The Lost Ones: Emergency Care and Family Tracing for Children from Birth to Five Years describes both how to care for the youngest children, newborns to five years old, who are separated from their families in emergencies and to trace their families. Different possible care settings, and how to meet developmental needs of very young children separated from their families in emergencies are presented and discussed. It provides information on how parents and humanitarian workers can prevent children from becoming separated in emergencies, and, in the event of separation, a comprehensive guide on how to elicit information from the children and others around them and conduct family tracing and reunification.
The manual is intended for NGOs, communities, national agencies and UN organizations and other groups who are responsible for the care of very young separated children and who want to look for the children’s families.
The United Nations (UN) and NGOs have formulated comprehensive policies concerning the care, protection, family tracing and reunification of separated children. Several excellent manuals and papers exist on guidelines and principles in addressing the needs of that child population. (Please refer to the Bibliography in Annex 1). It was decided that a practical field-oriented methodology to guide an appropriate response to the specific needs of emergency care, tracing and family reunification of babies and children five years and younger, was still lacking. Thus, this manual intends to fill this specific gap and should be read in conjunction with other more comprehensive works on the subject of separated children, noted in the Bibliography of this manual.
©UNICEF
