Office of Human Services Emergency Preparedness and Response

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Office of Human Services Emergency Preparedness and Response

Mission Statement

The Office of Human Services Emergency Preparedness and Response (OHSEPR) promotes the resilience of vulnerable individuals, children, families and communities impacted by disasters and public health emergencies by providing disaster human services expertise to ACF grantees, partners, and stakeholders during preparedness, response, and recovery operations for emergency and disaster events.

Program Description

OHSEPR coordinates with ACF Program Offices, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) , and federal departments and nongovernmental partners that comprise Emergency Support Function #6 — Mass Care, Emergency Assistance, Housing, and Human Services  (PDF) of the National Response Framework to promote the inclusion of human services in emergency preparedness planning, training, and exercises.

OHSEPR develops situational awareness on impacts to ACF-supported programs, provides technical assistance on ACF program disaster waivers and flexibilities, and provides deployable liaison officers and subject matter experts on human services and the needs of children and youth.

OHSEPR works to ensure that ACF has a trained cadre of dedicated ACF employees who volunteer to leverage their knowledge, skills, and expertise in human services and ACF program delivery to support communities that have been impacted by Presidentially-declared disasters and emergencies.

Disaster Human Services Case Management

OHSEPR implements the Disaster Human Services Case Management (DHSCM) program in accordance with Section 426 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act which authorizes the President to “provide case management services, including financial assistance, to state or local government agencies or qualified private organizations to provide such services, to victims of major disasters to identify and address unmet needs.”

U.S. Repatriation Program

OHSEPR is the lead for the U.S. Repatriation Program that was established in 1935 under Section 1113 of the Social Security Act to provide temporary assistance to private U.S. citizens and their dependents identified by the Department of State (DOS) as having returned from a foreign country to the United States because of destitution, illness, war, threat of war, or a similar crisis, and are without available resources.

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