Our Programs
Our goal is to provide families with relief and support when a disaster or crisis occurs. We do this through two primary programs:
- Emergency Child Care Volunteer Program
- Mental Health Home Visit Program
Programs
Helping Families in Crisis
Preparing for a Crisis
Emergency Child Care Volunteer Program
Emergency Child Care Volunteer Program deploys vetted child care volunteers directly to the family when a crisis occurs.
Disasters are upsetting experiences for everyone involved, but especially for children. Disasters can leave children feeling frightened, confused, and insecure. Children may respond to disaster by demonstrating fears, sadness or behavioral problems. Younger children may return to earlier behavior patterns, such as bedwetting, sleep problems and separation anxiety. Older children may also display anger, aggression, school problems or withdrawal.
With so many natural disasters occurring today, and now the increase in school shootings, children are seeing and experiencing things they shouldn’t have to — being evacuated, seeing injured or dying people or animals, losing their home and belongings, losing immediate access to basic needs, being injured themselves, and feeling that their own lives are threatened.
“In the aftermath of Helene with our home damaged and our family displaced, National Emergency Child Care Network was an invaluable resource providing amazing support in our hardest moments. Each caretaker that looked after our kids was so kind and nurturing that it gave us the peace of mind we needed to get things moving forward with rebuilding our home.” Ryan Crabtree, Hurricane Helene survivor
Children and families also suffer from post-disaster ongoing stress which includes transitional housing, living in shelters or hotels, losing contact with their friends and neighbors, losing things that are important to them, parental job loss, and the financial costs of reestablishing their previous living conditions.
While the burden of all of this is overwhelming for families, we can help children and families better cope when we provide them with social support systems such as free immediate child care when they need it most.
Free mental health visits for families
Mental Health Home Visit Program
We originally designed our program to provide mental health support to families who have experienced a major natural disaster, such as Hurricane Helene or the LA Fires. We have seen first-hand how disasters are upsetting experiences for everyone involved, especially for children and parents, whom often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a disaster.
After months of active deployments, we specifically noticed that more and more mothers were suffering from PTSD from Hurricane Helene and the LA Fires. Families were not ok. After experiencing traumatic experiences like these — where families lost loved ones, lost their homes, or experienced major damage to their homes, and a significant disruption of daily life — first responders, like us, started seeing the onset of PTSD.
While our program still supports disaster survivors in their long-term recovery, we have also noticed that all families, regardless of experiencing a disaster, are struggling and need help. Moms and dads are exhausted, burned-out, and calling us in desperation for support. So, we opened up our Mental Health Program to include all parents who just need a go-to organization who can help with immediate mental health. No barriers, no insurance requests, and no roadblocks, just help when they need it most.
Through our program, Mental Health Workers visit the homes of families for up to 1-3 visits at no charge to the family. Each visit is roughly 90 minutes long.
Mental Health volunteers utilize various evidence-based treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure therapy. They will also provide counseling, support groups, and other psychosocial interventions to help individuals cope with their trauma and regain a sense of normalcy. Our Mental Health volunteers first work with the parents to build up their resilience, and then assess the health and well-being of the children.
Partner with Us
In the last two years, systemic instability in the United States has left households highly vulnerable to economic, social, and cultural shocks. Persistent inflation and the expiration of pandemic-era support programs, such as health care, have families struggling with skyrocketing food prices, healthcare costs, child care expenses, and utility bills (increasing by 12% in 2025). The child care sector remains stressed after the end of emergency federal funding, limiting access and increasing financial burdens on working parents. FAMILIES ARE STRUGGLING. Many households today are forced to choose between basic needs like food, utilities, and housing. That’s when we help — and I mean, really HELP.