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Tips for Writing Your Plan

Follow the guidance in this section to determine what information to include in your emergency preparedness plan.

Local Community Partners

The community partners you identified in Step 1 can help you develop your preparedness strategies and may also offer important resources that you will want to include in your plan. These tips can help you work well with the partners you chose:

  • Name your community partners in your plan. Describe the resources they can offer to help you prepare for, respond to, and recover from an emergency.
  • Include any formal MOUs that you have developed with partners.
  • Have partners train staff and watch drills to improve your program’s response to an emergency and to give feedback.

Hazard Assessment

Your plan should include the results of your Disaster Preparedness Self-assessment and your emergency response procedures:

  • List the hazards that are most likely to affect your program.
  • List the unpredictable emergencies that your task force has decided to plan for.
  • Include the emergency response steps you will follow for each hazard.

Emergency Roles and Responsibilities

Your plan should include a complete set of Emergency Role Action Sheets with assigned roles for specific staff members:

  • Include your steps for assigning and training staff on their emergency roles and responsibilities.
  • List all meetings where you trained staff and include agendas and attendance sheets.
  • Make a training calendar for the year that lists the professional development activities, including tabletop exercises, you offer staff assigned to emergency roles.

Communication

Your plan should have details about how you will communicate with staff, families, and emergency responders during an emergency:

  • Share emergency preparedness information with new staff during their onboarding and with families at enrollment.
  • Describe how you will ensure that you regularly update contact information for staff and families, so you have the correct information during an emergency.
  • Include your Local Emergency Contact Form in your plan and post a copy at each site.
  • Make sure that your emergency response steps describe how you will let families know if you are sheltering in place or have moved to a relocation site and how they can get real-time updates about your status.

Drills

Your plan should include a schedule of each drill and how often you will practice them. Use a Drill Log to record each drill. See Staying Ready Step 2: Practice Your Plan for more information on drills.

Facility Safety

Your plan should include a Facility Disaster Management Plan for each facility. Include:

  • A map of your facility that shows emergency exits, evacuation routes, and the location of alarms and other security systems.
  • Assigned areas for shelter-in-place and lockdown in stay safe procedures.
  • Where the generators are (if you have them) and the routine maintenance schedule to make sure they work well.

Emergency Supplies

Your plan should include an inventory and budget for the supplies and equipment that you will need:

  • List the supplies that you will need and your system for ordering and distributing them to each location.
  • Include where you store your supplies and write down your schedule to inspect and replace supplies.
  • Include your steps for making sure that you have medical supplies, assistive devices, and medication for children with disabilities and special health care needs.

Relocation and Reunification

Your plan should include how you will provide care and supervision of children if you must relocate during an emergency:

  • Include a signed letter of agreement from the agencies that operate each of your relocation sites. See the Letter of Agreement with Relocation Site sample.
  • Make sure that your program can evacuate staff and children, including children with disabilities or special health care needs.
  • Describe how you will give safe and developmentally appropriate care to children for up to 72 hours or until they can be with their family.

Mental Health

Your plan should describe how you will focus on the mental health concerns of children, families, and staff before, during, and after an emergency:

  • Include specific mental health strategies for each phase of an emergency in your written plan.
  • Find the support networks and mental health resources in your community and include them in your plan.
  • Include mental health training, such as the online Psychological First Aid course, in your professional development activities.

Continuity of Services

Your plan should explain how you will resume operations or adapt services such as education, nutrition, and health and mental health services, as soon as possible after a disaster:

  • Find an alternate site where you could offer early childhood services if your facility is closed or damaged.
  • Describe your steps for deciding if it is practical to offer virtual services for a short time, or a different type of programming, such as a home-based option, if you can’t reopen your facility for a long time.
  • Plan how you will store and get access to important records, forms, and files if you lose power or cannot get them electronically.

Special Considerations for Disease Outbreaks, Epidemics, and Pandemic Emergency Preparedness

Early childhood programs need to prepare for a disease outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic. You should have policies and procedures for each of these types of emergencies. You may need to adapt your policies based on specific public health guidance. Communicate regularly with local public health experts to learn about the level of risk, recommended infection control measures, and ways to change your policies and services to meet the conditions in your community. 

Head Start programs can also invite their Health and Mental Health Services Advisory Committee to help them to adapt their emergency plans. Work with the behavioral health representatives on your committee and your mental health consultant to help you plan how to meet the mental health needs of children, families, and staff during a disease outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic.

Prepare by completing these steps:

  • Partner with local public health officials for information and guidance. Communicate regularly to make sure you have the most current information.
  • Invite public health representatives to join your Health and Mental Health Services Advisory Committee.
  • Every year or as needed, review and update policies and steps for:
  • Train staff on ways to reduce the risk of spreading disease.
  • Monitor the rates of infectious diseases and foodborne illness in your area.
  • Promote and support recommended immunizations for children and adults.

Read more:

,  Safety Practices