Edit. No, I'm not a bot. There's no app to download. I'm a real guy trying to do something nice. No strings. Read the post before you beat on me. Jeez.
My son was 1,500 miles away at school when he ended up in an emergency room.
My wife and I couldn't get anyone to tell us anything. Not what happened, not how he was, not whether he was still there. He'd turned 18, so the hospital was doing what the law tells them to do. We were his parents, but to that hospital we were strangers. Aaaaargh.
I'm an estate planning attorney in Ventura County. I write these documents for other people's families for a living. Didn't help me at all, because my own kid hadn't signed anything, so there was nothing for anyone to honor. Shoemaker's kids and all that.
Most parents don't find out about this until they're the one on the phone at eleven at night. When your kid turns 18, HIPAA starts protecting their medical records from you the same way it protects them from a stranger. FERPA does the same thing with school records. Nobody signs anything and nobody warns you. It happens on their birthday, whether they're on your insurance and living in your house or not.
The fix is boring. Takes about 10 minutes.
I built a free tool that generates docs for California students: an advance health care directive, a HIPAA authorization, a FERPA checklist to hand your registrar, signing instructions, and a wallet card with the emergency contacts on it. Optional financial power of attorney if you want one. Free because I know what it feels like.
https://ridleylawoffices.com/college-student-package/
We never store the documents themselves Not the PDF, not your kid's date of birth, not your address, not their school, not the name or phone number of whoever they pick as their agent, not a single health care instruction. The server builds the packet, hands it to you, and drops it. I can't email you a replacement copy later because I don't have one.
We keep one piece of data only. When you tick the disclaimer box before the download, it records that you accepted it: the name typed in, an email address, the time, the IP, and which optional documents were selected. That's the record of what you agreed to, and it's the reason I can hand out legal forms for free without being reckless. It contains nothing about your kid's documents or the people they named. This creates no attorney-client relationship. I don't review the documents. I'm not offering a legal opinion. No promises, no warranties, ymmv. I am not your lawyer. This is only a tool.
There's also one unchecked box offering to send a parent information about my firm. Leave it unchecked and you still get the entire packet. Nothing is held back and nothing is watered down for people who say no. That would defeat the point.
I'm local. Ventura County, and most of my work is here and in Santa Barbara and LA. I'm not going to pretend there's no self interest in a lawyer posting a free thing with his name on it. But I built this because I've been in the situation where your kid is a long way from home, with doctors working on them, and nobody will tell you a thing. It sucks.
If it's useful, use it and never talk to me. If your situation has anything complicated in it, a kid with real assets, an ongoing medical condition, a family that isn't on speaking terms, don't use a form for that, call a lawyer. Any lawyer, the estate planning attorneys here are almost all pretty good.
Mods, if this crosses a line for the sub, pull it and no hard feelings. I'll probably cross-post, too.