The attendance and reunification lead accounts for children and staff and checks adults’ identification when children and families reunify. This person may also be responsible for making sure contact information is up to date.
Preparedness Actions
- Sets up systems to make sure children are safely supervised during an emergency and checks attendance, especially when leaving the primary facility and moving to an emergency relocation site
- Sets up procedures for releasing children to families or authorized emergency contacts after an evacuation and relocation
- With the communication lead, makes sure children’s emergency contact information is up to date
Response Actions
- Confirms the total number of children and staff and makes sure everyone is accounted for using redundant systems, such as matching each child with their photo and having several other staff confirm that each child is accounted for after moving from one place to another
- Works with the communication lead to get updates from families on when they anticipate they can pick up their child
- Checks the identification of people picking up children to make sure that all children are released to a parent, guardian, or authorized contact
Recovery Action
- Assesses how well the attendance and reunification strategies in the disaster preparedness plan worked and recommends improvements as needed
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Resource Type: Article
National Centers: Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety
Audience: Directors and Managers
Last Updated: June 5, 2025