Did you know that WWOOF Italy is one of the few WWOOF organizations in the world that allows minors to accomplish WWOOF experiences on the farms independently, without being accompanied by their parents? Indeed, girls and boys as early as their 16th birthday can join our association as volunteers and can make their farm visits unaccompanied. WWOOF Italy encourages young people to be protagonists of their choice and not to be “sent” by their parents. For several years now, through the Minors Project, very young people from all over the world have been arriving at our hosts who make themselves available to host them.

If you would like to host underage boys and believe that your reality has the right characteristics, it may be a good idea for you too to host WWOOFers through the Minors Project. To approach this experience calmly, however, you need to be familiar with the rules of the association, along with the protections and obligations you have as a host.

In order to have a legal and safe WWOOF experience and to not put the host at risk, each minor must have completed some basic steps that you will find below.

🪪 Membership card

First, they must be a regular member of WWOOF Italy and have a valid membership card for the duration of their stay.

N.B: Remember to have the staff or the WWOOFer themself send you their membership card before their visit to your farm begins.

🖊️ Liability Release

In addition, in order to become a volunteer, each underage WWOOFer must send the staff a Release of Liability signed by both parents, who assume responsibility for any occurrences not related to specific WWOOFing activities. Therefore, to host a minor you must be sure the WWOOFer has already provided the staff with a signed parental release!

Please note: You can request the release from the staff by writing to progetto.minori@wwoof.it.

⚠️ Attention to the rules

In order to host minors traveling unaccompanied, both of the above requirements must be met. Whenever you welcome a minor WWOOFer who arrives independently make sure that you have received both their membership card and the Liability Release form signed by their parents prior to the start of their WWOOF visit.

N.B: In order not to run the risk of hosting non-compliant children, we advise you to check that the staff is following up on the Minor WWOOFer’s enrollment. If you have any doubts, write to progetto.minori@wwoof.it to ask for confirmation.

👪 Families

In the case of parents traveling with children between the ages of 14 and 18, the children does not need the signed Release Form, but they still need to have a valid membership card so that they are covered by the insurance policy and are legally recognized as volunteers (without running the risk of being considered as illegal labor).

☑️ Insurance

A properly enrolled minor WWOOFer is covered by insurance for all WWOOFing activities in the same way as an adult WWOOFer.

🏡 Obligations of the host

We ask of you as a host a special sensitivity and availability to meet the needs of such young boys. We invite you to offer them a welcoming, safe, clean and peaceful environment; involvement in activities that are not physically too demanding; a good balance between farm help and free time; a constant and reassuring presence from you and the other adults on the farm; and of course a lot of willingness to pass on your knowledge and daily practices.