FEMA Helps Children Cope With Disaster
Release Date: January 31, 2006
Release Number: 1603-325
» More Information on Louisiana Hurricane Katrina
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Coping with a disaster can be a traumatic experience for an adult, and an emotional experience for children. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State of Louisiana encourage parents to help their children cope with a disaster by understanding what causes their anxieties and fears.
Knowing what to do is very important in the recovery process. It is important to remember that some children may never show distress because they don't feel upset; others may not give evidence of being upset for several weeks or months.
Children may exhibit these behaviors after a disaster:
- Be upset over the loss of a favorite toy, blanket, and teddy bear
- Develop nighttime fears
- Be afraid the event will reoccur
- Lose trust in adults
- Having stomach aches or headaches
- Worry about where they and their family will live.
Children may need more help if:
- They had direct exposure to the disaster
- Suffered loss of a family member, friend or pet
- Had to live outside of their normal environment (i.e. shelter, hotel, around strangers, or away from loved ones)
- Lost contact with their friends or lost things that are important to them.
Things Parents or other adults can do:
- Talk with their children about how they are feeling and listen without judgment
- Let the children take their time to figure things out and to have their own feelings which may be different from others
- Assure fearful children that you will be there to take care of them
- Limit their exposure to additional trauma, including news reports
- Spend extra time with your children at bedtime.
Crisis Counseling Can Help:
There are crisis counseling services and other services specifically for children. Crisis counseling assistance can provide immediate, short-term help to victims of the hurricanes. Free crisis counseling is available, to anyone who was living or visiting in the area at the time of the hurricanes, by calling any of these numbers:
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
United Healthcare Hurricane Support Line: 1-866-615-8700
Cigna Behavioral Health National Service Center : 1-888-622-6470
The local Baton Rouge crisis line number is 1-225-924-3900 . Crisis Counseling hotlines are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until further notice.
FEMA For Kids is a disaster preparedness Web site with resources for children, parents, and teachers at www.fema.gov/kids . The Web site offers free posters, videos and information on how children recover from a disaster. Free FEMA publications can be ordered by phone at 1-800-480-2520. FEMA and American Red Cross have published a free booklet, Helping Children Cope with Disaster, available online at www.fema.gov/pdf/library/children.pdf , (text version). You can find information on creating a family disaster plan by visiting the ARC Web site, or the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Web site at www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/factsheets .
FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 01-Feb-2006 08:22:06