Project K.I.D. was organized within a week following the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 around a very simple premise: Play is at the heart of what it means to be a kid . This means that as soon as possible in the wake of a disaster, children need protective, restorative environments where they can return to being kids.
Establishing disaster child care sites at over a dozen locations across coastal Mississippi as well as in Alabama and Louisiana , Project K.I.D. had the opportunity to work on-the-ground with over 5,600 children in storm devastated areas in the months following Hurricane Katrina. We believe this work can and must contribute to our understanding of best practices in the field.
Based on the extensive work in child development of our founder, Paige Ellison-Smith, Project K.I.D. developed a model of response we call PlayCare . The PlayCare model addresses the needs of children in Phases 1 & 2 of disaster child care, when children are often at most risk for secondary injury, illness, and psychosocial trauma from having no safe place to go amidst debris and destruction.
Today, Project K.I.D.'s work continues as we seek to improve to meet the needs of children following a disaster and to focus national attention on meeting those needs. Based on our experiences in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina, Project K.I.D. urges all public and private emergency-response and child-care organizations to encourage and to lead local, regional, and nation-wide systems of preparation and response that can guarantee immediate physical safety, attention to psychological needs, respite for families in stress taking care of children, and long-term psychological and social concerns of children. more >> |
