Federal Action Needed to Ensure States Have Plans to Safeguard Children in the Child Welfare System Displaced by Disasters

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, there were 48 federally declared disasters in 2005. Two of these disasters - Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, resulted in a prolonged interruption of child welfare services and the dispersion of thousands of children in Louisiana's foster care system to 19 states. Of the 29 states and Puerto Rico that experienced a federally declared disaster in 2005, eight reported having a written child welfare disaster plan. As a result, there has been growing interest in the extent to which states have developed strategies to cope with disasters that could result in the dispersion of children in the child welfare system.

This report reviews the extent of state level child welfare disaster plans. The Government Accountability Office found that only 20 states and the District of Columbia had a written child welfare disaster plan. However, the plans varied in the extent to which they included selected child welfare program components, such as identifying children under state care who may be dispersed. Specifically:

• 19 state plans addressed preserving child welfare records
   
• 13 state plans addressed identifying children who may be dispersed
   
• 11 state plans addressed identifying new child welfare cases and providing services
   
• 10 state plans addressed coordinating services and sharing information with other states
   
• Six state plans addressed placing children from other states