Child Care – Preparing For Emergencies
Child Care Guide
It is essential that both parents and child care providers are equipped to deal with any emergency that may arise during the time you are separated from your child. The care provider must known how to contact you and you them should any emergency crop up such as your child being taken ill or getting hurt or if you are going to be late picking them up or if someone else has to pick up your child other your yourself.
What the child care provider needs to know
Whichever choice for child care that you make be it a day care center, babysitter, nanny or a drop in center they will all need to have contact information from you should an emergency arise while your child is in their care.
The basic information they need at the very least will be
- A contact number for you and if you work then your employers phone number too.
- A secondary contact number in case you cannot be reached, this can either be a spouse, relative or friend.
- Any illnesses your child has such as asthma or epilepsy.
- Any allergies your child has such as an allergy to certain food types or bee stings.
- Any medication that your child needs on a regular basis such as asthma inhalers.
- Your full name and address.
Emergency procedures for falls and illnesses
A day care center will have an emergency procedure in place for such things as falls, illnesses and emergencies within the building such as fires.
If your child has a minor bump or cut then it will be dealt with by trained staff in the center, if your child suffers a more serious accident while in their care then they will contact you via the contact number asking you to come and fetch your child home, if you are not available then they will use the secondary contact number.
On the odd occasion your child suffers an extreme accident then emergency services will be called while contacting you and you will be advised to meet a staff member at the accident and emergency room. If your child should fall ill while in day care they will be attended to by the nurse on hand and you will be contacted to come and fetch your child.
All day care centers will practice on a regular basis fire drills and prepare children for the sound of the alarm by turning practice into a game while still making sure every child knows the importance of the alarm.
What you need to do in an emergency
You need to make sure you know the day care centers emergency plan for cases such as fire for example if they have to leave the building then where is the meeting point for picking up your child?
If you are going to be late picking up your child because of an emergency then make sure you give the center as much warning in advance as you can.
Also make sure that if you are going to be late then the center knows you are still going to be collecting your child and won’t be sending someone else.
If you are going to have someone else collect your child then make sure the staff knows who you are sending, tell them their full name and very often it is wise to set up a password for a friend or neighbor to use and staff can ask this person along with their name for the password.
This protects the day care center from letting your child go with just anyone regardless of whether the child knows the person and mistakes cannot be made.
