Child Care Emergency Checklist

With our new Au pair starting last week, I knew it was time to update our Child Care Emergency Checklist. You might not use a babysitter, care giver, family or friends to watch your children often, but there will be a time when your child is left in the care of someone else; therefore, have the emergency checklist prepared before you need it. Here are some items to include in an emergency checklist. Keep the list on your refrigerator or close to the phone and give a copy to your care giver.

Child Care Emergency Checklist

  • Your children’s full names correctly spelled.
  • Your children’s address, ZIP code, and phone numbers. List two addresses if parents live at separate homes.
  • Contact information for each parent, including work and cell phones, name of employers, work addresses, and hours they will normally be there. Please provide the best number to reach the parent at, for my family it is always our mobile phones.
  • The pediatrician’s name and contact information (including address) and the same information for any specialists your children see, along with a notation on what their specialties are.
  • Contact information for the dentist and orthodontist.
  • Drug and food allergies your children have.
  • Local Poison control number.
  • Fire Extinguisher status. If you have one in the home, let the care giver know where it is located.
  • Fire Escape Emergency Route.
  • Medical conditions your children have, medications taken, and danger signs to be aware of for each of those conditions.
  • Your children’s health insurance policy number, the subscriber’s name, and the address and phone number of the insurance company (there’s usually an 800 # or member service number listed on the back of the insurance card). According to Care.com, some insurance companies will allow you to order duplicate cards, which can be extremely useful for your babysitter or nanny. This is often the very first item asked for in the emergency room.
  • Family and friends to call, plus their contact information, in case the parents can’t be reached.

Here are a couple of resources that provide you with Child Care Emergency Checklist that you can print out and fill in.

If you are interested in finding a nanny and au pair or other child care alternatives, check out my Child Care series.

Disclaimer: I don’t work in child care services at all. I am a mom that likes to share my experiences and those of others in hopes it makes your child care decision making process more smooth.