I travelled a lot with my son and I always had his birth certificate and social security card with me, beside his passport. I did encounter one situation in Central America (Costa Rican border with Panama) where I was not allowed to leave the country because I did not have a letter from the lawyer stating that the father of my son agreed for me to travel alone with my son.
I had the letter they wanted, but it was not written by a lawyer and signed by a local notary and it was not in Spanish. I had to postpone my trip for two days until I had my letter translated and signed by a local lawyer.
Funny thing is that one of my friends who travelled two days before through the same border was not asked anything regarding her kids, although her husband was not travelling with her. It depends on the border officer, how zealous he is or not.
I understand that they had a lot of cases of child trafficking in Central America and I agree that they should verify everyone. My only problem is that different people ask for different things.
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So true! I hear so many stories of one asking for this or that. Do we need a copy of the birth certificate or not? Sometimes yes and sometimes no! I figured that if it ever came down to it (when my hubs was in the states and I was here alone with the kids with no letter) that I would just have a friend pose as my husband and the kids would "have my last name not his." I hear, quite possibly, a male present is all they are looking for. That or I would have his brother fly in to get us out since he has the same last name. ;) But thankfully nothing happened that necessitated that. :)