5. Contact parents/guardians of children involved
Your first communication with the parents and guardians of children involved in the incident can be challenging. At this point, take some time to think about what you want to communicate. Put yourself in a parent’s place. How would you want someone to deliver this kind of news? What would you want to know? How might you react?
For now, focus on informing the parents and guardians of the children who have been directly involved — injured, harmed, or adversely affected — in the crisis. With your attorney, compose a script for these conversations that provides the facts of the situation and reflects your concern for the well-being of parents, guardians, and children.
Offer to arrange for parents or guardians to travel to the hospital, your facility, or emergency location. Consider sending a staff member to accompany them. Coordinate their arrival and arrange for suitable accommodations once they have arrived.
6. Mobilize the crisis team
Your professional and business advisors, as well as community leaders and agencies, may be able to assist you in responding to the aftermath of a crisis. Activate these resources now.
In assessing the range of care and supervision needed, consider the crisis’ impact on each of the following groups:
1) individuals directly involved in the incident; 2) those closely affected by the incident; and 3) your facility’s community — other children, parents, guardians, volunteers, and others with whom you regularly interact.
Once you understand the kind of care you need, plan the level of intervention the situation requires. There are three levels of intervention to consider: the facility’s crisis response team, local community resources, and outside resources. Identify the areas in which you will need assistance. Seek clergy and mental health providers who have experience in responding to crises.
Each member of your team should have a clearly defined role. During implementation, coordinate the flow of information between team members.
Realize that children, staff, and volunteers may show secondary effects of involvement in or witnessing an incident. Keep track of everyone involved in the event, even if they withdraw from your program or leave your employ. Unexpressed anger, for example, can lead to an accumulation of resentment. Follow up with those involved and find out how they are doing.
7. Call emergency resources
Contact the appropriate emergency resources to help cleanup, repair, and continued crisis management. Your crisis response kit should contain a list of these resources, contact names, and their office and emergency phone numbers. For your convenience, we have prepared a list of emergency resources and have supplied phone numbers for national resources such as the American Red Cross, the Center for Disease Control, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
8. Call support resources
Establish relationships with advisors and community resources well in advance of a crisis so that they can be quickly mobilized if a problem occurs. Identify people who have had specific experiences in crisis response. When you solicit the assistance of these individuals, ask whether there will be a fee associated with their participation. Note this in your crisis response files, along with your contacts’ day and after-hours telephone numbers.
Familiarize support resources with your facility. Invite them to visit at their convenience so that you can acquaint them with your site, staff, and program.
9. Contact other parents/guardians
Contact the parents and guardians of those not directly involved in the incident, and tell them what has occurred. You can do this by telephone or letter, depending on the urgency the situation requires.
Begin your message by acknowledging that an incident has occurred. Assure parents that their child was not involved in the incident. Provide basic facts about the incident, but do not discuss details or identify individuals who were involved in the incident. Inform parents about the level of support that was or will be provided to their child. Empha size that your facility will continue to operate normally.
Close by thanking the parents for their patience and understanding, and encourage them to contact you if they have any questions or concerns.
We suggest having your attorney review the notice before its release. Whether you communicate by phone or mail, keep a log of all telephone calls and correspondence received in response to your message. Maintain the record until the issue has been fully resolved.
10. Manage the media
Crises that involve children seem to attract a large amount of media attention. If your program experiences a problem, you should expect the media to become involved. How you handle the media can significantly impact your facility’s reputation.
Fortunately, you can take steps to alleviate “bad press.” Develop relationships with the media now. An open house is an excellent way of familiarizing the press with your operation. Keep a file with television, radio, and print contacts and their telephone numbers, and consider meeting with them if they seek your input on various issues.
Prepare a press kit containing details about your operation and its history, a description of your facility(s), program, and pertinent information about your safety record. Keep the kit up-to-date and accessible so that information about the incident can be added to complete the equipment with minimal effort if a crisis occurs.
Consider notifying your media contacts before a crisis occurs — before they contact you. Please review all the information you plan to provide the media with your attorney before releasing it.
Consider asking your attorney to be present when you speak with media representatives.
Make arrangements to meet with the press in one place, at one time. During this meeting, try to place the incident in a historical perspective. Describe your program, your overall safety record, and your business practices. Ask the media for balanced, not sensational, reporting of the incident. Please provide them with the basic facts of the incident, avoid speculation, and assign blame. Do not release the names or any other personal information about the people involved in the event. Also, remember that when meeting with the media, nothing is “off the record.” Please review all information with your attorney before its release.