June 2020

The safety of children is of utmost importance in the child care program. Preventive strategies are addressed in many of the policies and procedures throughout the parent manual. Jack and Jill Preschool believes that it is important to have policies and procedures to eliminate or reduce the possibility of a child going missing. To ensure the search for a child will be as efficient and expedient as possible, it is also important to have policies and procedures in case a child is missing.

The following procedures outline the steps to follow in the case where a child is missing:

●  The supervisor will determine which child is missing

●  The supervisor will notify all staff and any other relevant adults.

●  The supervisor will, depending on the number of adults, designate a team to search and a team to supervise the other children

●  The supervisor will designate a meeting place, preferable close to the nearest landmark, and a time frame for initial search

●  The supervisor will designate areas to search in order of priority, starting with the areas that present the most danger

●  The supervisor will access the emergency card of the missing child and the first aid kit; the time will be documented

●  The supervisor will contact police by dialing 911 if a search of the immediate area is unsuccessful

●  The supervisor will then notify the parent/guardian of the missing child

●  The supervisor will then gather and document as much information as possible – a description of the child, when and where the child was last seen, what the child is wearing, what areas have been searched, who has been notified and any other relevant information

●  When police arrive, the supervisor will clarify the role of duty parents with the police officer in charge

●  The supervisor will stay at the search venue until the child is found and returned to the parent/guardianor to the preschool

●  The supervisor will record and report all relevant times, names, titles and details of the search, including preparing an incident report

●  If the venue is a field trip site, the duty parents will return with all the other children to the preschool

●  The supervisor will designate a duty parent to maintain telephone coverage at the preschool untilotherwise notified

●  The supervisor, assistant teacher or volunteer parent will not issue any information to the media without the written consent of the parent/guardian

●  The supervisor will debrief as soon as possible with the children, families, and police/emergency personnel involved in the incident

●  Follow-up will include an evaluation of the effectiveness of the policies and procedures, and recommendations to avoid a repeat of the incident

●  Prevention policies and procedures will be reviewed to identify ways to eliminate or reduce the possibility of repeat of the incident

●  A “Serious Incident Report” will be filled out and forwarded to the Community Care Facilities Licensing