Child Reunification Considerations for Communities
12. Appendices
12.6. Appendix F: Integrating Unaccompanied Minor Scenarios in Reunification Training and Exercises
Incorporating unaccompanied minors into emergency preparedness exercises enhances realism, improves response planning, and builds systemwide readiness for one of the most complex challenges in disaster response, family reunification.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) outlines ethical, developmental, and safety considerations in its guidance: Participation of Children and Adolescents in Live Crisis Drills and Exercises. This resource is essential when designing exercises that involve live child actors. It emphasizes that minors can participate in drills safely and meaningfully when guided by appropriate planning, supervision, and developmental considerations.
Recruitment of Youth Participants
When designing exercises that include child actors or observers, consider partnerships with local youth-serving organizations. Participants may earn badges, receive community service credit, or gain exposure to emergency preparedness careers.
Sources for potential child and teen participants include:
- Boy and Girl Scouts of America
- Teen Community Emergency Response Teams (Teen CERT)
- Civil Air Patrol Cadet Programs
- Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC)
- Local high schools or technical schools
- Youth theater and acting groups
- School clubs
- Hospital-affiliated teen volunteer programs
- Faith-based youth groups or community centers
- Youth advisory councils or teen boards
Community-Based Reunification Scenarios
Building Explosion
Scenario:
A gas explosion impacts a mixed-use building with a licensed daycare center. Infants and toddlers are evacuated by emergency responders while adult staff and caregivers are injured or separated. The majority of children are transported to a Family Assistance Center (FAC) after being medically cleared. Many children are nonverbal or pre-verbal and unable to self-identify. Some children were too young to communicate verbally or identify their caregiver. Records from the daycare were left behind or were incomplete. Multiple caregivers arrive at the FAC, but some children remain unidentified, and staff cannot verify custody.
Key Considerations:
- Unaccompanied minor protocols specific to infants and nonverbal children
- Custody verification workflows
- Staffing roles for infants
Public Gathering Incident
Scenario:
A vehicle crashes through a barricade during a city parade, causing mass panic and injuries. Children participating in bands and performance groups scatter. Some report to businesses or aid stations; others are transported to hospitals. Many caregivers are treated on scene or hospitalized elsewhere. Social media misinformation adds to the confusion as minors surface at multiple locations across the city.
Key Considerations:
- Identification and intake of unaccompanied minors
- Implementation of child tracking
- Custody verification
School System Disruption
Scenario:
Multiple school districts are evacuated due to a wave of coordinated threats. Students are transported to off-site reunification centers managed by the different school districts. The city emergency operations center (EOC) is activated to help support safe evacuation operations. Law enforcement and transportation agencies coordinate to support safe evacuation routes, staffing at reunification sites, and communication with families. Due to custody complexities, misinformation, and caregiver delays, some children remain unclaimed.
Key Considerations:
- Coordination between city EOC, school districts, law enforcement, and transportation providers
- Testing caregiver notification systems and backup communication channels
- Verification of student release and reunification procedures
- Custody conflict resolution and legal liaison processes
- Real-time messaging through public information officers (PIOs)
Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attack (CCTA)
Scenario:
A coordinated attack affects multiple city sites, overwhelming emergency services and hospital EDs. Unaccompanied minors are transported without identification or arrive independently at hospitals, shelters, and Family Assistance Centers (FACs). Caregivers may be hospitalized, deceased, or unaccounted for.
Key Considerations:
- Triggers for reunification activation and Pediatric SME integration in ICS
- Guardian registration and custody verification
- Staff vetting, ratios, and training on child interactions and trauma-informed care
- Unaccompanied minor intake, tracking, photographic identification, and throughput processes
- Protocols for handling situations involving incapacitated, missing, or deceased guardians, including temporary custody, legal liaison processes, and communication with next of kin
- Safety, security, and access control at FACs and reunification areas
- Temporary care coordination
- Support services (medical, behavioral health, interpretation)
- Interoperable reporting and child tracking systems across hospitals, EMS, shelters, FACs, and the EOC to ensure real-time situational awareness
- Established MOUs and data sharing agreements to support coordinated response and privacy-compliant information exchange
- Joint Information System (JIS) integration to support unified public messaging, family notifications, rumor control, and media management for incidents involving children
Federal Emergency Declaration
Scenario:
Following a large-scale disaster on the coast (e.g., hurricane, earthquake, or terrorist event), a presidential emergency declaration is issued, activating federal response resources and prompting widespread evacuations from the affected region. Local capacity for medical care, sheltering, and family services is overwhelmed. Thousands of children are separated from their caregivers due to injury, illness, transportation disruptions, or confusion during evacuations and sheltering operations.
In response, the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) is activated to mobilize inter-state support. The National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) deploys resources to transport and care for patients, including children, across multiple states. Your city is identified as a reception hub, tasked with receiving evacuees, including unaccompanied minors.
Some children arrive without clear documentation or adult supervision. Others are separated during triage or NDMS transport and are admitted to NDMS- designated hospitals without confirmed identification. Families are scattered across jurisdictions, creating complex reunification challenges.
Key Considerations:
- Reception site planning and staffing for children
- Tracking and documentation of unaccompanied minors
- Legal authority and custodial decision-making for children arriving without guardians
- Age-appropriate, trauma-informed communication and language access
- Protection measures against abuse, neglect, or exploitation at reception sites
- NDMS coordination with pediatric-capable facilities
- Child-specific data sharing across health, sheltering, and family services
- EMAC integration of child welfare and pediatric response resources
- Multijurisdictional coordination among hospitals, shelters, child welfare, and emergency management
Additional reunification exercise materials can be found at:
Player Card Summary
This section provides a summary of unaccompanied minor player cards for use in a community reunification exercise. Each card provides key identifying information, communication and functional considerations, and details about the associated guardian (when applicable). These scenarios are intentionally diverse and realistic, designed to help communities assess and strengthen their ability to address the unique needs of children during a response.
| ID | Name/Disaster Name | Age | Communication/Functional Type | Associated Guardian Card | Guardian Relationship & Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UM01 | Oregon Willow | 9 yrs | Verbal | G01 | Parent |
| UM02 | Florida Coral | 13 yrs | Verbal | G02 | Parent |
| UM03 | Nevada Rain | 8 yrs | Verbal, Sibling UM15 | G03 | Parent |
| UM04 | Montana Clover | 15 yrs | Verbal, Religious/Cultural Consideration | G04 | Parent |
| UM05 | Missouri Peach | 6 yrs | Verbal | G05 | Aunt - No Documentation Provided |
| UM06 | Nebraska Apple | 4 yrs | Verbal | G06 | Parent – No Documentation Provided |
| UM07 | Illinois Cherry | 9 yrs | Verbal | G07 | Parent – No Documentation Provided |
| UM08 | Maine Juniper | 7 yrs | Verbal | G08 | Grandparent – No Documentation Provided |
| UM09 | Texas Kiwi | 5 yrs | Verbal, Mobility Impairment | G09 | Babysitter - No Documentation Provided |
| UM10 | Arizona Pine | 7 yrs | Non-Verbal, Language Accessibility | G10 | Parent |
| UM11 | Wyoming Fern | 8 yrs | Verbal, Language Accessibility | G11 | Parent |
| UM12 | Alaska Birch | 16 yrs | Verbal, Language Accessibility, Undocumented | G12 | Family Friend – Undocumented |
| UM13 | Iowa Blackberry | 7 yrs | Non-Verbal, Developmental Delay | G13 | Foster Caregiver - Incomplete Documentation |
| UM14 | Kansas Mango | 10 yrs | Non-Verbal, Neurodivergent | G14 | Sibling - No Documentation Provided |
| UM15 | Utah Sage | 10 yrs | Verbal, Sibling UM03 | G03, G15 | Parents - Custody Concern |
| UM16 | Vermont Snowdrop | 6 mo | Non-Verbal | G16 | Parent – Delayed Arrival for Reunification |
| UM17 | Washington Agave | 10 yrs | Verbal, Emotional Distress | N/A | Guardian - Not Identified or Unreachable |
Injects
Reunification Process & Custody Conflicts
- A relative shows up to claim custody of children after learning the parent is deceased. No formal guardianship paperwork exists.
- An interstate custody order exists for a child at the FAC, but the local jurisdiction has not confirmed the order’s enforceability.
- A tribal representative arrives to claim custody of a child enrolled in a federally recognized tribe. A non-tribal foster parent also seeks reunification.
- A child is matched to a guardian who has reported deceased at the scene.
- A guardian is mistakenly told the child is deceased, but the child is later found alive in another FAC.
- A teen parent is trying to reunify with their infant but is being treated as a sibling.
Language, Culture, & Interpretation Challenges
- A child speaks an Indigenous Central American language and cannot understand the available interpreter.
- A staff member attempts to calm a child by touching their shoulder, unaware this violates the child’s cultural norms.
Mental and Behavioral Health, & Trauma Responses
- A child becomes inconsolable and starts hitting themselves.
- A teenager discloses thoughts of self-harm to a volunteer.
- A child who witnessed the disaster begins hyperventilating and screaming during intake.
- A child with autism becomes overstimulated by noise and lighting in the UMSA.
- A child with an intellectual disability does not understand the intake questions and becomes confused and withdrawn.
- A child believes law enforcement officers will deport them and flees the UMSA when they see a uniformed officer.
- A child asks why some children are being reunited and not them.
- A child asks if their parents are dead because no one will give them updates.
- A teen asks what will happen if their parents are undocumented and can’t come to pick them up.
- A child who identifies as LGBTQ+ requests a safe adult to speak to, citing fear of discrimination by a guardian.
Medical Needs & Accessibility Gaps
- A child with a known peanut allergy is given donated snacks containing trace peanuts.
- A child with an insulin pump shows signs of hypoglycemia, but medical response is delayed.
- A child’s wheelchair was left behind during evacuation. They are now without mobility support.
- A child with oxygen support has a low tank and no backup available.
- A child develops a rash and fever; others in the UMSA were in close contact.
- A child showing signs of dehydration and illness, but no pediatric provider is currently available at the FAC.
- A child requires daily medication, but the supply was left behind.
- A child with a visual impairment has lost their assistive device and is struggling to navigate the FAC.
Security & Identification Concerns
- An adult presents a birth certificate to claim a child, but the name does not match photo ID.
- A local reporter gains unauthorized access to a photo of unaccompanied children in the UMSA and publishes it.
Social Media & Public Misinformation
- A new volunteer is posting selfies inside the UMSA, with children visible in the background.
- A teen in the UMSA posts that “kids are being taken by CPS” and tags local media. The post goes viral.
- A child posts a TikTok from inside the UMSA and jokes, “they’ve locked us up.”
Inbound Inquiries & Communication
- FAC phone lines are being overwhelmed with family members trying to locate children.
- A parent in the FAC is awaiting reunification when a hospital reports their child is deceased.
- A child’s only confirmed guardian is in critical care, unable to consent to reunification.
Unaccompanied Minor Safe Area (UMSA) Conditions
- A child has been in the UMSA for over 24 hours. No family has been identified.
- The UMSA is out of diapers and wipes.
- Children have not had access to showers or clean clothing in over 48 hours. Odors are impacting behavior and wellbeing.
- Hunger is escalating behavioral issues in the children.
- A volunteer took an infant to a quieter space without informing anyone. Staff notice the infant missing.
Abuse, Neglect, & Trafficking Risks
- A youth arrives with a man who insists on interpreting.
- A 13-year-old girl arrives with an adult claiming to be her cousin. The child seems fearful and gives inconsistent answers.
- A child refuses to go with an adult claiming to be their parent, whispering to a staff member, “Please don’t let them take me.”
- A child presents with healing bruises and flinches when touched. The accompanying guardian is hostile and intimidating.
Marginalized & Vulnerable Populations
- A child enrolled in a federally recognized tribe is subject to ICWA, but a tribal rep has not arrived.
- A child with DACA status is hesitant to provide personal information due to deportation fears.
- A mother discloses she is undocumented and is afraid to submit any identifying information.
Printing Instructions for Player Cards and Injects
The following pages contain formatted player cards for use in community reunification exercises. Each page displays one unaccompanied minor card alongside their associated guardian card(s), when applicable, on a single side of the page.
General Guidelines
- Paper Size: Standard 8.5” x 11” (letter size)
- Orientation: Landscape
- Print Format: Single-sided only — each unaccompanied minor and their associated guardian(s) appear together on the same page
- Print Settings: Use “Fit to Page” or “Shrink to Fit” to ensure complete visibility of all card details
- Print Quality: Designed for both color and black & white; color printing may improve readability
- Durability: For repeated use, print on cardstock and/or laminate the pages
Back-to-Back (Double-Sided) Printing
Cards are formatted for double-sided (duplex) printing to conserve paper and streamline handling:
- Layout: Each unaccompanied minor card is followed by the corresponding guardian card(s), when applicable.
- Printer Setting: Choose “Print on both sides” and select “Flip on short edge” when printing in landscape orientation.
- Alternative Option: If double-sided printing is unavailable, cards may be printed single-sided and clipped or assembled manually.
Ensure the print order and orientation are correct by testing a sample before printing in bulk.
A downloadable version of this appendix, including the flashcards, is available here.