Youth Safety
Parent/guardian consent, supervision, adult/minor boundaries, communication, media, restricted access, reporting, and KCS authority to act when minors are involved.
KCS may allow youth participants, minor competitors, young fans, and families to participate in or attend KCS events. When minors are involved, KCS may apply additional safety, eligibility, supervision, communication, media, and access-control procedures.
A minor means any person under the age of 18, unless a different age of majority applies under the law of the event location.
Minor competitors may be required to have written consent from a parent or legal guardian before participating in any KCS event, battle, competition, media activity, livestream, interview, travel-related activity, or other KCS-approved opportunity.
KCS may require a parent or legal guardian to complete registration, sign event waivers or releases, confirm emergency contact information, approve participation, and provide any other information reasonably needed for the minor's safety and participation.
KCS may deny or suspend a minor's participation if required consent, identification, emergency contact information, or registration materials are missing, incomplete, inaccurate, or not received by the stated deadline.
KCS may require minors to be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian, or approved responsible adult while at a KCS event.
Parents, guardians, and approved adults are responsible for supervising the minor in their care, following KCS rules, respecting venue requirements, and cooperating with KCS staff, venue staff, security, and event officials.
KCS is not a childcare provider and does not assume general custodial responsibility for minors attending or participating in events.
Adults involved with KCS are expected to maintain appropriate boundaries with minors at all times.
Adults may not use KCS events, messaging, travel, media access, backstage access, leadership roles, judging authority, coaching influence, or community status to create inappropriate, exploitative, secretive, or unsafe relationships with minors.
KCS may require that communications with minors occur through a parent, legal guardian, approved adult, official KCS channel, group communication, or other approved method.
KCS events may be photographed, filmed, livestreamed, recorded, archived, and used for event, promotional, editorial, broadcast, ranking, recap, documentary, website, app, sponsor, social media, livestream, and VOD purposes.
When minors participate, KCS may require parent or guardian consent for media use, impose limits on interviews or filming, restrict backstage or private-area recording, and remove or withhold content when KCS determines that doing so is appropriate for safety, privacy, legal, or community-protection reasons.
No person may use KCS media access, event credentials, livestream access, photography, videography, or backstage access to harass, exploit, sexualize, embarrass, threaten, target, or endanger a minor.
KCS may limit minor access to backstage areas, production areas, judging areas, media areas, green rooms, hotel rooms, transportation areas, or any other restricted location.
Any concern involving a minor, including harassment, inappropriate communication, unsafe contact, boundary violations, exploitation, threats, grooming behavior, retaliation, or other safety concerns, should be submitted through the KCS Report a Concern form as soon as possible.
If there is an immediate safety emergency, participants should contact venue security, local emergency services, or law enforcement first.
KCS may take immediate action when a minor's safety, privacy, participation, or wellbeing may be at risk.
Possible actions may include requiring parent or guardian involvement, restricting access, removing a person from an event, suspending participation, revoking credentials, banning a person from KCS events or platforms, withholding privileges, preserving available evidence, contacting venue security, or referring a matter to law enforcement or appropriate authorities when necessary.
