-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-06-680R		

TITLE:     Lessons Learned for Protecting and Educating Children after the
Gulf Coast Hurricanes

DATE:   05/11/2006 
				                                                                         
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GAO-06-680R

May 11, 2006

Congressional Committees

Subject: Lessons Learned for Protecting and Educating Children after the
Gulf Coast Hurricanes

In August and September 2005, thousands of children were displaced from
their homes as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Questions were
raised about their safety and the services provided to the most vulnerable
children affected by the hurricanes: unaccompanied minors and children in
foster care. In addition, thousands of school-aged children requiring
educational services were displaced from their schools.

In view of these circumstances, we conducted work under the Comptroller
General's authority to learn more about the challenges encountered and
lessons learned in:

(1) locating missing children;

(2) locating and serving Louisiana's displaced foster children; and

(3) reopening K-12 schools and educating displaced school-aged children.

In February 2006, we offered or provided briefings to the staffs of your
committees on our preliminary observations. Enclosed is a briefing
summary.

During the course of our work, officials from the U.S. Departments of
Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education informed us that they are
taking a number of steps to address the challenges that we identified, and
we reflected those actions in our document, where appropriate. As a
result, we are not making any recommendations at this time. We provided
this document to officials from HHS, Education, and the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The officials generally agreed
with our conclusions or provided technical comments that were incorporated
into our document.

We are sending copies of this briefing to the cognizant congressional
committees, HHS and Education. We will make copies available to others
upon request. This briefing also will be available on the GAO Web site at
http://www.gao.gov . Should you or your staff have any questions, please
contact me at (202) 512-7215. Key contributors may be found on the last
page of the briefing.

Cynthia M. Fagnoni

Managing Director, Education, Workforce,

and Income Security

List of Committees

The Honorable Max Baucus

Ranking Minority Member

Committee on Finance

United States Senate

The Honorable Michael B. Enzi

Chairman

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy

Ranking Minority Member

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

United States Senate

The Honorable Wally Herger

Chairman

The Honorable Jim McDermott

Ranking Minority Member

Subcommittee on Human Resources

Committee on Ways and Means

House of Representatives

(130563)

Enclosure

                            Preliminary Observations

Briefing for Congressional Staff Page 2

Gulf Coast Hurricanes: Lessons Learned for Protecting and Educating
Children

Summary of Findings

                             Why GAO Did This Study

Gulf Coast state and local officials and others throughout the country
have worked hard to protect and support children affected by the
hurricanes. However, a number of lessons learned from these hurricanes
could improve future responses to catastrophic events and, in some cases,
to other disasters as well.

           o  State and local disaster plans could better protect children if
           they integrated the needs of child welfare and education agencies.
           For example, schools can reopen more quickly when local relief
           officials work with school personnel to coordinate how resources
           will be allocated. With schools in operation, communities can
           focus on recovery. Moreover, child welfare and education agencies
           can better prepare for and respond to large-scale disasters by
           maintaining emergency contact information for staff and foster
           parents and developing evacuation instructions.

           o  Children could benefit from data-sharing agreements among
           organizations. Agreements to share data on displaced children and
           families could help speed efforts to locate them.

           o  Flexibility in certain federal reporting requirements can allow
           states and localities to focus more attention on recovery efforts.

In August and September 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused
devastating damage to states along the Gulf Coast. In the aftermath of the
storms, many questions were raised about the status of the thousands of
children living in the affected areas. We prepared this preliminary
information under the Comptroller General's authority to learn more about
(1) the number of missing children and the challenges and lessons learned
in locating them; (2) the number of foster and other children receiving
child welfare services in Louisiana, in particular, who were affected by
the storm, and the challenges and lessons learned in locating and serving
them; and (3) the number of schoolchildren displaced by the storm, the
damage to their schools, and the challenges and lessons learned for
educating displaced school-aged children.

Background

Missing Children page 2

Child Welfare pages 3-4

Education page 5

Appendix: Scope, Methodology, Contributors,

and Related GAO Reports page 6

Briefing Structure

Prior to the hurricanes:

           o  Relative to other states in the nation, the four affected
           states-Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas-had among the
           highest percentages of children in poverty based on 2000 data from
           the Census Bureau.

                        o Mississippi 27.0%
                        o Louisiana 26.6%
                        o Alabama 21.5%
                        o Texas 20.5%

           o  Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi students scored lower than
           the national average on the reading and math National Assessment
           of Educational Progress; Texas students scored about the same as
           the national average in reading and slightly higher in math.

We provided this document to officials from the U.S. Departments of Health
and Human Services (HHS) and Education, as well as the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The officials generally agreed
with our conclusions or provided technical comments that were incorporated
into our findings.

                                Agency Comments

Briefing for Congressional Staff Page 2

The reasons children were separated from their families are not fully
understood, but in many cases children were evacuated separately from
parents and were sent to different shelters. Because of NCMEC's staff of
trained investigators, some of whom are retired law enforcement officers,
with experience finding children at risk, the Department of Justice asked
the organization to help reunite children and families. NCMEC faced some
challenges, namely:

Disaster Planning and Service Delivery

           o  NCMEC had to adapt its definition of missing children and who
           can report them missing. Previously only law enforcement agencies,
           parents, or legal guardians could report children missing. After
           the storm, the center accepted reports from nonparents of children
           displaced by the storm.

           o  Because of large call volumes, NCMEC added staff and phone
           lines to handle hurricane-specific calls.

Data and Record Management

           o  Officials from NCMEC told us that both the American Red Cross
           and FEMA had information on the location of children in their
           databases, but it was difficult to obtain this information because
           of privacy concerns. NCMEC signed memorandums of understanding
           with both organizations, but the negotiations and review process
           to complete these memorandums slowed efforts to locate the
           children. The U.S. Postal Service made data available to NCMEC to
           help find missing children.

           o  All of the children reported missing were not necessarily
           unaccompanied or in harm's way. Because nonguardians, such as
           neighbors, could report a child as missing, some children who were
           safe with their families or other guardians were probably reported
           missing.

Finding Missing Children after the Hurricanes

                           Facts on Missing Children

           o  Having an adequate number of trained staff present during a
           large-scale evacuation can help ensure that families are kept
           together. Child welfare workers in Louisiana were deployed to
           evacuation sites for Hurricane Rita to ensure that children were
           placed with their guardians.

           o  Standing agreements for data sharing among organizations
           tracking missing persons and the American Red Cross and the
           Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) can help locate missing
           persons more quickly.

           o  Trained investigators and retired law enforcement officials can
           help locate missing children after disasters.

                                Lessons Learned

           o  After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, approximately 5,200 children
           were reported missing to NCMEC.

           o  All of the instances of children reported missing to NCMEC were
           resolved by March 2006.

Missing Children: Challenges

                                Missing Children

Child Welfare in Louisiana

Foster Children

           o  Of Louisiana's 5,000 foster children, close to 2,000 were
           displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

           o  Approximately 370 foster children were displaced from the
           state, and about 150 remained outside of Louisiana in 19 states as
           of April 2006.

           o  All foster children were located by November 2005.

Other Child Welfare Services

           o  Prior to the hurricanes, approximately 1,885 families were
           under investigation for abuse and neglect, and 364 were receiving
           family services in the affected areas.

           o  After the hurricanes, Louisiana ran a shelter for 24
           unaccompanied children.

Staff

           o  As many as 900 employees from Louisiana's Department of Social
           Services (DSS) were diverted to set up and staff emergency
           shelters for over 5 weeks, reducing the time available to support
           child welfare services. As soon as the shelters began to empty and
           workers returned to full- time child welfare work, Hurricane Rita
           approached the state and called for another evacuation and staff
           to shelter duty.

           o  About 640 of the state's social workers were also initially
           displaced from the heavily affected communities, making it even
           more difficult to find displaced foster children.

Louisiana child welfare officials faced a number of challenges in locating
and serving displaced foster children and other children needing services
or protection.

Disaster Planning

Louisiana officials told us that the state's disaster plans did not
anticipate such a large-scale event. Foster parents knew that they were
required to contact their social workers when leaving the state, but
phones were inoperable and social workers were also displaced. Social
workers' phones were not always operational for weeks after the storm and
could not relay the information to the state agency. The state publicized
a toll-free hotline for foster parents to communicate with state
officials. Officials relied on foster parents to call the toll-free number
to report the location of the foster children and any special needs that
they or their foster children may have needed. State officials were also
able to send monthly foster payment checks to foster parents at their new
location.

Data and Record Management

           o  Louisiana officials also told us it was difficult to contact
           foster parents because their emergency contact information was
           limited and located in case records that were inaccessible for
           weeks following the storm. In addition, the state was in the
           process of creating a statewide child welfare information system
           but did not have extensive case information in a central database.

           o  In some localities, social workers recreated case files from
           memory and other documentation because close to 300 current case
           files had been destroyed and even more were inaccessible. As a
           result of limited access to child welfare case files and other
           disruptions, some court proceedings related to adoptions and
           reunifications had to be delayed.

           o  Louisiana officials told us that it was difficult to get
           information from the American Red Cross and FEMA on families they
           were unable to locate. Louisiana officials said they had to sign a
           memorandum of understanding with American Red Cross officials
           which stated that the agency would contact the Red Cross shelters
           prior to entering to search for foster children. Louisiana
           officials said that by the time the memorandum was approved, the
           American Red Cross had closed its shelters.

                                 Child Welfare

Child Welfare: Louisiana's Challenges

riefing for Congressional Staffers Page 5Briefing for Congressional Staff
Page 3

B

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                                Lessons Learned

           o  Future state disaster plans should include evacuation
           information and instructions for foster parents and social
           workers. Louisiana is in the process of conducting foster parent
           emergency preparedness courses. In addition, HHS is planning a
           conference focusing on disaster preparedness and recovery in which
           child welfare officials from the affected states can share lessons
           learned with officials from other states.

           o  Updated emergency contact information and automated case file
           systems could help locate and serve foster children more quickly.

           o  Standing agreements among state child welfare officials and the
           American Red Cross and FEMA on data sharing and coordination could
           expedite recovery efforts.

Service Delivery

           o  Foster children: All out-of-state foster family cases are being
           managed by caseworkers in Louisiana with limited supervision
           provided by caseworkers in the host state. Many foster families
           who were living out of state faced problems finding providers to
           accept their Medicaid card for mental health services and
           medication. When it has needed to do so, Louisiana has contracted
           for services such as short-term caretakers for foster children to
           help displaced foster families. In addition, heightened levels of
           stress can increase the likelihood of abuse or neglect, which can
           increase the need for child protective services and foster
           parents. In some cases, foster parents were unable to cope with
           the effects of the storm and returned children to the child
           welfare agency.

           o  Children receiving other child welfare services: Many families
           were receiving services while their child was residing in their
           home, and other families were under investigation for abuse and
           neglect. State officials placed a priority on the cases of
           children determined to be at high risk of abuse and focused their
           initial effort on locating and serving these families. In cases
           where they were unable to find the families, officials requested
           and received assistance from NCMEC.

Concerns over Federal Assistance

           o  State officials told us that they were concerned about how
           their future federal funding would be affected in the aftermath of
           the storm and whether additional funds would be made available to
           them to help with recovery efforts. For example, some funding
           elements are linked to goals in a program improvement plan (PIP)
           that they were unlikely to meet. State officials told us that HHS
           has addressed their concerns by renegotiating the PIP in light of
           the effects of the storms.

           o  State officials also requested from HHS a number of waivers for
           other statutory requirements for federal child welfare programs.
           HHS officials told us that they did not have the authority to
           grant the requested waivers for certain child welfare programs,
           but issued an information memorandum reminding states of the
           flexibilities that existed within some of the current program
           structure. In the aftermath of the hurricanes, HHS officials are
           working with the gulf coast states to assess the needs of the
           states and whether HHS may need additional waiver authority to
           respond to future events. In addition to its weekly conference
           calls with the states following Hurricane Katrina, HHS has
           provided additional funding to its sponsored resource centers to
           provide training and technical assistance to the states affected
           by the hurricanes.

           o  HHS officials told us they needed the state to provide frequent
           information on the status of children under its care. However,
           state officials told us that HHS's initial reporting and data
           requirements diverted time and attention from their more immediate
           needs.

                                 Child Welfare

                                                                            4

Page Briefing for Congressional Staff Page 4

Child Welfare: Louisiana's Challenges (cont.)

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State and local education officials faced challenges in restarting schools
and educating displaced students. We identified the following challenges:

Disaster planning: Some districts had crisis plans, but not for
large-scale disasters in which the population did not immediately return
home. In these districts, officials had difficulty locating employees,
which was essential to reopening schools. School district officials needed
to work closely with other local officials to focus resources on reopening
schools.

Service delivery: States, with assistance from Education, required
districts to immediately enroll displaced students through the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. Districts generally enrolled
displaced students quickly under difficult circumstances. The large number
of displaced students in some districts led to a strain on classroom
space, books, teachers, school buses, bus drivers, and counseling
services. Finding individuals with the expertise to help special-needs
students was also difficult, especially in small districts.

Data/records management: Displaced students' records were often not
immediately available to their new districts. As a result, districts often
enrolled students based on information provided by parents about grade
level, disability status, and other factors. Louisiana and Texas
collaborated to eventually make displaced Louisiana students' records
available to authorized Texas personnel. Mississippi student records,
including academic records, were automated and made available to students'
new districts.

Financial difficulties: Districts in areas directly affected by the storms
and those that enrolled displaced students faced financial challenges,
including providing services to additional students. As a result, Congress
appropriated $1.4 billion to help reopen elementary and secondary schools
and serve displaced students. The first installment was made available to
states in January 2006; Education plans to release the final installment
in May 2006. Although grateful for assistance, state and local officials
said that they would still bear a significant financial burden as a result
of the storms.

           o  Property tax revenues, a key funding source for schools, will
           likely be undercut in areas with property damage. State funding
           for schools may also be undercut by the effects of the storms.
           o  State and local officials indicated that displaced students
           often require additional services, such as counseling and
           remediation.
           o  Federal assistance for displaced students under the Hurricane
           Education Recovery Act is available for 1 year only, yet state
           officials reported that a large number of displaced students are
           likely to remain in their new districts.

Federal flexibility: State and district officials expressed the need for
flexibility in meeting the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of
2001 (NCLBA). Upon request of the affected states, Education quickly
granted some flexibility regarding certain NCLBA requirements. State
officials were concerned, however, about the effect of displaced students
on their NCLBA academic accountability results. Education officials said
that any decisions about how the students will be included in these
results will be made in upcoming months.

Disaster planning that addresses large-scale emergencies can speed the
reopening of schools, which is vital for community recovery.

Using the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to enroll displaced
students in new schools can ensure that these students' education
continues.

Federal flexibility in reporting and other requirements would allow states
and districts to focus on rebuilding.

                                Lessons Learned

Displaced Students

           o  Thousands of students, from kindergarten to the 12th grade
           (K-12), were displaced by the hurricanes.

           o  Schools from nearly every state enrolled some of the more than
           150,000 displaced K-12 students in fall 2005.

           o  The five states with the most displaced students were:

                        o Louisiana (46,300),
                        o Texas (45,200),
                        o Mississippi (18,100),
                        o Georgia (10,600), and
                        o Alabama (7,100)

           o  The nationwide number of displaced students has fallen slightly
           since the fall of 2005.

Damage to Facilities

           o  Louisiana officials said that 29 schools were destroyed, and
           about half of the state's schools were damaged.

           o  Mississippi officials said that 16 schools were destroyed, and
           over half of the state's districts reported some

                               Facts on Education

                                   Education

Education: Challenges for the Affected States

Briefing for Congressional Staff Page 5

Hurricane Katrina: GAO's Preliminary Observations Regarding Preparedness,
Response, and Recovery, GAO-06-442T, Washington, D.C.: March 8, 2006.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Provision of Charitable Assistance,
GAO-06-297T, Washington, D.C.: December 13, 2005.

September 11: More Effective Collaboration Could Enhance Charitable
Organizations' Contributions in Disasters, GAO-03-259, Washington, D.C.:
December 19, 2002.

Disaster Management: Improving the Nation's Response to Catastrophic
Disasters, RCED-93-186, Washington, D.C.: July 23, 1993.

Related GAO Reports

                               tors Contributors

AnswerAnswerScope and Methodology

To do our work, we:

           o  reviewed federal, state, and local data and elements of their
           disaster plans.

           o  interviewed officials from:

                        o the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and
                        Human Services;
                        o the National Center for Missing and Exploited
                        Children;
                        o state education officials in Louisiana, Texas,
                        Mississippi, and Alabama; and
                        o state child welfare officials in Louisiana, Texas,
                        and Alabama. (Mississippi state child welfare
                        officials were not available to discuss how the Gulf
                        Coast hurricanes affected children within their child
                        welfare system.)

           o  conducted a site visit to Louisiana, the state with the highest
           number of displaced and missing children; in addition to the state
           education and child welfare officials, we interviewed:

                        o public and private school district officials,
                        o social workers and foster parents.

           o  conducted our work from October 2005 to March 2006 in
           accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

Much of the data regarding numbers of children affected are officials'
best estimates. Determining exact numbers has been difficult because of
the extent of the storm damage and the large numbers of displaced people.

If you have any questionsconcerning this briefing, pleasecall XXX at (202)
512-4841. Other key contributors to this report were ______, ___________,
____________________________, and ____________. If you have any questions
concerning this briefing, please call Cindy Fagnoni, Managing Director,
Education, Workforce, and Income Security, at (202) 512- 7215 or Kay
Brown, Assistant Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security, at
(202) 512-3674.

Other key contributors to this briefing were Scott Spicer and Anjali
Tekchandani.

                                    Appendix

_,

Briefing for Congressional Staff Page 6

Contribu
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