It’s past time for Congress to remember the children

Washington Post: Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., introduced a bill this month that seeks to ensure that the needs of children are met in the event of disaster. Ensuring children’s well-being requires special consideration that until now has been an afterthought.

The first three sections of the Child Safety, Care and Education Continuity Act would provide an array of financial assistance to schools and students from pre-kindergarten through college in the event of an emergency. There would be tuition reimbursement for displaced students. Funding would be provided to school districts that take in students from disaster areas. College loan requirements could be waived or modified for students or schools. And many rules regarding child care and Head Start would be waived in an effort to hold the safety net in place. These provisions would kick in only if 10 percent or more of students enrolled in public or private elementary school in the affected state were displaced for more than 60 days after a presidentially declared disaster.

Evacuation plans sorely lacking

Probably most important is a provision on emergency planning for child-care centers. We were alarmed to learn from a report by Save the Children in June that 29 states don’t require licensed child-care facilities and schools to have both evacuation and reunification plans. This legislation would require federally funded child-care centers to develop emergency plans for evacuation, reunification and special needs. With 67 million children under the age of 18 in schools or child-care centers across the country on any given day, this is vital.

The Landrieu-Alexander bill shows that more needs to be done. We hope Congress will move on this quickly in the new year. Emergency preparedness won’t be complete without thinking of children.