Ten Years After 9/11 America is unprepared to Protect Children
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Material Information

Title:
Ten Years After 9/11 America is unprepared to Protect Children
Creator:
Save the Children
Disaster Risk Reduction Program, Florida International University (DRR/FIU)
Place of Publication:
Westport
Conn.
Publisher:
Save the Children
Publication Date:
Copyright Date:
2011
Language:
English

Subjects

Subjects / Keywords:
Disaster preparedness ( lcshac )
Children ( lcshac )
Saferty measures ( lcshac )
Schools ( lcshac )
Day care centers ( lcshac )
Genre:
non-fiction ( marcgt )

Notes

Summary:
This Save the Children’s national report outlines the status of disaster preparedness for childcare facilities and schools across the United States. The document focuses on the evolution of state legislation requiring preparedness since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 exposed how woefully ill-equipped the country was in ensuring the safety of its children. Despite the fact that nearly 67 million children are in childcare or school daily for over 2,000 hours every year throughout the U.S., a vast number of facilities that house these children are ill prepared to adequately face a disaster situation. The document outlines four basic preparedness and safety standards for childcare facilities and schools necessary to ensure the safety of children during disaster. The first is to ensure that each state require licensed childcare institutions establish written plans for the evacuation and relocation of children to safe locations during various types of disaster. The second requirement is that each facility establishes a family unification plan, whereby daycares and schools maintain parent contact lists to facilitate reconnection. The third component is focused on addressing the vulnerabilities of children with special needs, requiring that childcare facilities have specific written evacuation and transportation plans for these students. The final element of the evaluation is whether or not states require childcare entities to have contingency plans for multiple disasters. This document grades all 50 states and the District of Columbia on these four criteria. It also includes a section on the success of states like Connecticut and Missouri in establishing higher standards for protecting children during disasters. The report finds that currently 17 states meet all four standards for childcare preparedness, with five new states, Connecticut, Kentucky, New York, Tennessee, and West Virginia, being added since the last national assessment. Despite this progress, there is much to be done. The report also finds that about 67% of states do not require all four of these basic standards. Twenty-one states do not require all licensed child care facilities to have evacuation and relocation plans. Twenty-two fail to require family reunification procedures. Nine do not require K-12 schools to have disaster plans for multiple types of disasters. Over half are not requiring these institutions to develop plans for special needs children. And, six states do not require any of the four safety and preparedness criteria for childcare facilities. ( English )
Subject:
Disaster Preparedness ( English )
Citation/Reference:
(2011). Ten years after 9/11 America is unprepared to protect children: a national report card on protecting children during disasters. Save the Children.

Record Information

Source Institution:
Florida International University
Rights Management:
Refer to main document/publisher for use rights.

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Aggregations:
Disaster Risk Reduction