Beverly thought she had seen everything. That is, until her hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, was upended in 2005 by the one-two punch of Hurricane Katrina followed by Hurricane Rita. Beverly, a child care provider with more than two decades of experience, got to work.
When nearly 18,000 Katrina survivors sought shelter in the Cajundome in Lafayette, Beverly recognized that the needs of displaced children and mothers were not being met. She and a handful of other caring, committed volunteers sprang into action, creating a child-safe play zone and art station, a sorting and distribution area for donated toys, and a private nursing station for lactating mothers.
Her child care center was also challenged to meet the needs of both newly enrolled children displaced from New Orleans and continuing students from Lafayette whose homes were damaged in Rita. She and her staff found themselves navigating how to address emergent emotional and behavioral issues among young children. When describing some of the post-disaster challenges, Beverly said with a smile, “Twenty-two years and we’ve never had [a child] pick up a glass of milk and pour it on someone else’s head. It’s always a new world.” She also found herself supporting parents, many of whom were taking on extra shifts at work or spending most of their non-working hours tackling their own home repairs. She assumed a central role in connecting these parents with child care financial assistance, medical provisions, and public school options for older children. Beverly was a true advocate.
Such focused advocacy is important to ensure that disaster-affected children receive the care and support they need to overcome and thrive post-disaster. In our book, Children of Katrina, we define advocates as professionals such as child care providers, school teachers, religious leaders, emergency managers, and others who work on behalf of disaster-affected children, connecting them to other professionals, to resources, and to strong institutions to help advance children’s preparedness and post-disaster recovery.
In our research, we interviewed and observed hundreds of children—all of whom were displaced from their homes, schools, and communities after Katrina. As we listened to their stories, we gleaned many lessons about how disasters affect children and how we can best support them. We know that people and organizations are not always fully prepared for the disruptions and demands that disaster can bring their way. This must change, as there is no place in the United States that is immune from disaster. Consider, for example that between 2011 and 2021, 90 percent of U.S. counties experienced at least one extreme weather disaster.
Child care providers are vital to strong, resilient communities. Yet, Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) organizations are often strapped for time, funding, and other critical resources. On top of this, child care programs and providers are among the most overlooked when it comes to ensuring disaster preparedness. However, thanks to the efforts of Child Care Aware® of America and their guidance developing emergency preparedness plans, we have a chance to turn that tide and to get ready before the next disaster strikes.
How can you get started? We recommend you review the emergency preparedness resources available via the Child Care Aware® website. Once you have a sense of what is required to get ready for disaster, remember that you don’t have to do this alone. Local emergency managers are excellent partners in preparedness, and they can help you to understand the threats you may face, develop and test your plan, and ensure that you have necessary emergency supplies and communication protocols in place. Researchers who work in this space are also often eager to share their findings to help make sure the work is put to use in the community. Remember, each action that you take now, and each relationship that you cultivate, can make all the difference in a disaster.
Like Beverly in Lafayette, child care providers everywhere play a crucial role in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. She did not know she would assume this role, but we can learn from and honor her experience by getting ready for the inevitable next disaster.
About Lori Peek: Lori Peek is professor in the Department of Sociology and director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. For more than two decades, Dr. Peek has studied children’s well-being and capacity in disaster. She co-authored the award-winning book Children of Katrina, as well as several other notable publications. She initiated the first statewide study of child care provider preparedness in Colorado, co-led a major evaluation for Save the Children on protecting children in emergencies, and, later, helped write FEMA P-1000, Safer, Stronger, Smarter: A Guide to Improving School Natural Hazard Safety—which is the first such natural hazards school safety guidance for the nation.
About Alice Fothergill: Alice Fothergill is professor of Sociology at the University of Vermont. She is co-author of the award-winning book Children of Katrina, author of Heads Above Water: Gender, Class, and Family in the Grand Forks Flood, and an editor of the second edition of Social Vulnerability to Disasters. She has conducted research on the disaster preparedness efforts of child care center providers and staff in New Zealand. Currently she is studying the experiences of children, youth, and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and Canada.
Interested in learning even more about disaster preparedness? Child Care Aware® of America’s Emergency Preparedness, Resilience, and Response Train-the-Trainers pre-conference program before Symposium 2026 this May will provides participants with the resources needed to help the child care providers they serve understand the importance of emergency preparedness specific to child care, describe the typical actions required for different types of emergencies. identify ways to support children’s needs, and develop a comprehensive emergency preparedness plan for their program to keep children safe. Register today: Symposium 2026