American Academy of Pediatrics http://www.aap.org

This is a source for a great deal of information about health and mental health issues for children. It has particularly good material on working with children after violence. The links to other sites are also valuable.

American Red Cross http://www.redcross.org

This site gives news about ARC activities around the world and provides information about preparing and coping with disaster. Links to other sites – including local offices - are also available.

Centering Corporation http://www.centering.org

The Centering Corporation provides a variety of print and media materials to assist those healing from loss. Materials are available for adults as well as children.

Child Trauma Academy http://www.ChildTraumaAcademy.org

This site has many excellent articles written by Dr. Bruce Perry as well as other writers. In several articles Dr. Perry includes specific sections on what parents, teachers, and caregivers can do to assist children. One article of particular interest is “Helping Traumatized Children, A Brief Overview for Caregivers,” by Dr. Perry.

University of Illinois Extension Disaster Resources http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/disaster

This site has many pages related to disaster including Children, Stress, and Natural Disasters. Resources are available for teachers and children. Click on “Disaster Resources” and find many, many resources that could be very useful for early childhood educators and others.

David Baldwin’s Trauma Information Pages. http://www.trauma-pages.org

This site provides many excellent links to valuable resources on trauma and recovery topics.

Federal Emergency Management Agency http://www.fema.gov

Many resources for preparedness, response, and recovery are listed on this site. There are also many detailed articles on emergencies, the latest information as to what to do before, during, and after an emergency, the most up-to-date information on emergencies anticipated or in progress, as well as many excellent links to other resources. http://www.fema.gov

FEMA for Kids http://www.fema.gov/kids

FEMA for Kids includes many goods ideas and excellent resources for middle school children, their teachers and parents. There are lots of games to help children learn about disasters but lots of serious stuff, too.

Pan American Health Organization http://www.paho.org

What a wealth of information is included on this site! It includes many valuable articles that you can use for mitigation, preparedness, response or recovery from disaster. Under “Topics,” scroll down to “Disasters and Humanitarian Assistance” where you will find lots of information is informative and very useful.

The Dougy Center http://www.dougy.org

This site provides many excellent resources for children and their families as they grieve losses and move through the grief process. Teachers can find resources to assist them in understanding the grief process and ways to help children as they work through their grief.

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Volunteer Opportunity:

If you've ever wanted to volunteer with children after disasters, check out this site:

Disaster Child Care provides child care at disaster sites anywhere in the United States. Identified by their compassion for children, volunteers provide comfort, encouragement and offer the healing touch young children need in traumatic situations. Disaster Child Care volunteers create a safe and friendly environment for children to be free to act like children. Volunteers give individual attention to children while engaging them with activities designed to relieve stress and calm fears. If you would like to be specially trained as a Disaster Child Care volunteer click here: www.disasterchildcare.org

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More resources:

Books DVD and Workbook For Children