What Should Our Household Prepare Next?

Use this decision aid before an emergency

If an emergency may be happening now, stop using this page. Follow 911, emergency services, official alerts, the child’s current medical action plan, and current instructions from state, tribal, territorial, or local authorities. This page cannot decide whether to shelter, evacuate, travel, change care, operate medical equipment, enter a building, or attempt a rescue.

This aid helps a household choose one advance preparation task. It does not calculate a readiness score. It cannot certify that a household, kit, building, vehicle, shelter, school, or caregiver is ready.

Do not begin with a shopping list

Emergency preparation can become an endless collection of things. A flashlight may be useful, but buying one does not resolve an expired pickup authorization, an inaccessible alert, a child whose medicine plan exists only in one person’s phone, or equipment whose backup-power arrangement was never verified.

Start with the link whose failure could block the next safe action. A dependency is something a person or animal relies on, such as medicine, electricity, feeding, communication, transport, adult care, an institution, or an accessible route. A control is the verified arrangement that protects that dependency. Supplies support controls; they do not replace them.

Use three questions:

Consequence: If this gap failed today, could someone quickly lose essential care, supervision, communication, transport, access, or reliable instructions?
Time: Does resolving it require a clinician, pharmacist, school, supplier, utility, landlord, insurer, transport provider, court, or government agency that may take time to respond?
Dependence: Would several later actions fail because this link is missing?

If the answer is yes to any question, consider that gap before routine shopping or administrative improvements. This is prioritization, not a judgment about the caregiver. Money, housing, time, disability, language, transport, discrimination, service availability, and caregiving load affect what is possible.

Gate 1: Is there an unresolved time-sensitive health or care dependency?

Begin here if anyone relies on:

prescription medicine, clinic treatment, oxygen, feeding support, refrigeration, sterile supplies, or time-sensitive care
electricity-dependent medical, mobility, hearing, communication, positioning, or temperature-control equipment
infant feeding, pregnancy-related care, home nursing, dialysis, or another scheduled service
a current allergy, seizure, asthma, diabetes, behavioral, mental-health, or other action plan
a capable adult for transfer, communication, medicine, supervision, or essential daily care

Do not decide the medicine quantity, storage method, substitute treatment, power connection, equipment modification, or clinical backup from a generic checklist. CDC guidance for children with special healthcare needs advises families to involve the child’s healthcare provider and local emergency services and to ask about transportation, shelters, equipment, electricity, and medicine planning.

Next action: Write the exact unresolved question and identify the controlling source. That might be the child’s clinician, pharmacist, clinic, equipment supplier, insurer, home-care service, utility program, EMS, or local emergency-management office. Ask for an individualized written arrangement and who to contact when the normal service is unavailable.

Done when: an authorized adult can locate a current plan from the appropriate source, explain the first backup without guessing, and identify who verifies changes. A voicemail, online order, unopened form, or note saying “ask the doctor” is not completion.

Gate 2: Can everyone receive and understand current official instructions?

Check the places household members sleep, learn, work, receive care, and travel. One phone or app is a fragile plan.

Review:

Wireless Emergency Alerts on compatible devices
local emergency-management subscriptions and official information pages
school, child-care, workplace, clinic, building, and care-facility systems
NOAA Weather Radio or another official backup where relevant and receivable
power, charging, mobile-data, and offline limits
hearing, vision, language, cognition, literacy, captioning, vibration, visual, tactile, or supported-communication needs

Next action: Have a named adult verify one primary and one backup official route. If an alert is not perceivable or understandable, ask the relevant provider, program, local authority, or accessibility professional about current options.

Done when: the household has tested access without creating a false alert or disabling a working system, and the backup is not controlled by the same likely point of failure. Social media may supplement official channels, but it should not be the only route.

Gate 3: Is adult ownership explicit when people are apart?

An address book is not a responsibility plan. For every child and dependent person, identify the primary adult, backup, institutional procedure, authorized pickup route, and failure branch.

Check:

household and out-of-area contacts
nearby and out-of-neighborhood reunion locations, used only when safe and consistent with live instructions
school, child-care, after-school, camp, transport, workplace, healthcare, and care-setting procedures
current authorized-pickup records and identification requirements
separated, shared, kinship, foster, or court-involved caregiving arrangements
a safe, accessible backup if a person, vehicle, device, route, or destination is unavailable

CDC guidance for keeping children safe away from home advises families to learn school and child-care notification, relocation, and pickup procedures and to keep contacts current. During an event, follow the institution and authorities rather than traveling toward a site without direction.

Next action: Ask the relevant institution to confirm its current procedure and records. Resolve legal authority or safeguarding concerns with the institution and appropriate qualified professionals, not through a child.

Done when: each responsible adult knows the current handoff, the institution confirms necessary permissions, and a backup can locate the minimum-necessary information. A child is not assigned to choose between caregivers, reveal a protected location, travel alone, or solve adult conflict.

Gate 4: Is communication accessible if the usual device fails?

People may need plain language, translation, sign language, captioning, a communication board or device, tactile or visual information, a support person, or extra processing time. A child’s ability to repeat a sentence during practice does not prove they can communicate it under stress.

Next action: Create a minimum-necessary accessible contact and care summary in the formats each authorized person can use. Provide an offline option. Record how the person will express pain, distress, immediate needs, identity, or the name of a trusted adult without exposing unnecessary private details.

Done when: the intended person and backup can retrieve and use the information in their normal communication method. Do not make a minor child the household’s sole interpreter, alert monitor, or messenger.

Gate 5: Can the household reach a suitable destination?

“We will evacuate” is not a transport plan. Consider:

available drivers, accessible vehicles, child restraints, mobility devices, transfer support, and equipment space
transit or local evacuation assistance and how it is requested
fuel, charging, road, weather, distance, and return limits
destinations able to receive the people, essential care supports, service animals, pets, and equipment involved
the first backup when transport or destination is unavailable

Families without a car should ask local emergency management about current assistance rather than assume a neighbor, rideshare, ambulance, or bus will be available. Do not leave a child unattended in a vehicle while loading people, supplies, or animals.

Next action: Verify the request process and limitations with the transport provider, destination, institution, clinician, or local agency that controls it.

Done when: the household has a current realistic route and backup, the adults know how to request assistance, and child, disability, medical-equipment, and animal needs have been discussed with the appropriate source. A saved phone number alone is not a verified arrangement.

Gate 6: Do renters and temporary-housing residents know the building plan?

Housing status changes what a family can alter and which exits, alarms, assembly areas, management contacts, or local programs apply. Renters should not be told to perform unauthorized structural work, and lack of ownership does not make planning optional.

Next action: Record the building’s alarm, exit, assembly, elevator, management, and emergency-contact procedures. Ask the property manager, landlord, local fire authority, housing agency, or disability-rights route about unresolved access or safety needs. Preserve fire egress, safe sleep, service-animal access, and essential equipment.

Done when: authorized adults can explain the current building procedure and first backup. This page does not interpret a lease, code, accommodation duty, evacuation order, or legal remedy. Immediate danger uses the appropriate live route.

Gate 7: Does every animal have an adult-owned plan?

Service animals, household pets, livestock, and other animals may have different legal, transport, containment, care, and destination needs. Stress and disruption can also change animal behavior.

Next action: Assign a capable adult and backup for transport, identification, veterinary and medicine information, food and water, containment, sanitation, handling limits, and a verified destination or caregiver. Keep children separated from stressed animals when active supervision cannot be maintained.

Done when: the responsible adults have verified the route with the relevant shelter, hotel, boarding provider, veterinarian, transport service, or local authority. Do not assume every shelter accepts every animal, and do not assign a child to catch, restrain, transport, or rescue a frightened animal.

Gate 8: Do supplies support the actual plan?

Only after tracing the preceding dependencies should the household compare supplies with the written plan and likely local disruptions. Ready.gov and current CDC checklists are national starting points, not universal prescriptions.

Review ordinary needs such as water, food, lighting, radio, charging, hygiene, clothing, infant supplies, communication supports, comfort items, and animal supplies. Keep medicines, batteries, chemicals, tools, fuels, and other hazards secured from children. Follow clinicians, pharmacists, suppliers, manufacturers, and current official guidance for medical, feeding, refrigeration, or power-related items.

Next action: Select the missing item or maintenance task that supports a verified dependency. Name who maintains it, where it is stored, and how condition or expiration is checked.

Done when: the item is usable, safely stored, accessible to the responsible adult, and integrated into the plan. A commercial kit is not required, and a purchase does not resolve alerts, transport, professional coordination, or adult ownership.

Gate 9: Can authorized adults retrieve protected records?

Essential identity, medical, pharmacy, equipment, housing, insurance, school, legal-authority, animal, account, and contact information may be needed after a disruption. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recommends gathering key information, protecting copies in separate locations, and reviewing insurance and deductibles.

Next action: Separate a minimum-necessary quick summary from detailed protected records. Decide which trusted adult can access each layer, how it can be reached offline, and how a lost paper, phone, or drive will be handled.

Done when: the right adult can retrieve the needed record without depending on one device, one place, or one unavailable person. Do not expose complete Social Security numbers, passwords, account credentials, protected addresses, custody strategy, or an unnecessarily detailed health history on a public contact card. Verify policy terms with the insurer or regulator; do not assume coverage.

Gate 10: Has the arrangement been practiced and corrected?

Use Practice Your Family Emergency Plan in 20 Minutes for a calm, accessible, no-surprise review. Practice should examine the plan, not frighten participants or simulate danger.

Next action: Trace one dependency or handoff, record what failed, and assign the correction to an adult with a date, backup, and verification method.

Done when: the correction has been confirmed, the plan version is updated, conflicting copies are retired, and the corrected link works in a small retest. One successful practice does not certify household readiness or a child’s independence.

When several gaps compete, use a consequence-first sort

Do not add points. Do not compare the household with another family. Place each gap in one of three temporary groups:

Act first

A failure could quickly interrupt essential health, supervision, communication, transport, safe sheltering, or caregiving, or the solution requires outside coordination that cannot be improvised later.

Schedule next

The gap matters, but a verified temporary control exists and the responsible adult can complete the stronger arrangement soon.

Maintain

The arrangement is verified and usable, but it has a review, expiration, condition, version, or household-change trigger.

If two “act first” gaps remain, choose the one with the more immediate consequence or the longer external lead time. A clinician or local authority may identify a different priority. Record why the household chose the action so it can revisit the decision when circumstances change.

Make progress when money, time, or storage is limited

Preparedness should not be a test of purchasing power. Some high-value actions cost little or nothing: verify contacts, enroll in official alerts, ask a school about reunification, update pickup permissions, assign adult backups, protect an existing record copy, learn the building plan, request accessibility information, or ask a clinician and supplier to document a continuity question.

For items that cost money:

distinguish an essential verified need from a convenient upgrade
ask whether an existing safe item can be maintained rather than duplicated
check legitimate local emergency-management, public-health, healthcare, disability, housing, school, utility, community, or benefit programs
build ordinary supplies gradually without delaying a time-sensitive professional arrangement
avoid debt, fear-based bundles, unverified sellers, and products that imply certification

Do not shame a household for an unresolved gap. Record the access barrier and the next legitimate source to contact. A low-cost step can improve one link; it should not be described as solving a dependency it does not actually control.

Use one closed-loop action card

Write:

Gap: What could fail?
Consequence: What safe action would it block?
Controlling source: Who can verify the arrangement?
Adult owner: Who contacts that source?
Backup: Who follows up if the owner is unavailable?
Deadline: When is the next observable step due?
Proof: What evidence shows the arrangement works?
Recheck trigger: What change makes the household review it again?

Example: “The school has an old pickup contact. It could delay reunion. The school office controls the record. Jordan owns the update; Lee is backup; confirmation is due Friday. Proof is the school’s acknowledgment of both current names. Recheck after any caregiver or school change.”

Return to Make a Family Emergency Plan Everyone Can Use for the complete planning framework. Improve one verified link at a time rather than waiting for a perfect plan.

What this aid cannot tell you

This sequence cannot calculate personal risk, predict a disaster, confirm a building or destination, prescribe medical or equipment arrangements, interpret a legal document or insurance policy, or decide a live protective action. A household may reasonably choose a different next step based on qualified individual guidance. Current official instructions always outrank this advance-planning aid during an event.

Sources

Sources were rechecked on August 8, 2026. The decision gates, consequence-first groups, “done when” tests, and closed-loop action card are Saralivo editorial tools, not a government priority list or readiness score.