Youth, Families, and All-Ages Event Guidelines

S.A.F.E. is proud to support welcoming, community-minded furry events across the San Antonio area. Many people discover the furry fandom through creativity, art, costumes, games, community service, and shared imagination. We want families, parents, guardians, and younger fans to feel informed, respected, and comfortable when attending all-ages S.A.F.E. events.

This page explains how S.A.F.E. approaches minors, parents, guardians, all-ages events, and family-friendly spaces.

S.A.F.E. does not currently operate a formal youth program, childcare program, drop-off program, or supervised youth service. Minors may attend appropriate S.A.F.E. events when allowed by the event listing, venue rules, and applicable law, but a parent, legal guardian, or responsible adult remains responsible for the minor at all times.

Quick Version for Parents and Guardians

S.A.F.E. wants families to have a positive experience. Here are the basics:

Minors are welcome at events marked all-ages or family friendly.
Minors must follow the S.A.F.E. Code of Conduct, venue rules, and event rules.
Parents, legal guardians, or responsible adults are responsible for the minors in their care.
S.A.F.E. does not provide childcare, babysitting, or one-on-one supervision.
A minor should never be dropped off unless the event listing clearly says drop-off attendance is allowed.
Minors should have a parent, guardian, or responsible adult present and reachable during the event.
Adult-only events, 18+ events, and 21+ events are not open to minors.
Photos, hugs, fursuit interactions, and close contact should always involve consent and good judgment.
Anyone may report a concern to S.A.F.E. leadership, event staff, venue staff, or emergency services when appropriate.
S.A.F.E. may remove anyone from an event if behavior creates a safety concern or violates event expectations.

Purpose of These Guidelines

These guidelines are here to help parents, guardians, minors, volunteers, event hosts, and community members understand what to expect at S.A.F.E. events and online spaces.

They are meant to:

Support family-friendly participation
Set clear expectations for minors and adults
Help parents feel informed before attending
Protect youth, families, attendees, volunteers, and venues
Keep all-ages events welcoming and appropriate
Reduce confusion about what S.A.F.E. does and does not provide

These guidelines work together with the S.A.F.E. Code of Conduct. If there is ever a conflict between a casual event description and these guidelines, the safer and more protective expectation should apply.

Important Statement: S.A.F.E. Is Not a Childcare Provider

S.A.F.E. is a volunteer-run community organization. We help promote, organize, and support furry community events, but we do not act as a childcare provider, school program, youth custody program, daycare, camp, or babysitting service.

Unless S.A.F.E. creates and publishes a formal youth program in the future with additional written policies, training, screening, and supervision procedures:

S.A.F.E. volunteers are not responsible for supervising minors one-on-one.
S.A.F.E. volunteers should not be asked to watch a minor while a parent or guardian leaves.
Minors should not be left alone with unrelated adults in private or isolated areas.
Parents, legal guardians, or responsible adults remain responsible for transportation, supervision, behavior, safety, and decision-making for minors in their care.
Event attendance does not transfer parental or guardian responsibility to S.A.F.E., its volunteers, event hosts, venues, or partner groups.

Event Age Ratings

S.A.F.E. event listings should clearly identify the intended age rating when possible.

All-Ages / Family Friendly

These events are intended to be appropriate for families, minors, and the general public. Language, costumes, artwork, behavior, and public conduct should stay suitable for a family-friendly public setting.

Examples may include community meetups, park meets, educational pages, charity events, public outreach events, casual dining meets, creator showcases, and daytime social gatherings.

General Audience

These events may still allow minors, but they may be more social, crowded, loud, or late in the day. Parents and guardians should use judgment based on the minor’s age, comfort level, maturity, and needs.

18+ Events

These events are only for adults age 18 and older. Minors may not attend, even with a parent or guardian.

21+ Events

These events are only for adults age 21 and older, usually because alcohol is present or the venue requires it. Minors may not attend, and age verification may be required.

Parent, Guardian, and Responsible Adult Expectations

A parent, legal guardian, or responsible adult attending with a minor is expected to:

Know where the minor is during the event
Remain reachable during the event
Stay in an area the minor can access when needed
Help the minor follow the Code of Conduct and venue rules
Monitor interactions with adults and other attendees
Make sure the minor has transportation home
Handle food, medication, accessibility needs, emotional support, and personal care needs
Decide whether the event is appropriate for the minor’s age, maturity, and comfort level
Step in if the minor becomes overwhelmed, unsafe, disruptive, or uncomfortable

A responsible adult should be someone the parent or legal guardian has authorized to supervise the minor. S.A.F.E. may ask for clarification if there is a safety concern or confusion about who is responsible for a minor.

Minor Attendance Expectations

Minors attending S.A.F.E. events are expected to:

Follow the S.A.F.E. Code of Conduct
Follow venue and event rules
Treat others with kindness and respect
Ask before touching, hugging, photographing, or recording someone
Respect when someone says no, stop, or leave me alone
Stay out of 18+ or 21+ areas and events
Avoid adult conversations, adult jokes, adult artwork, or adult behavior in all-ages spaces
Check in with their parent, guardian, or responsible adult as needed
Tell a trusted adult, event host, S.A.F.E. volunteer, or venue staff member if something feels wrong

Adult Conduct Around Minors

Adults attending S.A.F.E. events are expected to use extra care around minors. Even when someone is friendly, popular, in costume, or well-known in the community, adults must respect youth boundaries and keep interactions appropriate.

Adults should:

Keep conversations with minors appropriate for all-ages spaces
Avoid adult jokes, sexual comments, or suggestive behavior around minors
Avoid private or isolated one-on-one interactions with unrelated minors
Avoid direct messaging minors outside official event or community needs
Avoid giving personal gifts, money, rides, or private invitations to minors without parent or guardian awareness and consent
Avoid asking minors to keep secrets from parents, guardians, moderators, or event staff
Avoid physical contact that could be misunderstood, inappropriate, unwanted, or unsafe
Redirect concerns to parents, guardians, S.A.F.E. leadership, event hosts, or venue staff

Adults must not use friendship, community status, costumes, gifts, attention, transportation, online messages, or event access to pressure, manipulate, isolate, or exploit minors.

Appropriate Interactions With Minors

Appropriate interactions may include:

Friendly conversation in public event areas
Waving, high-fives, fist bumps, or handshakes
Brief hugs when the minor initiates or clearly consents and the parent or guardian is comfortable with it
Photos when the minor and parent or guardian consent
Helping a minor find their parent, guardian, event host, venue staff, or S.A.F.E. volunteer
Public group activities where a parent, guardian, responsible adult, or event host is present

Even positive interactions should remain public, respectful, and easy for a parent or guardian to observe.

Inappropriate Interactions With Minors

The following are not allowed at S.A.F.E. events or in S.A.F.E. spaces:

Sexual, romantic, or suggestive comments toward minors
Adult roleplay, sexual jokes, or explicit discussions with minors
Private one-on-one meetings with unrelated minors in isolated spaces
Unwanted touching, hugging, grabbing, tickling, wrestling, cuddling, lap sitting, or massage
Taking or requesting inappropriate photos or videos
Asking minors for secrecy from parents, guardians, moderators, or event staff
Giving alcohol, tobacco, vaping products, cannabis, illegal substances, adult materials, or age-restricted items to minors
Offering rides, lodging, private meals, or off-site meetings to minors without parent or guardian knowledge and consent
Pressuring a minor to join private chats, adult spaces, or age-restricted groups
Retaliating against a minor, parent, guardian, or reporter for raising a concern

Any concern involving possible abuse, exploitation, grooming, threats, violence, or illegal conduct may be escalated to venue staff, emergency services, or law enforcement as appropriate.

Fursuit and Costume Interactions

Fursuits and costumes can be fun, friendly, and exciting for kids and families. They can also make communication harder because a person in costume may have limited vision, hearing, movement, or ability to speak clearly.

Please follow these expectations:

Ask before hugging, touching, grabbing tails, touching props, or taking photos.
Do not pull on ears, tails, paws, wings, badges, collars, or costume pieces.
Do not crowd, chase, block, trip, or surprise a fursuiter.
Parents should help younger children understand how to safely interact with costumed attendees.
Fursuiters and costumers should keep interactions with minors public, brief, appropriate, and respectful.
A costume is not consent to touch, tease, photograph, or follow someone.

Photos, Video, and Social Media Involving Minors

S.A.F.E. encourages positive memories, but youth privacy matters.

Before taking a focused photo or video of a minor, ask permission from the parent or guardian when possible. If a parent, guardian, or minor says no, respect that immediately.

Expected behavior includes:

Do not take hidden or invasive photos or videos.
Do not post identifying information about minors without parent or guardian permission.
Do not tag, name, or locate minors publicly without consent.
Do not photograph minors in a way that is embarrassing, vulnerable, unsafe, or inappropriate.
If someone asks you to remove a photo or video clearly featuring their child, respond respectfully.

Public crowd photos may happen at public events. S.A.F.E. will make reasonable efforts to respect privacy concerns when they are brought to our attention.

Online Spaces, Telegram, and Digital Safety

S.A.F.E. online spaces should remain safe, respectful, and appropriate for their intended audience.

For spaces that allow minors:

Keep conversation appropriate for all-ages spaces.
Do not post adult content, adult jokes, or NSFW material.
Do not pressure minors into private messages.
Do not ask minors for personal information, location, photos, school information, or private family details.
Do not share screenshots or private messages involving minors without a legitimate safety or moderation reason.
Report suspicious, unsafe, or inappropriate conduct to moderators or S.A.F.E. leadership.

Parents and guardians are encouraged to talk with minors about online safety, privacy, direct messages, boundaries, and what to do if someone makes them uncomfortable.

Drop-Off Events

Unless an event listing clearly states otherwise, S.A.F.E. events should be treated as not drop-off events for minors.

For most S.A.F.E. all-ages events:

A parent, legal guardian, or responsible adult should attend with the minor.
The responsible adult should remain present or immediately reachable.
The minor should know where their responsible adult is.
S.A.F.E. volunteers should not be used as substitute supervision.

If S.A.F.E. creates a drop-off youth activity in the future, that activity should have separate written rules, sign-in and sign-out procedures, emergency contact information, volunteer screening, and supervision standards.

Transportation

S.A.F.E. does not provide transportation for minors.

Adults should not offer private transportation to unrelated minors through S.A.F.E. events or spaces unless the parent or legal guardian has clearly arranged and approved it outside of S.A.F.E. responsibility.

Minors and parents should plan transportation before the event and make sure the minor has a safe way home.

Food, Allergies, Medication, and Personal Care

Parents and guardians are responsible for any food needs, allergies, medication, sensory needs, medical needs, mobility needs, personal care needs, and emergency contact information for minors in their care.

S.A.F.E. may share event details when available, such as whether food is present, whether the venue is loud, whether the event is outdoors, or whether the venue has accessible facilities. Parents and guardians should still use their own judgment and contact S.A.F.E. or the event host with questions before attending.

Safety, Emergencies, and Reporting

If a minor, parent, guardian, attendee, volunteer, or venue staff member has a concern, they should contact S.A.F.E. leadership, the event host, venue staff, security, or emergency services depending on the situation.

Reportable concerns may include:

Harassment, bullying, intimidation, or threats
Unwanted touching or boundary violations
Unsafe adult behavior around minors
A minor who appears lost, abandoned, distressed, or unsafe
Medical concerns or emergencies
Inappropriate photos, messages, or online conduct
Attempts to isolate, groom, exploit, or pressure a minor
Violations of age restrictions
Any immediate safety concern

When reporting, include what happened, when and where it happened, who was involved, any witnesses, and screenshots or other evidence if available.

If there is immediate danger, violence, a medical emergency, a missing child, suspected abuse, or a crime in progress, contact emergency services first.

S.A.F.E. Volunteer Expectations Around Youth

S.A.F.E. volunteers and leadership should lead by example when minors and families are present.

Volunteers should:

Follow the S.A.F.E. Code of Conduct
Keep interactions with minors public, appropriate, and observable
Avoid being alone with an unrelated minor in a private or isolated area
Redirect supervision needs back to the parent, guardian, or responsible adult
Avoid private direct messages with minors unless needed for official S.A.F.E. business and handled appropriately
Avoid transporting minors
Report safety concerns to the appropriate S.A.F.E. lead, event host, venue staff, or emergency services
Protect private information involving minors and families