Child(ren) Section

Welcome back! Today, we’re going to cover the Child(ren) section of your emergency binder. I labeled this tab with my kids’ names, but you can label it as you deem appropriate. This section will cover their Schedule, Rules, & Favorites; Medical Information; and the Medical Power of Attorney for your kids. Obviously, if you don’t have any children or they are fully grown, you can exclude most of this tab, but even if you don’t have young children at home, be sure to check out the Medical Information document.

Schedule, Rules, & Favorites

Even if your kids don’t have a rigid schedule, it’s a good idea to include some form of schedule for them in here. If something were to happen to both parents, the best thing for your kids is to have some sense of normalcy amidst the chaos.

If your kids are in school, involved in extracurricular activities, or in daycare, I recommend adding a schedule for each of those things as well. Include the name of the school, program, or daycare; phone number; teacher’s/coach’s name; location; drop off and pick up times; days of the week these events occur; required outfit or equipment; or anything else that someone may need to know in the event that they suddenly need to care for your children.

(On that note, I suggest you start thinking about who you would want to care for your children in an emergency, whether temporary or permanently. We will cover this more directly when we fill out your Last Will and Testament, but it’s a big decision, so I recommend getting started thinking about it now.)

For the rules section, add any top-priority rules that you want to ensure are known to whoever may take over the care of your children in an emergency situation. Personally, I am very cautious with sugar intake since I had gestational diabetes with my pregnancies, which puts both my girls and myself at higher risk of becoming diabetic. For me, this is an important rule to take note of, along with a couple others.

For the favorites section, list any favorites your kids have, such as favorite toy, show/movie, bedtime songs, activities, events, etc. Again, in the event of someone else taking over the care of your children, you want to guarantee that they’ll continue to enjoy the things they love and, hopefully, find some comfort during a time of great change.

Finally, I added in a Miscellaneous heading, under which I made another personal but important note in the case of Lane’s and my absence in the girls’ lives. Consider doing the same if you have anything to note for their new guardians or temporary caretakers.

Medical Information

NOTE: This is a good place to include your own medical information as well, so even if you don’t have kids, this document applies to everyone.

On this document, you will want to list the medical insurance company that covers your children’s medical expenses. I basically copied the information from their insurance card to create this document. Also include your preferred provider and hospital, pharmacy, and any recurring prescriptions. If your children have separate dental insurance or anything else, be sure to list each of those policies as well.

I have chosen not to include an example here because the information can vary on such a large scale. Just remember, more is better in this situation. You don’t want yourself or someone else scrambling to find missing information.

Medical Power of Attorney

The final document in this section is the Medical Power of Attorney for your children. This document has multiple uses—it’s good for smaller things like if your kids go somewhere without you (e.g., school field trip), and it’s good for bigger things such as if you can no longer care for them. You can notate an expiration date on this form if you only want the person having temporary authority, but this document is really important if your child is outside of your care for any length of time and it would take you a long time to be able to reach them and get them the proper medical care they need.

With the Medical Power of Attorney, a specific person of your choosing will have the authority to initiate treatment prior to your arrival. Without it, many hospitals will refuse treatment of non-life-threatening injuries until the legal guardian can sign off on it in person.

Some of my family members enjoy taking my daughters camping from time to time. If one of my girls was to break her leg while camping several hours away from home, I would feel horrible knowing she was sitting in pain and not getting the necessary treatment until I could arrive on scene. This document would allow those family members to get her the treatment immediately regardless of my absence.

Since this is a legally binding document, you should consider hiring a lawyer to draw this up. Alternatively, you could also use a website like www.LawDepot.com, which has an easy-to-use system that walks you through each question, and then creates the documents for you. It’s free to use, but does require a subscription to download or print the documents (if you choose to use this service, the next several documents we cover can be created in here too).

Next Time…

…we will cover the Final Wishes Section, which includes your Healthcare Directive, End-of-Life Plan, and Last Will & Testament forms, as well as final letters to loved ones. See you then!