Disaster Readiness and
Response for Families with Young Children
In recent years, families in the United States
have faced a number of significant traumas and crises. From the terror attacks
of September 11, 2001 to the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita,
families with young children have felt the impact of these
disasters in unimaginable ways. Families have experienced loss, separation, physical and
emotional trauma, increased stress, chaos, and the most vulnerable members of families–infants and
toddlers–have been witness to it all. Fortunately, programs like Early Head Start
are uniquely designed to provide a comprehensive approach to helping
infants, toddlers, families and staff devastated by these events. Early Head
Start staff can help parents understand how trauma and crisis affects very
young children, and how parents and early childhood programs can help young
children make sense of their world that has been turned upside down. The following
article examines disaster readiness and response issues for families and young
children from two perspectives – an Early Head Start program affected by the
recent hurricanes and a TA specialist who has lived and worked through many
hurricane seasons.
Regina Coeli Child
Development Center In the late summer/early fall
of 2005 our nation watched in horror as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated
the gulf coast region of our country. These storms uprooted whole
families, communities and cities. Affected families and children were absorbed
by relatives, friends, shelters, community centers and churches located
in neighboring communities less affected by the storms. One hundred and
fifty Head Start programs were forced to close, and on September 7, 2005
the Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) issued a
Program Instruction authorizing fully operational Head Start programs to enroll
any families and children who evacuated their homes as a result of
Hurricane Katrina. Enter Judy Loyde, Executive Director, Ola Magee,
Infant/Toddler Specialist, and the staff at Regina Coeli Child Development Center (CDC)
in Robert, LA—a beacon of hope for many children, families and staff affected by
this disaster.
Location
Regina
Coeli CDC, located 55 miles north of New Orleans, LA and 50 miles east of Baton
Rouge, LA, services six parishes—Ascension, Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany,
Tangipahoa and Washington Parishes. Because St. Tammany and Washington
Parishes were in the eye of the storm when it hit on August 29 there was massive
damage to the homes in these areas. The other four parishes were minimally
affected, but most of the area was without power and water for up to 1
month. Power was restored on September 6, 2005 in Robert where Regina
Coeli’s administrative offices are located.
Services for
Staff
Regina Coeli received donations from all over the United States
and Ms. Magee remembers, “A preschool parent support group from Palo Alto, CA
sent us a freight truck loaded with supplies for children and families.”
Ms. Loyde stated that the “Louisiana Head Start Association provided $10,000 in
cash to support our staff whose homes had been damaged or destroyed.” This
donation helped staff with some of their immediate material needs. She
added, “We really needed mental health support for our staff because many of us
were coming to work without power, with damage and destruction to our own homes,
and not knowing if some of our loved ones were dead or alive.” As a
result, Regina Coeli contracted with mental health counselors in all six
parishes and provided private, anonymous counseling services for staff members
who needed these services. The program hired five teaching staff that had
been displaced by the storm from the New Orleans area. When staff feel
cared for they are more available to care for infants, toddlers and
families.
Services for Infants, Toddlers and
Families
Initially funded to serve 168 infants and toddlers, that number
quickly rose to as many as 300 in the days after the storm. Regina Coeli
opened as quickly as possible, and reestablished daily routines for infants,
toddlers and their families. Daily routines in the lives of vulnerable
families with very young children helped promote a sense of safety
and security. Ola Magee stated that, “The number changes as new families
come and other families move on.” The staff worked “around the clock” for
the first four months enrolling children and helping families get needed
services. Locating concrete resources (i.e. food, shelter, clothing) in
the days after the storm was critical for young children and families being
served because everything was destroyed and local stores were closed.
Parents were in need of diapers, formula, baby food, baby beds and
clothing. Many infants and toddlers needed medical attention but the storm
also displaced pediatricians and other family health care providers.
Staff called on longstanding partnerships and newly developing relief efforts to
collect the items that families needed. They provided weekly “home visits”
to all local shelters and provided services to infants, toddlers, and prenatal
services to pregnant mothers. Staff always left developmentally
appropriate games, toys, clothing and other supplies as needed for families at
the completion of each home visit. Center staff were also able to locate
clothing sources, and clothing and diapers were brought to the center.
MercyCorp, a non-profit agency working to support disaster victims, donated baby
beds and infant/toddler comfort kits that included age appropriate toys, small
stuffed animals, inflatable balls, and books on social emotional support.
Helping young children feel safe and
cared for is critical in the aftermath of any disaster. Establishing and
maintaining predictable routines with Regina Coeli families was an important
step in creating feelings of safety and security for the adults as well as the
children. Securing basic resources for families further allowed parents
and caregivers to regain control of their lives and meet the needs of their
young children. Families were then able to focus on developmental issues
and play by participating in the home visits and using infant/toddler toys
supplied by the home visitors. Once these recovery efforts were put into
place, families could begin healing after the trauma by engaging with their
children again, and reconnecting to the larger community.
Mental Health
Services
Regina
Coeli employs a fulltime licensed mental health professional to assist in
meeting the mental health needs of children and families. These services
were immediately bolstered with the addition of contracted mental health
professionals to provide disaster counseling to families and play therapy for
the children. These staff members created a complete, new mental health
training program for staff and parents entitled: New Hope for New Friends;
Strategies for Coping in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
. Louisiana State University staff
from the School of Allied Health Services also volunteered with the program
providing mental health counseling and classroom assistance from September 2005
until January 2006. Teachers and parents also received training from
the mental health professional on specific strategies to respond to infants and
toddlers. Judy Loyde shared the following strategies used by Regina-Coeli
teachers and parents to support their young children.
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Be
flexible.
Re-establishing daily routines is
critical to helping young children feel safe after a traumatic
event. It is equally important for adult caregivers to be flexible in
order to respond to infants and toddlers when and where necessary.
Young children’s needs vary depending upon the setting, situation or
event. Some infants and toddlers may need more time before
participating in a daily routine, a group socialization experience, or
even playing with certain toys in certain places. Understanding
the very young child’s individual needs help caregivers as they plan
activities to support their children.
-
Be emotionally present for the
children.
Very
young children who have endured trauma can “relive” the event by triggers
such as sights, smells and sounds that remind them of the
experience. Knowing this, adult caregivers can be prepared to
soothe and comfort young children who become visibly upset. Young
children often deal with their emotions through behavior and play.
Adult caregivers can be especially attuned to any unusual signs of
distress in an infant or toddler.
-
Nurture the
nurturer.
Caring for infants and toddlers
is a huge responsibility and can be overwhelming, particularly for adult
caregivers who have experienced the same trauma. Therefore, adult
caregivers must be very aware of their own triggers and how the
traumatic experience could affect their ability to support very young
children. Simply put, adults who are nurtured and supported
through crises are in a better position to support infants and
toddlers.
-
Develop a Family Safety
Plan.
Apart from being prepared
for any future disasters, developing a Family Safety Plan is an
important step for parents because it helps them to feel empowered, in
control of their lives and those of their families, and less
vulnerable. Empowered caregivers are better able to create safe,
secure and stable environments for very young children.
Services for Displaced
Adults
Regina Coeli opened a training center for displaced
parents and other adults to prepare them for work with the EHS program.
There was a need to fill several positions in the EHS program because some staff
had to evacuate before the storm and were unable to return for work.
Training focused on preparing adults to work with young children in teacher aide
positions, administrative positions and janitorial work. Adults were
trained in daylong sessions from 8:30 am-3: 30 pm. Degreed and experienced
staff specialists who were well versed in the types of training needed conducted
the training. Additional follow-up was done at the sixteen centers to determine
if more individual training was needed. Conducting this training allowed staff
to: a) make the training specific to the EHS program needs, b) control the
number of trainees per session, and c) instill into trainees EHS philosophies
and goals. The challenges of conducting the training were that it was very
time consuming for staff, and not all of the trainees referred met the criteria
for working with infants and toddlers. The program was charged with
locating other resources for these trainees. Although providing adult
training was time consuming for some staff, Regina Coeli’s holistic response to
the community was not disrupted. Adults who were not being trained but
were in need of food stamps and services were connected to the Red Cross and
FEMA, and transportation was provided.
Lessons Learned
Reflecting on their experiences during the past 6 months,
Ms. Loyde and Ms. Magee both agree that support comes “from the top” and that
the administration has to commit to doing what it takes to get through a crisis
of this magnitude. A responsive and supportive Board of Directors also
helps. Ms. Loyde added that, “Staff must be flexible, compassionate and
have the ability to think creatively about how to best serve children in a
crisis.”
A Similar
Perspective Ellie Hirsh, the local T/TA
Specialist from Region II, has lived and worked on the island of St. Croix in
the U.S. Virgin Islands for the past 26 years. The island of St. Croix is
considered a “Shelter in Place” which means that residents do not evacuate to
another location with the threat of a hurricane. The only people who
evacuate are those who live in the lower-lying areas on the coast. People
move to shelters, schools and with family and friends—generally places that have
kitchens where food can be stored in case these places have to be occupied for
more than a few days. Having experienced many hurricane seasons including
Hurricanes Hugo in 1989 and Marilyn in 1995, Ms. Hirsh offered the following
thoughts related to disaster responsiveness.
Family Stress
The aftermath of a hurricane is the hardest on families
because of the stress of being without power, clean water, food and
refrigeration. Families with infants and toddlers find it particularly
difficult because they may not have diapers or food for their babies.
Families may have to buy food day by day because there is no place to keep it
fresh. Once after a hurricane hit the island, Ms. Hirsh, who worked for
the Early Intervention Program at that time, recommended that all programs
serving vulnerable families with young children visit those families as soon as
the roads were cleared. The infants and toddlers she saw communicated
their reactions to the traumatic event through their play, behavior and mood.
For example, one two-year old who had lost the roof of her home during a
hurricane put roofs over everything she played with after the disaster.
Her clingy behavior with her mother also gave clues as to her emotional state
after the event. In another example, a five-year old boy was very angry at
having lost everything in the storm. The service provider, recognizing how
critical secure attachments are for young children during a crisis, encouraged
his mother to allow him to express his anger.
For caregivers, living through a major hurricane and
losing everything is much like a death. In fact, Ms. Hirsh watched many
caregivers go through the stages of death and dying (e.g. denial, anger,
bargaining, depression and acceptance) as outlined by Kubler-Ross (1969) while
simultaneously attempting to rebuild their lives.
Supporting Infants, Toddlers, and Caregivers
after a Hurricane
The Early Trauma Treatment Network (Ippen, Lieberman and Van
Horn, 2005) and ZERO TO THREE (2005) both outline helpful ways to support
infants, toddlers and caregivers after a Hurricane:
-
Safety First
One of the most important things
caregivers can do for infants and toddlers before, during and after a crisis
is to help them feel safe. As soon as possible after the event occurs
re-establish a predictable routine and stick to it. If you read to your
children at a certain time everyday, resume that activity. If you sang
songs together before the crisis, continue to sing as part of the
routine. Reassure your toddler that when you go away you will come
back. Very young children are often better able to function when they
know what to expect next.
-
Express Feelings
Infants and toddlers may express
themselves differently during and after a traumatic event than before the
event occurred. Infants may cry more, become more fussy and difficult to
soothe. Soft music may be one way to help soothe an infant who has
experienced a crisis. Toddlers may have temper tantrums, or become
clingy. Encourage safe expression of feelings through cuddling or
holding your child, and for older children through drawing or
storytelling.
-
Have Fun
Try to find ways to have fun with your
children as laughing and being silly together helps to relieve stress.
Maybe your infant or young toddler likes being tickled, or maybe you have a
“game” (e.g. something like peek-a-boo) that you enjoy. Laughter can
also be a healing power for both caregivers and young children alike during
difficult times.
-
Reconnect with
Community
Caregivers must take care of
themselves in order to be at their best for very young children who have
experienced a disaster. Reconnecting to support systems in the community
is one way caregivers can stay connected and ask for assistance. Talking
with a mental health professional or joining a support group of others who
have also experienced the crisis is a great way to share with people who have
similar fears, concerns and can understand.
Living in a world in which public safety can be an
issue at any time can leave many caregivers and parents feeling ill at ease
and uncertain about solutions. Very young children, who are often in
tune with caregiver’s and parent’s moods and feelings, also experience this
tension. Caregivers who are supported in a crisis, whether through
concrete resources like food, shelter, clothing, or through talking with a
mental health consultant, are better able to support and nurture traumatized
young children. It is only when these basic needs are met and sustained
that very young children, families and communities can begin the
road to healing after the trauma.
The following resources are listed as a
guide to help caregivers and parents of young children find solutions and cope
with living in the aftermath of a disaster.
PublicationsFederal Emergency
Management Agency [FEMA](2004). Are you ready? An in-depth guide to citizen
preparedness. Washington, DC: Author.
View the web site»
Kubler-Ross, E. (1997). On Death
and Dying: What the Dying have to Teach Doctors, Nurses, Clergy and their
Families. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Osofsky, J.D. (2002). Helping young
children and families cope with trauma in a new era. In Zero To Three, E.
Fenichel (ed.). Washington, DC: ZERO TO THREE.
Rice, K.F., Groves, B.A. (2005). Hope
and healing: A caregiver’s guide to helping young children affected by trauma.
Washington, DC: ZERO TO THREE Press.
Fact Sheets
Ippen, C.G., Lieberman, A.F., and Van Horn, P. (2005).
After the Hurricane: Helping Young Children Heal. The National Child Traumatic
Stress Network, Early Trauma Treatment Network, Child Trauma Research Project,
University of California: San Francisco.
ZERO TO THREE (2005). Coping after
Katrina: Support for families with babies and toddlers. Washington, DC: ZERO TO
THREE.
ZERO TO THREE (2005). Little listeners in an uncertain
world: Coping strategies for you and your young child after traumatic events.
Washington, DC: ZERO TO THREE.
View the web site»
WebsitesNew York University
Child Study Center
(articles about supporting children in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina)
Self study for
parents and educators helping children cope with feelings caused by floods and
other disasters.
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