For the safety of the youth and for the good of all involved in the conference, there must be at least one but no more than three adults per ten youth. A group may be as small as one Youth and one same-sex chaperone, e.g., a mother and a daughter, father and son. Please take into account these ratios when determining the number of spaces you wish to reserve. A group must have at least one youth attending.
All Adult Chaperones are expected to be with the Youth throughout the conference, to include sleeping in the same-sex building with the youth. Chaperones and Teens will not be in the same room. For this reason, it is necessary that there is at least one male Adult Chaperone for every ten young men, and one female Adult Chaperone for every ten young women. For example, if a group brings 9 youth, five female and four male, that group would need to have two Adult Chaperones, one male and one female.
We realize there are situations where it may be challenging to find another chaperone, but from experience we have found that this dual leadership is imperative, especially in times of ministry, during breakout sessions, and for supervisory reasons, especially at night as boys and girls sleep in different buildings. Please remember that young adults (18-20) cannot serve as chaperones.
It is important that your group not exceed our maximum of 3 to 10 adult-to-youth ratio, as it limits the number of youth to whom we are able to minister. Please remember that the primary purpose of Franciscan University High School Youth Conferences is to provide Catholic YOUTH an opportunity to experience the power of Christ through presenters, workshops, and entertainment. It is not designed to be a training weekend for youth ministers. With this in mind, we expect Group Leaders to adhere to the maximum adult-to-youth ratio mentioned above.