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Article Excerpt
In the days following the 9/11 tragedy in New York City, Disaster Child Care (DCC) and Childcare Aviation Incident Response (CAIR) volunteers provided care for the young children of families whose loved ones died in the World Trade Center collapse. This retrospective pilot study of 66 DCC/ CAIR volunteers examined qualitative data on the following topics: (1) Observations of the children's caregivers/parents and differences from other childcare or disaster settings, (2) Personal reactions to the experience, differences from other childcare or disaster settings, poignant anecdotes, utility of debriefings, stress after returning from New York, and (3) Observations of coworkers' behavior and differences from previous disaster responses. Response rate was 71% (66 of 93 potential subjects). Parental behaviors noted were the following: distress (74%), difficulty separating (48%), and checking in to see whether child was safe (44%). DCC/CAIR volunteers reported high emotionality (28%), a need to share their experience (20%). and sleep disturbance (13%) upon return from New York City. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Keywords: disaster, childcare, volunteers, 9/11
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In the days and weeks following the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, thousands of family members of persons who had perished in that tragedy found their way to a Disaster Assistance Center (DAC) located on Pier 94 in the Hudson River. The center was established by the American Red Cross (ARC), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and Mayor Giuliani's office. Many of these families brought their young children and chose to take advantage of a temporary childcare center staffed by trained disaster response volunteers. Here children could be left in a secure, child-oriented environment while their caregivers applied for relief services, which entailed waiting in lines and filling out forms.
Nearly 1,600 children were served during the 12 weeks that the childcare center was in operation. During the first two weeks after 9/11, the primary mission at Ground Zero was one of rescue and recovery. Many of the individuals coming to the DAC were looking for updates related to the status of their loved ones. With the passage of time, optimism faded and the mission changed to one of searching for bodies and other personal effects among the vast piles of rubble. I (first author) was among those who provided supervision to childcare center volunteers during the third and fourth weeks following 9/11 when the focus shifted from rescue to recovery.
Upon returning from my tour at Pier 94, I began wondering about the psychological needs of these very young children, their families, and those who provided Disaster Child Care (DCC) (1) alongside Childcare Aviation Incident Response (CAIR) volunteers. (2) For example, did our volunteers' observations of children and their caregivers differ markedly from those reported following other acts of terrorism? A literature search revealed only anecdotal reports (Coates, Rosenthal, & Schechter, 2003; Fenichel, 2001/2002; Fremont, 2004): no formal studies were found. Research done after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 focused on elementary school-aged children (Pfefferbaum, 1999; Pfefferbaum et al., 2000), whereas studies in Ireland, Israel, and Croatia (Fremont, 2004) focused on much older children.
In addition to their observations of children and their parents/caregivers, I was also curious about the childcare volunteers themselves: Did, they, like me, find a need to make sense out of their experiences in New York? Had the support I and the other "clinicians" provided them been helpful? What memories/emotions did they experience in the aftermath of their volunteering? A literature search again revealed little to inform these questions. Not surprisingly, most of the research done on the emotional sequelae to disaster has focused on survivors and, to a lesser degree, first responders (Adams, 2007). Only a few studies have attended to nonrescue volunteers and their emotional needs (McCaslin et al., 2005; Morgan, 2005). Morgan (1995), in a study of ARC staff and volunteers who had responded to Hurricane Hugo and the Loma Prieta earthquake, found high levels of stress. This study informed the development of the ARC Disaster Mental Health Program. Subsequent to 9/11, McCaslin et al. (2005) found similar levels of distress among ARC 9/11 responders, as well as a correlation to negative life-changing events in the year subsequent to service. None of these studies addressed childcare providers.
In an effort to partially offset this lack of data, I teamed up with (second author) a colleague from the Ohio Association for Infant Mental Health, to create an assessment protocol that would expand our knowledge about volunteer, caregiver, and young children's responses following acts of terrorism. We focused on three main questions: (a) What behaviors were observed as caregivers interacted with their young children? (b) What behaviors and emotions were observed and experienced among DCC/CAIR volunteers--both at the site and one year later? and (c) To what extent were the behaviors outlined for Traumatic Stress Disorder (Zero to Three, 1994), endorsed for two age groups, birth to 3 years and 3 to 6 years? This article reports qualitative results derived from the first two questions. Prior to describing our methods, we provide pertinent background information regarding general services provided at Pier 94, as well as the physical layout and mechanics of the childcare center.
THE SETTING SERVICES PROVIDED
The DAC was located in a converted warehouse on Pier 94, just upstream from Ground Zero. Family members came here to apply for short-term loans, victims of crime assistance, temporary housing, death certificates, and other services. Police provided security at the building's entrance. Just inside the building were interpreters capable of translating the nearly 70 different languages used by those working and living in the greater New York metropolitan area. Representatives from the Victims of Crime Unit, the ARC, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were present to ensure that families in need of food and shelter received help. Individuals representing major corporations with offices previously located within the World Trade Center were also available to provide support and financial assistance to families. A critical component of the DAC was its childcare center that served, at its peak, approximately 40 children ages six weeks to 12 years per day.
CHILD CARE
A safe and child friendly care center was created using flexible office dividers as partitions. Cribs were set up for small infants and various types of toys, and other materials were made available for both gross and fine motor activities (e.g., large balls and art supplies, respectively). Upon arrival at the childcare center, a Polaroid picture was taken of the child and their caregiver. The child's age and name were then written on a tag placed on their back. This helped ensure that the child was returned to the same caregiver after they had completed necessary forms, obtained a death certificate, or had taken a ferry ride to Ground Zero. With respect to the children being served, "[u]nless they or their caregiver told us, we didn't know who in their family had died. We didn't ask. We were simply there with them ..." (Kinsel, 2001). Simple giveaways such as stuffed animals were readily available to help restore some sense of predictability and routine into the lives of these children. Several decisions were made early on to ensure that the childcare area remained protected and safe. Televisions were kept turned off within the childcare area. DCC and CMR volunteers were encouraged to avoid the many memorial walls devoted to loved ones either missing or presumed dead. A community atmosphere emerged as families with young children began to use this supportive service. A number of children/families came repeatedly to the center and used it as a place to rest and recharge. Children's length of stay at the center ranged from 45 minutes to nearly 10 hours.
Preliminary observations indicated that most of those using the center were "typical kids." Once they saw the toys they were ready to play despite an overall atmosphere of doom and gloom....
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