Emergencies and disasters can cause or exacerbate adverse childhood experiences that negatively impact the development of children well into adulthood. Restoring a sense of normalcy for children after a disaster must be prioritized to mitigate the impact of that disaster on a child’s development.
OHSEPR leads disaster human services preparedness, response, and recovery efforts for ACF and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). OHSEPR coordinates internally — and with inter-governmental and non-governmental partners — to identify and implement strategies and initiatives that support disaster-impacted children, caregivers, parents and guardians, and children services providers. This coordination includes examining programmatic waivers and flexibilities that can support the continuity, restoration, or expansion of service delivery following a disaster. OHSEPR has been working closely with leadership across ACF around the COVID-19 response.
Partnership Opportunities
Post-disaster and upon request, OHSEPR supports state, tribal, and territorial-led children and youth task forces that have convened partners in early education, child care, nutrition, behavioral health, and other disciplines to focus on the specific needs of children in disaster.
OHSEPR enlisted the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to facilitate a series of public workshops in 2020 to explore best practices in the integration of public health and human services delivery and assessment following large scale disasters. One of the discussion topics is children and youth in disasters, and upon completion of the series, the National Academies will compile and publish a compendium of workshop proceedings.