A good Model UN parent guide comes down to fifteen questions: who is supervising your child and when, how staff are screened, what happens at night, how medical needs and emergencies are handled, what the fee covers, and what happens if plans change. Any organiser worth trusting can answer every one of them in writing before you pay.
Key takeaways
- Model UN itself is a structured, indoor, adult-led activity; the real questions are about the trip around it, not the committee room.
- Ask for supervision, screening, curfew, alcohol, medical, emergency, insurance and cancellation policies in writing, and keep the reply.
- A trustworthy organiser answers plainly, itemises the fee, and says openly what is not yet confirmed.
- Pressure to pay before your questions are answered is the clearest warning sign of all.
- The academic side matters too: ask who chairs the committees and how your child will receive feedback.
- The Global 60 publishes its answers on a dedicated parents page and confirms operational detail in a delegate handbook after admission.
- Is Model UN safe?
- Supervision and staff: questions 1 to 4
- Health, emergencies and insurance: questions 5 to 7
- Rooms, fees and cancellation: questions 8 to 10
- Communication and consent: questions 11 and 12
- The academic side and afterwards: questions 13 to 15
- How to use these questions
- Where to go next
Is Model UN safe?
Model UN is, in general, one of the safer activities a teenager can take up: it happens indoors, in formal settings, during the day, with adult chairs and staff present throughout. Model United Nations (Model UN, MUN) is a simulation in which students represent countries in committees modelled on the United Nations, debate a topic and negotiate a written resolution.
The risks sit around the edges of a conference rather than inside it: travel, hotel nights, evenings, and the gap between what a brochure implies and what an organiser has actually arranged. A residential conference is a school trip with a debate attached, so the questions to ask before a school trip apply in full.
What follows is a parent's checklist for Model UN supervision and logistics. Each question comes with a model answer, so you know what good looks like, and a note on how The Global 60 answers it, as a worked example. If you are still deciding whether the activity is right for your child, start with whether Model UN is worth it and how to choose a conference.
Supervision and staff: questions 1 to 4
These four questions establish who is responsible for your child at every hour of the trip, including the hours when nothing is scheduled.
1. Who supervises the delegates, and when?
A good answer names the organisation's own staff, says they are present from first arrival to last departure rather than only during sessions, and gives you a named lead you can reach. Be cautious of an organiser that describes supervision only as a number, or cannot say who is in the hotel in the evening.
The Global 60: Youth Impacts staff and chaperones are on site throughout, the cohort travels around Manhattan in three groups of about twenty with staff, and the staffing plan is confirmed in the delegate handbook.
2. How are staff screened?
A good answer confirms background checks for anyone working with minors, a written code of conduct, and a named person responsible for safeguarding. Volunteers and student chairs should be covered by the same policy as employed staff.
The Global 60: background-screened staff for anyone working with minors.
3. What is the curfew, and how is it checked?
A good answer gives a time, describes a physical room check rather than a message in a group chat, and explains what happens if a curfew is missed. Under-18s should not be roomed with adults.
The Global 60: a nightly curfew and room check for under-18s.
4. What is the alcohol policy?
A good answer is one sentence long: no alcohol for anyone under the legal drinking age of the host country, applied at receptions and formal dinners as much as in free time. In the United States that age is 21, which covers almost every high-school and most university delegates.
The Global 60: no alcohol for underage delegates, including at the Saturday gala.
Health, emergencies and insurance: questions 5 to 7
These questions cover what happens when something goes wrong, which is precisely when a brochure stops being useful.
5. How are medical and dietary needs handled?
A good answer describes a medical and dietary form collected before travel, says who holds that information on site, explains how medication is stored and how allergies reach the caterers, and confirms that staff know the nearest hospital. If meals are not included, ask how a delegate with a serious allergy is expected to eat safely in an unfamiliar city.
The Global 60: medical and dietary forms are completed after admission, and every meal from the Thursday welcome reception to the Sunday brunch is included, so dietary requirements are managed by the organiser rather than left to the delegate.
6. Who do I call in an emergency, and who calls me?
A good answer gives you a number answered by a person at any hour, and tells you in advance which situations trigger a call to you: illness, injury, a missed curfew, a disciplinary matter.
The Global 60: a 24-hour parent emergency contact from first arrival to last departure.
7. What insurance is in place, and what must I arrange?
A good answer separates the organiser's own cover from yours. Almost no conference fee includes personal travel insurance, so you should expect to buy medical, travel and cancellation cover yourself and be told so plainly.
The Global 60: personal and travel insurance are not included, and travel insurance covering cancellation is required for every delegate.
Rooms, fees and cancellation: questions 8 to 10
The financial questions are where vague answers cost the most, so ask for each one in writing.
8. What is the room-sharing policy?
A good answer confirms that shared rooms pair delegates of the same gender and similar age, explains how roommates are allocated, and offers a private room if you want one. You should also know which hotel it is before you are asked to pay, or be told exactly when you will know.
The Global 60: the Delegate tier is a twin room shared with a delegate of the same gender; Delegate, Private ($3,999) provides a private room. The hotel is a Manhattan hotel, announced to admitted delegates before any payment is due.
9. What exactly does the fee cover?
A good answer is an itemised list: nights of accommodation, which meals, which transfers, the programme itself, and a separate list of what is excluded. The excluded list is the more revealing one. Our guide to what Model UN costs shows how quickly extras add up.
The Global 60: the Delegate tier is $2,999 for three nights in New York, the full programme, all meals, airport and cohort transfers, the delegate kit, portraits and the Global 60 Network. Flights, visas, insurance and personal spending are not included. No tier changes the academic programme.
10. What happens if we need to cancel?
A good answer is a written policy you can read before paying, with any credit or refund terms stated in plain language, plus a payment schedule so you know when money is committed.
The Global 60: fees are non-refundable; a delegate who withdraws receives a non-transferable one-year credit voucher for amounts paid. Families may pay in full or make a first payment of $1,000 or more, with the balance charged monthly and cleared by 1 March 2027. An offer holds a place for 14 days. The full wording is on the terms page.
Communication and consent: questions 11 and 12
These two questions decide how much you will know while your child is away, and what happens to their image afterwards.
11. How will I hear from you during the conference?
A good answer tells you where the cohort will be at each hour, gives you a channel for questions that is not your child's phone, and sets expectations about how often you will hear anything at all. A published hour-by-hour programme is worth more than promises of updates.
The Global 60: the full programme, including venues, dress and timings, is published in advance on the programme page, and parents have the 24-hour line throughout. Committee and gala venues are confirmed to admitted delegates.
12. How is photography consent handled?
A good answer includes a consent form, a genuine option to decline, an explanation of where images may appear, and honesty about which photographs on the organiser's website show real past participants.
The Global 60: photography consent is signed after admission. Youth Impacts captions its archive photographs from past conferences separately from campaign imagery, so no one is presented as a past delegate who was not one.
The academic side and afterwards: questions 13 to 15
The last three questions test whether the conference is worth your child's time, which is a different question from whether it is safe.
13. Who are the chairs, and how big is each committee?
A good answer explains who chairs the committees, how they are trained, and how many delegates sit in each room. Committee size decides how often your child will actually speak: in a room of two hundred, many delegates never do.
The Global 60: three small chambers of approximately twenty delegates each, three committee sessions and one Global Plenary. Topics are announced to admitted delegates once the academic team approves them. The reasoning is set out in why we host three small chambers.
14. How will my child receive feedback?
A good answer goes beyond awards: written comments on the position paper, a word from the chair during the conference, or a recording your child can review afterwards. Our explainer on Model UN awards covers what the prizes do and do not tell you.
The Global 60: each chamber recognises Best Delegate, Outstanding Delegate, Honourable Mention and Best Position Paper; every delegate receives a professional portrait and a recording of their own address.
15. What happens afterwards?
A good answer is modest and specific. Be wary of lifelong networks and grand alumni claims; ask what is actually resourced in the twelve months after the conference.
The Global 60: the Global 60 Network is a private alumni community, a ninety-day check-in, continuation for teams formed in the Founder Lab, one virtual gathering in the following year, and introductions where available. Nothing is promised for life.
How to use these questions
Send all fifteen questions in a single email and judge the organiser by the reply as much as by the answers. A serious organisation will respond in writing, point you to published policies, and be comfortable saying which details are still being confirmed.
Three warning signs
Pressure to pay before your questions are answered; answers that exist only on the phone; and certainty about everything, including details a careful organiser would still describe as planned. Conditional wording about a venue is a mark of honesty, not weakness.
Once your child has a place, the same list becomes your packing brief. Our guides to student travel to a New York conference and what to wear to Model UN pick up from there.
Where to go next
The parents and guardians page sets out Youth Impacts' answers to every question above in one place, and the FAQ covers logistics, dress and conduct. If your child is ready to apply, the admission and fees page explains the rounds, the interview and what each tier includes.
Frequently asked questions.
Is Model UN safe for teenagers?
The activity itself is structured, indoor and adult-led, so it is generally safe. The questions that matter concern the trip around it: supervision, hotel nights, emergencies and insurance, which depend entirely on the organiser.
What should a parent ask before a Model UN conference?
Who supervises and when, how staff are screened, the curfew and alcohol policy, how medical and dietary needs are handled, the emergency contact, insurance, room-sharing, what the fee covers, cancellation terms, communication during the trip, photography consent, who the chairs are, how feedback is given and what happens afterwards.
Does the conference fee usually include insurance?
Almost never. Expect to arrange travel, medical and cancellation cover yourself; The Global 60 requires travel insurance covering cancellation for every delegate.
How does The Global 60 supervise delegates?
Youth Impacts staff and chaperones are on site throughout, staff are background-screened, under-18s have a nightly curfew and room check, no alcohol is served to underage delegates, and parents have a 24-hour emergency contact. The staffing plan is confirmed in the delegate handbook.
Can a parent attend The Global 60?
The programme is for delegates. The Delegate, Private tier includes one parent or guardian seat at the Saturday gala and Delegate, Excellency includes two; a 24-hour parent contact line runs throughout.
Youth Impacts is a Model United Nations organisation. Its flagship New York experience is The Global 60: sixty delegates, three small chambers, 22 – 25 April 2027, admission by application and interview. Youth Impacts Model United Nations (YIMUN) has run since 2025. Questions: info@youthimpacts.com. Published 19 September 2026.