Emergency Preparedness for Families

Make a family emergency plan today.

Your family may not be together if a disaster strikes, so it is important to know which types of disasters could affect your area. Know how you’ll contact one another and reconnect if separated. Establish a family meeting place that’s familiar and easy to find.

It is also your responsibility to check on your child care provider’s emergency plan and know the reunification procedures in the event of an evacuation. While your child care provider will have a plan to protect your child if an emergency occurs at their care location, Emergency Preparedness starts at home.

Questions to consider with your family:

How will I receive emergency alerts and updates?
What is my shelter-in-place plan?
What is my evacuation route and where will be go?
What is our family’s plan to communicate with one another if we’re not together?

Resources to help you get started on creating a plan as a family:

Making a Family Emergency Plan:

Be Ready Iowa - Our Family Emergency Plan
FEMA - Help After a Disater
Ready.gov - Family Communication Plan
Red Cross
- English - Family Disaster Plan
- Spanish - Plan familiar para casos de desastre
Meet the Helpers - Public Media initiative to introduce children to community helpers and practice Emergency Preparedness
Sesame Street - Emergency Preparation

Building an Emergency Supply Kit at Home:

Trauma and Emotional Support:

Camp Noah - Program to help children process their disaster or trauma experience
Child Care Aware of America - Vroom: Let's Talk About Feelings
Child Life Disaster Relief - Multiple resources on helping children cope with grief
Eluna Network - Childhood Grief
Every Step Care and Support Services - Amanda the Panda
Hamilton's Funeral & AfterLife Services Academy of Grief and Loss - Children and grief printable resources
National Association for the Education of Young Children - Coping with Disasters, Violence, and Tragedies
National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness - Helping Your Child Cope After a Disaster
National Child Traumatic Stress Network - Helping childhood trauma from disasters
National Child Traumatic Stress Network - Helping Your Child Cope with Media Coverage of Disasters: A Fact Sheet for Parents
National Mental Health Information Center - Multiple resources for families and children
Psychological First Aid - Parent Tips for Helping Infants and Toddlers after Disasters
Sesame Street in Communities - Helping Kids Grieve
Sesame Street Workshop - Offering Comfort in Scary Times
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - Tips for Talking With and Helping Children and Youth Cope After a Disaster or Traumatic Event: A Guide for Parents, Caregivers, and Teachers
University of Nebraska-Lincoln - Read for Resilience
Zero to Three - Trauma and Stress Resources

Starting Emergency Planning Conversations with Child Care Providers:

Family 1 Flyer - DYK Iowa requires all child care businesses to have a written Emergency Preparedness plan?
Family 2 Flyer - DYK child care businesses should have emergency supplies prepared for both evacuations and sheltering-in-place?
Family 3 Flyer - DYK child care businesses should have an established relocation site for evacuations?
Family 4 Flyer - DYK Iowa requires all child care businesses to complete fire and tornado drills monthly?
Family 5 Flyer - DYK that CCR&R offers resources to help families make their own Emergency Preparedness plan?