[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Con. Res. 94 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. CON. RES. 94

 Expressing the sense of Congress that the needs of children and youth 
   affected or displaced by disasters are unique and should be given 
special consideration in planning, responding, and recovering from such 
                    disasters in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 11, 2006

  Mr. Cochran (for himself and Ms. Landrieu) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Homeland 
                   Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of Congress that the needs of children and youth 
   affected or displaced by disasters are unique and should be given 
special consideration in planning, responding, and recovering from such 
                    disasters in the United States.

Whereas major disasters resulting in Presidential disaster declarations in the 
        United States have increased from an average of 38 per year in the 
        1980s, to 46 per year in the 1990s, to 52 per year during the first half 
        of this decade;
Whereas the occurrence of major disasters in the United States is expected to 
        continue to increase in the foreseeable future;
Whereas the number of people in the United States affected by disasters each 
        year is a staggering 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 as measured by the Federal 
        Emergency Management Agency (even outside of truly catastrophic events 
        as occurred on the Gulf Coast in 2005);
Whereas 5,192 children were reported missing or displaced to the National Center 
        for Missing & Exploited Children as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and 
        Rita, and it took 6 \1/2\ months to reunite the last child separated 
        from her family;
Whereas the most serious of such cases were those 45 children arriving at 
        shelters separated from parents or guardians with no adult supervision 
        and it took more than 1 month to resolve all of those cases;
Whereas 1,100 schools were closed immediately following Hurricane Katrina and 
        372,000 schoolchildren were initially unable to attend school in New 
        Orleans and the Gulf Coast due to the hurricane;
Whereas in Mississippi 7 percent and in Louisiana 21 percent of elementary 
        schools and secondary schools remained closed 6 months after Hurricane 
        Katrina;
Whereas more than 400,000 children under the age of 5 live in or have evacuated 
        from counties or parishes that have been declared disaster areas by the 
        Federal Emergency Management Agency;
Whereas the numbers of licensed child care facilities in areas affected by 
        Hurricanes Katrina and Rita declined by 4 percent (54 facilities) in 
        Mississippi and by 25 percent (356 facilities) in Louisiana after the 
        storms;
Whereas children are known to benefit from rapid mental health programming 
        following disasters to mitigate longer term impacts;
Whereas the existing system of disaster management in the United States is the 
        purview of Federal, State, and local government emergency management 
        organizations and the disaster management programs and activities of 
        these organizations are not mandated nor are able to fully respond to 
        the unique needs of children;
Whereas Federal, State, and local government emergency management professionals 
        lack the technical knowledge, support, and contacts to address the 
        unique needs of children that need to be incorporated into such 
        professionals' disaster management programs and activities; and
Whereas existing legislative constraints on Federal disaster response and 
        recovery aid programs restrict disaster officials from responding to the 
        specific needs of children in a disaster and there is no government 
        liaison or program concerning children's issues in disasters: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the needs of children and youth affected by major 
        disasters are unique and should be given special consideration 
        in planning, responding, and recovering to major disasters; and
            (2) the Federal Emergency Management Agency should consult 
        with appropriate child-focused non-governmental organizations 
        and public university national research centers with experience 
        in addressing the needs of children in major disasters to 
        address the needs of children and youth in disaster 
        preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation, including 
        by--
                    (A) incorporating suggestions from such 
                organizations on children's issues into the National 
                Response Plan;
                    (B) seeking the recommendations of such 
                organizations on how to address the needs of children 
                in emergency shelters, trailer parks, and transitional 
                housing sites;
                    (C) jointly developing child-, family-, early 
                childhood service-, and school-focused disaster 
                preparedness materials to support understanding of the 
                impact of disasters on children and strategies to 
                mitigate them; and
                    (D) jointly developing risk assessment tools for 
                communities to use in determining children's specific 
                disaster risks.
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