Response to Parliament of Australia, Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee: Lessons to be learned in relation to the Australian bushfire season 2019-20

Infants and children rely on the adults around them to meet their needs, keep them safe and help them to make sense of their world. This puts them at greater risk of adverse impacts when a disaster occurs. This practice paper introduces the foundational knowledge and skills needed to support children and families at all stages of a disaster (preparedness, response and recovery).

This practice paper is designed to help you understand the importance of disaster preparedness for not only increasing safety and protecting lives when a disaster occurs, but facilitating the recovery of individuals, families and communities. It also offers practical advice for supporting the disaster preparedness of the children and families you work with.

This practice paper aims to equip practitioners with knowledge about the ways disasters can influence a child’s ecology and the importance of targeted support for children’s resilience and recovery in the short and long term.

This practice paper explains why it’s important to consider pregnant people, infants, children and families in evacuation planning and management. It provides practical considerations and strategies for ensuring evacuation procedures and centres meet the needs of infants, children and families and enhance their safety, wellbeing and recovery.

This paper is the first of two and introduces psychological first aid (PFA), a psychosocial support approach that can reduce distress and support the mental health of infants, children and families who have experienced a disaster.

Part two of two: This paper provides guidance to practitioners offering psychological first aid with infants, children and families in the context of a disaster.

This resource focuses on how to look after your own wellbeing as a practitioner or worker when supporting children and families after a disaster.

Providing targeted psychosocial support to families in the immediate aftermath (the hours and days after a disaster) is essential to supporting infants’ and children’s mental health. This paper introduces evidence-informed strategies and practical advice to help practitioners support the mental health of infants, children and their parents during and immediately after a disaster. It may also aid in planning disaster response and relief strategies that are child-centred and family-focused.

This paper provides practice guidance for addressing the immediate and long-term impacts of disasters on infant and child mental health using multifaceted approaches that promote resilience and mental health recovery.