How to Make a Family Emergency Plan (And Get the Kids Actually Involved)

My daughter Emma is fourteen and can now describe our emergency plan from memory, in order, without prompting. My son Jack, eleven, knows the two meeting places and can operate the hand-crank radio.

That did not happen by giving them a laminated card and expecting them to read it. It happened by making the plan with them, not for them.

A family emergency plan is one of those things most families intend to do and never quite get around to. This guide is the version that actually gets done.

Why the Government Template Does Not Work

The government emergency planning website has a template. It is thorough, well-organised, and almost entirely ignored by the population it is aimed at.

The problem is not the information. The problem is that it is written as a document to be filed, not as a protocol to be practised. A plan that lives in a folder is not a plan — it is a file. The difference between a plan and a file is whether the people in your household know it without consulting the document.

The second problem is that government templates are written for all households, which means they are written for none of them. They do not account for the fact that your elderly neighbour has no one else to check on her, or that your son has asthma and the inhalers live in the bathroom cabinet, or that your dog will need to be evacuated too.

This guide is about making a plan that your family will actually remember and use, not a document that satisfies a planning checklist.

Step 1: Start with the Scenarios That Actually Affect You

Before planning anything, decide which emergencies you are planning for. The answer shapes everything that follows.

For most UK suburban families, the realistic scenarios are:

Power cut (most likely): Loss of mains electricity for 4–24 hours, occasionally longer following storm damage. No heating, no cooking on electric hobs, no lighting, no internet.

Flooding: Relevant to a significant minority of UK homes. Either local flooding affecting access to your property, or direct flood risk to the property itself.

Evacuation: Being asked to leave your home quickly (fire, gas leak, structural damage, or civil emergency within your area). This does not mean leaving permanently — most evacuations are hours to a day.

Communication failure: Loss of internet and mobile signal. Less likely but important to plan for because most modern families are entirely dependent on connected devices.

For US families, add severe weather events (tornado, hurricane, wildfire) relevant to your specific region.

You do not need a separate plan for each scenario. Most emergency responses share common elements. But knowing your primary scenarios helps you prioritise.

Step 2: The Four Things Every Plan Needs

Most emergency plans can be distilled into four decisions that every household member needs to know without looking anything up.

1. Where do we go if we cannot stay home?

Two answers, not one.

Meeting place 1: Somewhere within 5 minutes of your home. The corner of your street, a neighbour's house, the church car park. Somewhere everyone can reach without transport.

Meeting place 2: Somewhere further away — a family member's house, a friend outside your immediate area, or a local community centre. This is for scenarios where the immediate neighbourhood is affected.

Our two places: the Hendersons' house at the end of the road (Emma and Jack know this without being told, because they have been there a hundred times), and my parents in Glastonbury (20 minutes by car).

2. How do we communicate if phones don't work?

If mobile networks are down, you need a non-digital communication plan. Ours:

If we cannot reach each other by phone, everyone goes to Meeting Place 1. We wait there for 30 minutes. If no one else arrives, we leave a written note (paper, in the door) saying where we have gone and go to Meeting Place 2.

The written note sounds archaic. It has kept two families from being separately stuck, unable to find each other, in a neighbour's account of a localised flooding event last year.

3. What are our emergency contacts outside the household?

One person in the household of each family member who would be called if something happened. And one person outside your local area — someone in another city or country who can receive information from multiple branches of your family and relay it. This is especially useful in scenarios where local phone lines are congested.

Our out-of-area contact is my sister in Edinburgh. Emma and Jack both know her number by heart, because I made them memorise it.

4. Where are our critical documents and supplies?

Everyone in the household should know: - Where the emergency kit is (ours is under the stairs) - Where the passports are (kitchen drawer, in a plastic wallet) - Where the medication lives (bathroom cabinet and in our bag) - Where the torch is (same kitchen drawer as the radio)

Step 3: Get the Kids Involved

Children are more capable of handling emergency information than parents typically expect, and they are significantly more capable if they helped create the plan.

What works with younger children (6–10):

Treat it as a story exercise. "If the lights went out tonight, what would we do first?" Let them answer. Add the real answer if they are wrong. Practising the scenario through narrative is much more effective than reading them a list.

Physical rehearsal: walk them to Meeting Place 1. Make it a trip, not a drill. "This is where we would come." Children who have been somewhere once remember it. Children who have been told about somewhere do not.

Give them one job. Children respond well to responsibility. Emma's job is to bring the dog lead and the dog's food bag. Jack's job is to bring the torch and the radio. Specific jobs are remembered. General instructions are not.

What works with older children (11–16):

Older children can handle the full plan and respond well to being trusted with adult information. Share the out-of-area contact number and expect them to memorise it. Explain the financial contingency (£50 cash in the emergency kit) and why it exists. Include them in reviewing the plan annually.

Step 4: The Physical Plan

Once the plan exists in everyone's heads, make a simple physical reference. Not a 12-page government form. A laminated A5 card.

our card covers:

Emergency contacts: - Local fire: [number] - Local police non-emergency: [number] - DNO (our power company): [number] - Out-of-area contact (my sister): [number] - GP out-of-hours: 111 (UK)

Meeting places: 1. Hendersons' house, [address] 2. Mum and Dad's, Glastonbury

Critical locations in this house: - Emergency kit: under stairs - Passports: kitchen drawer - Medications: bathroom cabinet - Cash: inside emergency kit

Our animals: - Dog lead, food, vaccination records: under stairs with the emergency kit

What Emma/Jack need if evacuating separately: - Go to Meeting Place 1. Leave a note in the door. Wait 30 minutes. Then go to Meeting Place 2.

Keep one card in the emergency kit, one on the fridge, and ideally one in each child's school bag (a copy of the contacts and meeting places is sufficient for them).

Step 5: Medical and Special Needs Considerations

Every plan should address the specific vulnerabilities of people in your household.

Prescription medications: List every regular medication with dosage. Keep a 7-day surplus beyond the 72-hour emergency minimum. Know which medications need refrigeration — a power cut affects insulin storage. The printed medication list goes in the emergency kit.

Medical equipment: CPAP machines, nebulisers, EpiPens, hearing aids, mobility aids, and similar items should be specifically identified. Where are the spares? What is the battery life? What is the backup if the device runs out of power?

Elderly relatives: If you have elderly relatives nearby, your plan should include checking on them. Who is responsible for this, and in what scenarios?

Pets: Dogs, cats, and small animals need water, food for 72 hours, medication if applicable, and carriers or leads. Their vaccination records and microchip details belong in the emergency kit alongside the family documents.

The Annual Review

A plan that was accurate when you made it may not be accurate in two years. People's medical situations change, children move through different age groups and capabilities, contacts move. Review the plan once a year.

our approach: we review in October, before winter. It takes 20 minutes. We update the card, check the emergency kit, and ask Emma and Jack to tell us the two meeting places and the out-of-area contact number.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to make a family emergency plan?

The first time, about 90 minutes for a family of four who have never thought about it before. Subsequent annual reviews take 15–20 minutes.

Should we practise evacuation drills?

A walkthrough of Meeting Place 1 and a conversation about the scenarios is more valuable than a formal drill for most families. Formal drills feel performative and are not well-received by teenagers. A casual walkthrough is retained.

How do we handle a situation where we're not all at home?

This is the most important scenario to plan for. Everyone knows the two meeting places, and the protocol for phones being down (leave a note, go to Place 1, wait 30 minutes, then Place 2). The out-of-area contact acts as a relay if family members are in different parts of the city.

What should children have with them at school?

The key information children need is the two meeting places and the out-of-area contact number. A small laminated card in their school bag is sufficient. Schools have their own emergency protocols — you do not need your child to take charge of their own evacuation, just to know where the family will meet if normal contact fails.

Do we need a bug-out bag?

The bug-out bag concept is useful but the framing sometimes leads families toward expensive survival-oriented gear that does not serve suburban emergencies. A well-stocked 72-hour kit with documents, medications, and a change of clothes serves the realistic scenarios. See Best Emergency Kit for Families 2026 for my recommendations.

Related Guides

The kit: Best Emergency Kit for Families 2026 The checklist: 72-Hour Emergency Kit Checklist for Families The broader picture: The Complete Home Resilience Guide 2026

The hardest part of this is starting. Once you have had the first conversation with your family, everything else follows. Start with the two meeting places and the out-of-area contact. Those three pieces of information cover the core of most emergency scenarios, and they fit on a card smaller than a playing card.