Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/child-care-in-disasters-why-its-best-to-prepare-for-the-worst/5024068/
The 2017 Hurricane Season was the worst the U.S. has seen in recent history, with Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria forcing millions to evacuate their homes and costing billions of dollars in damage. In the past few months alone, we’ve seen historic wildfires tear across the West Coast and a Bombogenesis wallop the East. Bearing the brunt of these disasters were the youngest survivors: children whose lives were uprooted overnight. They spent days in evacuation shelters surrounded by strangers, their homes were damaged or destroyed, and the aftermath of graphic images played repeatedly through the media.
But perhaps a disaster’s greatest impact on children and these communities is actually its effects on child care. Following a disaster, not only do children need to return to care to help them get back to a familiar routine with caring peers and adults, but a community’s resilience is dependent on child care as parents cannot return to work without it.
For Joni Council, director of Kidversity Child Care and Development in Victoria, Texas, returning to her center after Hurricane Harvey was scary. She found the power out, water pouring in through the ceiling, and many of the books, toys and office supplies ...