Disasters practice guide

Infants and children rely on the adults around them to meet their needs, keep them safe and help them to make sense of their world. This puts them at greater risk of adverse impacts when a disaster occurs. This practice paper introduces the foundational knowledge and skills needed to support children and families at all stages of a disaster (preparedness, response and recovery).

This practice paper is designed to help you understand the importance of disaster preparedness for not only increasing safety and protecting lives when a disaster occurs, but facilitating the recovery of individuals, families and communities. It also offers practical advice for supporting the disaster preparedness of the children and families you work with.

This practice paper aims to equip practitioners with knowledge about the ways disasters can influence a child’s ecology and the importance of targeted support for children’s resilience and recovery in the short and long term.

This practice paper explains why it’s important to consider pregnant people, infants, children and families in evacuation planning and management. It provides practical considerations and strategies for ensuring evacuation procedures and centres meet the needs of infants, children and families and enhance their safety, wellbeing and recovery.

This paper is the first of two and introduces psychological first aid (PFA), a psychosocial support approach that can reduce distress and support the mental health of infants, children and families who have experienced a disaster.

Part two of two: This paper provides guidance to practitioners offering psychological first aid with infants, children and families in the context of a disaster.