On the American side the camps are strictly work camps. Everyone who goes down has to have a job. No unattached families and no children. It’s probably a good thing as McM can be a pretty hazardous place. In the summer if you get sick or hurt you are a minimum of three days and as much as a week or more ( in bad weather) from an airflight back to a New Zealand hospital. There are plenty of bulldozers, loaders and heavy equipment that a child running around would be at risk of being hit. Also the helecopter pad isn’t fenced off and would be quite a dangerous place for an exploring child. We have marked safe routes across the ice, but off the route there are crevasses that can be hundreds of feet deep. They sometimes have snow blown over the top so you can’t see them. We’ve had a few adults fall through (some deaths) it would be devestating to all of us to lose someones child.
The only way I’ve seen children in McMurdo is when a cruise ship comes in. They usually give the passengers a tour of the facility and sometimes kids come ashore.
mike