Messages

Daughter and friends stayed at the Hilton. She rates it a 9/10. It probably helped that I'm a priority something and checked them in. They had no problem with noise, the bellstaff were great to them, their only concern was the restaurant didn't really work for them, so they ate other places. For 2009, I think they want to be in the Marriott instead, though, just for the closeness and the atmosphere.

Honestly though, it baffles me how people over the age of ten can have no legal government-accepted identification on them. What if something were to happen and your child were to go missing? A goverment ID would be much easier for police to track should they find her than some generic school ID. I've had a small laminated copy of my goverment-issued birth certificate in my wallet from the time I was old enough go out on my own, just for that reason, as well as a social insurance card. I've had an up to date passport in the house at all times from the age of eight, just in case of emergencies. We've got family in Canada, the US, and Greece that we may have to visit at a moment's notice due to death in the family or whatever.

I think that's great for you. In a better world, my daughter might have that, too. In a better situation, she would not have been abused in another household, would not have been part of an  unfortunately acrimonious custody modification to remove her from that abusive household, and would not have a parent who was holding her vital records and documents hostage to express unhappiness over being ruled against in court. It has taken us a while to rebuild all of the things she had confiscated from her, taken as punishment, or just withheld. It's a difficult situation, but that's just the way it's been.

It sounds like you have a really great family, and I'm glad for you about it. I wish my daughter had the support of both her parents; if she did, she probably wouldn't have awkward situations like this come up.

I think my question has been answered elsewhere, but with regard to the suggestion that "this has been policy since October, and everyone has known about it". Our family does not attend Fanime; we attend another convention the same weekend and have for years, as presenters and voluneteers. Because I have friends who have family members who attend Fanime, we've been discussing as a family the idea of somehow managing both events this year. The decision possibly attending wasn't made until December (after first semester grades came out, to be honest). I did read information about the con in January online and discussed attending, but I did not find any reference to the ID situation at that time.

Since it *is* an unusual requirement, it might be helpful to put it in an prominent place on the home page in the future. I have spoken to several regular attendees of Fanime, and none of them were aware of the restriction either. Apparently, like me, they do not follow the forums; I imagine the majority of Fanime attendees probably do not regular read the Forums.

In closing, I've evidently been interpreted as being "bitter". I'm not the least bit bitter. I was trying to be a good parent and provide a reward to my daughter for working very hard in school and at home. It's disappointing to find there are restrictions like this. If you have to attribute an emotion to me, I am exactly that, disappointed. Not bitter, certainly.

Hi! I've posted elsewhere about how we're having to cancel out because my daughter can't get a state ID in time for this event. (It'll be one more sad consequence of the custody change a while back.) It appears to me there are two options:

1. She must have a state issued ID, and only a state issued ID to pre or early register for Fanime. If she does not have a state ID, she cannot be pre-registered or early registered. (And her friends who are pre-registered won't be allowed to attend either, evidently.)

2. If she does not have a state ID, she can purchase a membership at the door.

Here's my question: does Fanime have a registration cap? Is there some reason why she would not be able to register at the door? It appears that basically if we're willing to pay the premium to register at the door (and I have no idea how much that will be), that she would be able to attend, but I don't want to to assume that, have her arrive, and be told, "Sorry, we are at capacity, no more door registration."

Two things:

1. The original post links to "the CA DMV website" -- except it's not. dmv.org is not affiliated with the state of California or any other state. The link has ads, popups, and has in the past been linked to malware. The correct address would be at dmv.ca.gov. Because the dmv.org website is simply an adsite that posts information from state DMVs, it may or may not be accurate at any given time and should not be used as "the" source.

2. I've just had to have the "I don't think you will be able to go to Fanime" conversation with my daughter, because of the ID policy. There is no legal requirement in California for a 16 year old to have a state-issued ID or to show such a state issued ID. For employment, Federal law says employers can accept other kinds of identification to prove identity and citizenship. (She's not even required to have it when for air travel, because picture ID requirements don't apply to those under age 18.) My daughter does not drive, and will not work until she is older. But even if we wanted to go out and get her a state ID - solely for Fanime -- we could not. She's with me after an acrimonious custody dispute. Her father has her original birth certificate and social security card, and we have no way of getting them back from him, so I'll have to replace those. I had planned to do so in the coming months, because she has summer plans that need them. However, getting a new birth certificate copy will take 6-8 weeks. Without it, she cannot apply for a state ID, so she's unable to have one in time for Fanime.

I sent email to registration about this, but haven't gotten a response; my impression is that they have a high volume of email and I may not ever get a response. Because I'm not willing to pay for memberships and hotel rooms for a con she may be barred from attending, I've had to explain to her that if we don't hear from Reg, we will have to cancel her attendance. She's upset, in part because she's part of a cosplay group and this is late to be letting them know this. It turns out that the other group members also were not aware of this requirement and they probably don't have state ID's either, so they're probably not going to be able to attend anyway.

I've helped run cons on and off for over 20 years. I understand problems with registration and wanting to have valid ID's. I just wanted to point out that there are entirely reasonable situations that would make "just go get a state ID" not a viable solution. I haven't even touched on how this makes Fanime "for citizens only", because you can't get a state ID without a social security number.