the parents keep their rights.

Why Deployment Makes This Document Relevant

Military orders often separate parents from their children for a fixed period. A deployment sends a service member away from home on an operational mission. Temporary duty (TDY) is a short-term assignment away from the member's permanent duty station. Extended training can keep a member away for weeks or months. Members of the California National Guard and the reserve components can receive orders that create the same need for child care as active-duty members do.

In each case, the child needs someone at home who can register for classes and sign a clinic intake form. A probate guardianship takes a court case. The affidavit covers the everyday school and medical decisions in between, provided the child actually lives with the caregiver.

School enrollment. Any adult caregiver who completes items 1 to 4 can enroll the child in a California school. That caregiver can also consent to school-related medical care.

Medical and dental care. Wider medical and dental authority belongs only to a caregiver who is a relative and completes items 1 to 8. Section 6550(h) defines "relative" broadly. It means an adult related to the child "by blood, adoption, or affinity within the fifth degree of kinship," including stepparents, stepsiblings, and any relative whose title begins with "great," "great-great" or "grand." It also includes the spouse of any of those people, "even after the marriage has been terminated by death or dissolution."

Family Care Plan versus affidavit. A Family Care Plan is a military administrative document, covered in full on the site's family care plans page. Military OneSource describes it as a plan that "describes who will provide care for their children financially, medically and logistically if the service member is away on military duty." It also states that "an official family care plan is required for military members and must be kept up to date" (Military OneSource). The California affidavit is a state legal document that schools and health care providers rely on. The two serve different purposes. Completing one does not complete the other.

Neither document changes a custody order. When orders arrive, a parent's first worry is often whether the time away will cost them custody. Family Code section 3047(a) speaks to that. A party's absence, relocation, or failure to comply with custody and visitation orders does not, "by itself," justify changing a custody or visitation order when the reason is activation to military duty or temporary duty, mobilization in support of combat or other military operation, or military deployment out of state. The rules for temporary orders during deployment are covered in more depth in military parenting plans.

Who Can Sign and Who Can Serve as Caregiver

Under section 6550(a), the person who signs is the caregiver. The caregiver must be 18 or older, and the child must live in the caregiver's home. Item 4 asks for the caregiver's home address. The form's notice states that the affidavit becomes invalid if the child stops living there.

A non-relative can serve as caregiver, but only for school enrollment and school-related medical care. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, adult siblings, stepparents and the other relatives section 6550(h) lists can additionally complete items 5 to 8, for items 1 to 8 in all, which unlock the broader medical and dental authority.

Item 6 is where the parents come in. A relative caregiver checks one or both boxes. One states that the caregiver told the parents or legal custodians about the plan to authorize medical care and received no objection. The other states that the caregiver could not reach them. The parents do not sign the form. Their role is still real. Under section 6550(b), a caregiver's medical decision "shall be superseded by any contravening decision of the parent or other person having legal custody of the minor," provided the parent's decision "does not jeopardize the life, health, or safety of the minor."

Divorced or separated families face one more question. When one parent deploys and the other parent keeps custody under an existing order, the child usually lives with that other parent. In that case there may be no caregiver at all in the statute's sense. Who has authority depends on the custody order. The affidavit does not decide that question. The way California courts structure those orders is explained in military child custody.

Not a power of attorney. The affidavit is not a power of attorney. A power of attorney is a document in which the parent grants authority to someone else. A related rule appears in Family Code section 6910. A parent, a guardian, or a relative caregiver who can authorize care under section 6550 may "authorize in writing an adult into whose care a minor has been entrusted to consent to medical care or dental care, or both." That written authorization is a separate path from the affidavit.

What the Affidavit Covers — and What It Does Not

The affidavit's reach is narrow by design. Within that range, the law gives it real force.

Covered: - Enrolling the child in a California school, and school-related medical care, for any adult caregiver who completes items 1 to 4. - Medical and dental care at the level a guardian may authorize, for a relative caregiver who completes items 1 to 8. That care may include mental health treatment, within the Probate Code limits the statute names.

Not covered: - Legal custody. The form's own notice says so. - The parents' "care, custody, and control" of the child, which the affidavit expressly leaves untouched. - Anything outside school and medical or dental care. The statute does not grant authority over where the child lives permanently, whether the child moves, finances or travel. - Support. The affidavit says nothing about child support. - Standing in court. Nothing in sections 6550 or 6552 gives the caregiver a right to seek custody.

A court-ordered guardianship is different. It is a judge's order giving an adult legal authority over a child. That is the kind of authority the affidavit expressly does not grant.

Protection for schools and providers. Section 6550(c) protects those who rely on the form. A person who provides medical or dental care in good faith, "without actual knowledge of facts contrary to those stated on the affidavit," is not subject to criminal or civil liability or to professional discipline for that reliance, as long as the applicable portions are completed. Section 6550(d) adds that someone who relies on the affidavit "has no obligation to make any further inquiry or investigation." Section 6550(e) keeps other liability in place: nothing in the section "relieves any individual from liability for violations of other provisions of law."

How to Complete and Use the Affidavit in California

Section 6552 sets out the required wording. The affidavit must be "in substantially the following form." The California Courts self-help site offers guidance on related custody and parenting-plan questions (California Courts Self-Help).

A few rules about execution come straight from the statute:

• Penalty of perjury. The caregiver declares "under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct." The form warns that signing with incorrect statements is "a crime punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both."
• No notary, no court. The form states: "This form is not required to be notarized," and "a seal or signature from a court is not required."
• Warning box. Under section 6550(g), the affidavit is invalid unless it substantially contains the warning statements in at least 10-point boldface type, "enclosed in a box with 3-point type rule lines."
• Identification. Item 8 asks for a California driver's license, a California identification card or a government-issued consular card number. If the caregiver has none of these, the form allows another form of identification, such as a Social Security number or Medi-Cal number.

The caregiver gives the completed affidavit to the school, the health care provider or the health care service plan. Families often keep extra copies, because each office may keep one.

How long it lasts. The statute sets no expiration date. It ties validity to where the child lives. Under section 6550(f), if the child stops living with the caregiver, the caregiver "shall notify any school, health care provider, or health care service plan that has been given the affidavit." The affidavit "is invalid after" that office "receives notice that the minor is no longer living with the caregiver." The statute also does not describe a revocation procedure. The parents' superseding authority over medical decisions under section 6550(b) still applies at all times.

When a Guardianship or Other Court Order May Be Needed Instead

The affidavit cannot do some jobs. A family may need authority over finances, travel or the child's residence. The parents may disagree about custody. A deployment may be long enough that a school-and-medical form does not cover what the household needs. In each of these cases the affidavit falls short.

A probate guardianship of the person is a court case in which a judge appoints an adult to care for a child. It gives that adult legal authority that the affidavit, by its own notice, does not provide. The court's self-help resources explain how guardianship works.

Disputes between parents belong in family court. In San Diego County, that court is the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. If parents disagree about who has custody during or after a deployment, the affidavit settles nothing. Section 3047(b) provides that a necessary change to a custody order because of temporary duty, deployment or mobilization is "deemed a temporary custody order made without prejudice." On the parent's return, there is "a presumption that the custody order shall revert to the order that was in place before the modification, unless the court determines that it is not in the best interest of the child."

On the relocating parent's motion, the court may also grant reasonable visitation to a stepparent, grandparent or other family member. Section 3047(b)(3)(B) allows this only if the court does all three of the following:

1. Finds a preexisting relationship and bond that makes visitation in the child's best interest.
2. Finds the visitation will help the child stay in contact with the relocating parent.
3. Balances that interest against the parents' right to exercise parental authority.

Some branches may have their own expectations about the documents a Family Care Plan requires. The branch's own guidance controls those requirements, not California's affidavit statute. A broader overview of these overlapping issues appears in the military divorce checklist.

Resources for Military Families in California

Several independent sources offer information or help:

• California Courts Self-Help publishes guidance on custody, parenting plans and guardianship (selfhelp.courts.ca.gov).
• Military OneSource, a Department of Defense program, explains Family Care Plans and custody considerations for military families (Military OneSource).
• The California National Guard maintains family support resources for Guard members and their families.
• LawHelpCA lists California legal aid organizations.
• Installation legal assistance offices are government offices that provide legal help to eligible service members.

These resources are independent of Military Family Law Advocates. The firm is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the U.S. Department of Defense, any military branch or the federal government.

If You'd Like to Talk Through a Deployment and a Custody Order

The affidavit is often the easy part. The harder questions tend to come from how it interacts with an existing custody order. They include who has authority when a former spouse is still in the picture, and what section 3047 means when orders arrive. A consultation is a place to raise those questions about how a custody order and military orders interact, which can give a clearer picture of which California rules apply. The firm practises California family law only. Readers who only need the form itself may find the court's self-help resources answer their question.

To talk with the firm about deployment and custody orders, call Military Family Law Advocates at 888-771-0460 for a confidential consultation.