COCHRAN ENLISTS IN EFFORT TO MEET THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN CAUGHT IN MAJOR DISASTERS A need to address specific requirements of children displaced by major disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, is impetus behind legislation supported by Sen. Cochran to help families after catastrophies
BigNews.Biz - Mar 09,2010 - The need to address the specific requirements of children displaced by major disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, is the impetus behind legislation supported by U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) to help children and families recover after catastrophe strikes.
Cochran has joined Senators Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) in sponsoring the Child Safety, Care and Education Continuity Act (S.2898).
The bill would reauthorize expired federal programs created after Hurricane Katrina to address the needs of children. It would also create several new measures to ensure that states, communities, schools and day care centers have plans in place to help families and children regain some normalcy in the event of future disasters.
“Hurricane Katrina taught us that a certain level of preparedness is ideal for helping children and their families overcome some of the trauma caused by disaster situations. The lessons we learned on the Gulf Coast can be put to good use to benefit the entire country,” said Cochran, ranking Republican on the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee.
“With this legislation, Congress would codify certain minimum standards to help schools and child care facilities be prepared to respond to the needs of children in a disaster,” he said.
S.2898 incorporates recommendations of the National Commission on Children and Disasters, which was created by Congress in 2007. It also takes into account the findings of a 2008 report conducted by the Mississippi State University Early Childhood Institute and commissioned by Save the Children that revealed very few states mandate basic emergency preparedness requirements for schools and child care facilities.
A 2009 Save the Children report indicated that 14 percent of states meet four basic preparedness standards for licensed child care facilities and schools.
Provisions in S.2898—currently pending in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee—would:
* Increase access to child care services for disaster-affected families through the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant (CDBG) program
* Require child care facilities that receive CDBG funding to develop emergency plans for evacuation, reunification, special needs and temporary operations
* Provide tuition reimbursements to elementary and secondary schools that accept displaced students
* Ease financial aid regulations for students enrolled in post-secondary education institutions that cannot operate after a disaster
* Require the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and states to develop disaster guidance for Medicaid and State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) providers to ensure displaced children have access to health care
* Provide mental health counseling for pre-K students through Head Start programs
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