The emergency contact local initiative is an important means of ensuring you and your family have access to timely support. In overseas postings, it is likely that you will have reduced access to familiar support networks that you have in the UK from family members, neighbours and close friends.
The purpose of an emergency contact is to enable you to nominate an individual who will be able to provide support to you and your family at short notice or in times of an emergency. This will provide you and your children with the reassurance that they will be looked after (in the short term) by someone you and they know and trust.
It is much better to have an identified person or people you already trust in place rather than trying to make these arrangements at a time of heightened stress for all involved.
Examples of when this could be used, include a sudden bout of illness whilst your serving partner is on exercise, which requires you to go into hospital and need someone to look after your child/ren.
It is recommended that as parent(s) you identify an emergency contact person as soon as possible, you should check that the identified person is happy to take on this role under emergency circumstances.
It is the parent(s) responsibility to satisfy themselves that the individual they identify is not only known by their child/ren but that they are confident that the individual will be able to meet the care needs of their children. If this should change, then it is the responsibility of the parent(s) to update their emergency contact details with their UWO/Welfare Team.
This is not a private fostering arrangement, the emergency contact is for short term emergency situations. Details on private fostering arrangements are available from BFSWS.
The emergency contact must give permission to have their name held on the emergency contact list maintained by the UWO in location.
If an emergency contact moves away or changes their mind; they should inform the parent(s) at the earliest opportunity to ensure details are updated with the UWO / Welfare team.
Please find attached the Emergency Contact Local Initiative Forum.
