Know

Disasters or injuries can shatter the daily routines in your family child care. As a family child care provider, you have to keep children safe during these difficult events. You can also be a resource and comfort to families and your community in the aftermath of a disaster.

Types of Emergencies and Knowing your Risk

Occasionally, unusual events occur that require quick action. If there is potential for injury, harm, or loss of life, these events are emergencies. Examples of emergencies that may affect a family child care setting include:

• Injuries: Where a child, you, or other adults who may assist you experience bodily harm. This may result from falls, accidents, or contact with poisons. We will address injuries in more detail in the next lesson.
• Inclement weather: Snow, ice, or extreme heat.
• Technology failure: Electricity or water outages.
• Missing child: When a child leaves or is taken from the child care without authorization.

When emergencies are more severe, affect a larger number of people, or present a stronger risk, they can be thought of as disasters. The kinds of disasters you may encounter often vary by the region in which you live. There are different types of disasters that may affect family child care providers:

1. Natural disasters: This includes floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, forest fires, wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, or similar events.
2. Technological disasters: This includes explosions, nuclear fallout, prolonged power or gas outages, drinking water shortages, oil spills, or fires.
3. Terrorism: This includes acts of violence or threats of violence against individuals or groups. Examples may include bombings, shooting, kidnappings, hijacking, or use of biological weapons.
4. Illness or epidemic: This involves the rapid spread of severe, potentially deadly illness like the flu.

It is important for you and any other adults who might work with you to consider the types of emergencies you may face. Some natural disasters, like tornados or earthquakes, are more likely in some parts of the world. Not all emergencies are disasters. It is likely that at some point you will experience more common emergencies, such as inclement weather, brief or localized power or water outages, or child injuries during play. It is important that you are prepared to respond to all emergencies, big and small.

Planning for Emergencies and Disasters

Your job as a family child care provider is to plan for various emergencies, to prepare the children and any other adults who may assist you, and to protect the children and the environment during an emergency.

When developing emergency plans, you should answer questions such as:

• Based upon the type of emergency, where will the children be safest?
• Where is a good place to relocate if needed? Have alternative sites been identified and arranged in advance?
• How will I relocate children if an emergency occurs?
• How will parents be notified?

As a family child care provider, especially if you are most often alone caring for children, you will need to give careful consideration to how you will appropriately monitor all the children during an emergency. Because of the special nature of family child care, thoroughly thought-out safety plans are a must. The more detailed and practiced you are, the more you can focus on execution and supervision when an emergency occurs. 

Your emergency plans will likely also contain information about the following situations, and the plans you create and their details may be specific to the type of emergency or disaster.

Other Key Things to Consider in Preparing and Responding to Emergencies

• Ensure that smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and fire extinguishers are working and document this monthly.
  • Carbon monoxide detectors should be located within 10 feet of each bedroom, but not near diaper-changing stations or where soiled diapers are stored.
  • Smoke detectors should be in each area where children sleep and play. Best practice indicates that smoke detectors should be wired such that if one is activated, all detectors in the home will go off to alert of danger.
  • An ABC-type fire extinguisher should be located in or near the kitchen and on each floor used by children. Instructions for how to use the extinguisher should be posted.
• Post primary and secondary evacuation routes and procedures in the areas of your home where you care for children.
• Ensure that doors to the outside can be opened with a single release so you can easily exit when needed.
• Post emergency telephone numbers by all phones and in all areas of the home where children are cared for. Include the following numbers:
  • 911 (or local police, fire, rescue)
  • Poison control center
  • Family contact information
  • Two emergency contacts for each child
  • Contact for back-up provider
  • A nurse, doctor or other medical consultant
  • Family child care administrator
• Make sure that a cell phone is fully charged at the beginning of each day and that emergency numbers are pre-programmed, especially if this is the primary phone line.
• Practice and document routine drills, such as fire evacuations, monthly. Make sure you practice at different times of day, including some times when the children are resting or sleeping so that you and the children are prepared to respond. Practicing is essential for you and the children. Older children who are well acquainted with the emergency plans can help you maintain a calm atmosphere and can serve as good models for the younger children in your care. Giving older children a role to play during emergency procedures will also help them remain calm by giving them a task to focus on. During drills and in discussion of emergency practices, make sure you and the children know not to pick up additional clothing or personal items during an evacuation. If you or the children are worried about being cold or wet after an evacuation, you can keep blankets in a specific location near the main exit of your home. During exit, you, or a designated older child who understands and practices this job, can bring the blankets to the evacuation point to distribute to everyone once there.
• Provide children with age-appropriate information about natural disasters without frightening them. You can purchase books that show children how to cope with significant change. You can also invite or visit local emergency service workers (e.g., firefighters) to help increase children’s awareness, knowledge, and comfort regarding what to do in emergencies and how to prevent them.
• Help children, as they are able, to learn their full names, addresses, telephone numbers, and how to dial 911 or other local emergency numbers.
• Provide families with procedures for natural disasters. Make sure they understand how and when they will be contacted and any relocation sites. This is good information to include in your family handbook, but also something to highlight when you enroll new families.
• Keep a copy of your emergency response plans in an easily accessible spot in your home so you can readily locate it when needed. If you have assistants, or in event of your absence, make sure your identified back-up and other providers know about all the emergency plans, what their roles are, and how to administer first aid.
• For epidemics, connect with your local health department and include them in all aspects of your planning and preparation activities.
• To help stop an epidemic, practice regular infection-control measures by following strong health and sanitation practices (discussed in more detail in the Healthly Environments course).

Helping Families Cope with Disasters

• Provide a list of resources available in the community. These resources can help families in their preparation for disasters and also in recovering in the aftermath of a disaster. Watch for stress disorders in children and families. Know of resources, including mental health services, that families may access to better cope with stress.
• Provide an emotionally supportive environment to families and children that allows them to express their fears and grief.
• After disasters, it is particularly important to provide a predictable daily routine as much as possible.
• In the event of an act of terrorism, help children and families cope with the stress of the event by keeping them from frightening scenes, remaining clam, and assuring them you will keep them safe.
• In the event of an epidemic, practice social distancing, which involves avoiding public places during the crisis to reduce contact between sick and unaffected persons. In addition, provide regular communication to families about the status of your program. If you have to close temporarily, help families with contingency plans and let them know when you plan to be operational again and steps you have taken to stop the spread of disease.

Summary

Besides keeping children safe, one of the most important jobs you will do as a family child care provider is to be well prepared for emergencies. While developing emergency plans and evacuation routes is often a requirement of becoming a licensed or registered family child care provider, it’s also important to frequently practice your plans and update them as needed. If there is ever an emergency, you will want to know you did all you could to minimize its effects on children. The families of the children you care for will be grateful for your worthwhile planning effort.

See

Do

Use the attached forms to help you prepare and respond in emergency situations. Remember to think about some of the details noted above—for example, if you are caring for infants, how will you safely transport them out of the home? Do you have an emergency bag stocked in an easy, grab-and-go location? (Look for more details on creating emergency bags in the Apply section.) Make sure to list the steps you will follow so that you can think carefully through how you will respond in each emergency.

Now, test your plan. Think about what works well and what doesn’t. What do you need to update to make your plans work more effectively? Testing out your safety plan may also help you realize how the physical environment may need to be rearranged, for example, to make sure that the items you need are readily available, or that you have two clear pathways to an exit.

Store the forms in your emergency kit. Make sure you have clearly posted fire evacuation routes in in the areas of your home where you care for children. Check with your state licensing agent to learn what other safety forms and materials should be posted in your family child care home.