When local staff prepares for or is affected by a disaster, the director of field may assign the responsibilities below to alternate staff.

FAD Worker Responsibilities During an Emergency Advisory or Disaster

The FAD worker must follow specific procedures during an emergency advisory or declared disaster to ensure the safety and well-being of children in DFPS conservatorship (CVS). Such events include the following:

• Hurricane
• Flooding
• Wildfires
• Tornadoes
• Other severe weather

Within 24 hours of an emergency advisory or declaration by local, county, state, or federal officials, the FAD worker must ensure that DFPS foster home placement logs are accurate in IMPACT. FAD contacts the CVS caseworker or supervisor to correct any inaccuracies found on the placement logs.

In an evacuation, foster or adoptive parents check in with DFPS by calling the abuse and neglect hotline at 1-800-252-5400 within 24 hours. The foster or adoptive parents are asked to provide the following information:

• Evacuation location.
• Current contact information for the foster or adoptive parents.
• Names and birth dates of DFPS children in their care.
• Children’s condition.

Following an evacuation, the FAD worker must also contact the family and document information in IMPACT. The FAD worker contacts the foster and adoptive families to do the following:

• Discuss a tentative return date.
• Inquire about each child’s condition.
• Follow up with any issues that arose during the evacuation.

If a family fails to make the required notification to DFPS and is unable to be contacted, the FAD worker must attempt to reach the family’s emergency contacts to determine the family’s whereabouts.

Caregivers must also complete and submit Form 3005 Serious Incident Report [sic, intranet link]Word DocumentExternal Link to the assigned FAD worker.

The FAD worker must update the supervisor on efforts to contact all foster and adoptive families with current child placements that were unable to be contacted or did not notify the hotline.

FAD Supervisor Responsibilities

After gathering relevant information from the FAD worker, the FAD supervisor must contact the FAD program director to provide an update on each foster or adoptive family’s evacuation process.

FAD Program Director Responsibilities

The FAD program director must ensure that the director of field is kept informed of all contacts with foster and adoptive families.