Emergency Preparedness: Childcare Safety Plan

The Child Care Safety Plan (CSP) is a document designed to help parents plan for temporary custody of their children in the event of an emergency, such as detention, incarceration, deportation, illness, military deployment, or death. This plan provides a crucial tool for families who wish to ensure the stability and protection of their children in unforeseen situations.

The CSP is a free, bilingual (English/Spanish), user-friendly and self-help template for a parent to designate another adult as a caregiver for their minor child and give that caregiver the authority and information necessary to care for the child.  In addition, the CSP educates parents about the difference between caregivers and guardians and attaches the Caregiver Authorization Affidavit and the Nomination of (Joint) Guardian legal forms and a POA for travel of minor child abroad.

The CSP allows parents to continue to participate in their child’s life as fully as possible, even in the face of immigration actions or other emergencies, without risking the loss of their parental rights.  The CSP is a private document and does not require court involvement, offering families autonomy in making these critical caregiving decisions.

The primary goal of the CSP is to protect children from exclusion or neglect if their parent is not available to consent to their full inclusion in life’s activities - such as school, medical and recreational activities. A critical secondary goal of the CSP is to help families feel empowered to make their own choices in the face of the risk of traumatic disruption caused by events outside their control, and to ease the anxiety they are experiencing amid news reports of widespread immigration enforcement and family separations.  The CSP helps to facilitate meaningful family conversations about who will care for the child if the parents are unable to do so.