Helping Oakland Kids 1

Adults in Oakland have been spanning out to help victims with the clean-up and donations, and the kids of Oakland are doing the same.

In Oakland, a bunch of young girls and boys  took action to help victims of the Irene flood. Seeking to help friends, neighbors and other residents,  the kids organized a bake sale and raised $550 over the course of two days.

While Oakland moms may have been cooking up the baked items offered for sale, it was the kids that cooked up the idea and made it happen.

Natural disasters impact children in many ways. There are children directly affected by having to re-locate because their home is destroyed or unlivable, others who lost possessions in the disaster; then there are children whose friends have been displaced, and others just conscious that another disaster may at any time hit their family.

Sometimes children can handle a natural disaster better than an adult. As long as everyone is safe and together, the stress of finances, clean-up, and the day-to-day logistics that adults are responsible for are not always part of their reasoning process. But sometimes the stress can have a major impact on them, and a concerted effort might be needed to assure them that the situation is stable, and that over time things will be okay.

If you know children impacted from the floods that devastated parts of Oakland, you may consider some of the following resources.

My Hurricane Story

A workbook designed to give psychological first aid right now to both you and the stressed people you know and love. It has various sections, depending on your situation, that can be printed out and given to children to help them deal with the emotional aspects of their experiences in the disaster.

The introduction instructs that the entire book does not have to be completed for the book to help, and each child should be allowed to select which parts of the book to work with first.
http://www.cphc-sf.org/ext/HurricaneGuidedActivityWorkbook.pdf

FEMA for Kids

This FEMA website offers other information for children, whether it’s dealing with the affects of a disaster or preparing for one. Kids-to-Kids is an interesting section where kids describe their experiences dealing with natural disasters. http://www.fema.gov/kids/k2k_sch1.htm

NCTSN Resources

For Oakland parents with children who have been impacted, The National Child Traumatic Stress Network offers extensive resources for how to help your child cope with the situation
http://www.nctsn.org/trauma-types/natural-disasters/hurricanes#tabset-tab-5