Nanny Agency JobsA family may have emergency contacts saved in a parent's phone without the nanny knowing how to access the household's plan. A useful preparation conversation tests whether the nanny can find the agreed information, understand their role and identify gaps before anything happens.
Start with the family's existing emergency communication and reunification arrangements. The exercise below is a quiet discussion at home, not a live drill or a guide to medical response or evacuation. It helps adults check a plan; it does not decide what anyone should do during an actual emergency.
Bring the current household plan to the conversation
Ask the parent which document or record contains the current arrangements. Establish who maintains it and which version everyone should use. If instructions are spread across messages, contact cards and school documents, ask the family to explain how those records fit together.
The City of Riverside's emergency communication guidance includes outside caregivers in household planning and recommends paper contact information and practice. The tabletop exercise here is an original way to examine the family's arrangements, not a procedure prescribed by the city.
If there is no usable household plan, that is the first gap to report. Ask the family to establish appropriate arrangements using relevant official guidance. Do not turn this article into a replacement plan by filling in answers from your own assumptions.
Read location and contact details as a new arrival would
Look at the actual information you are expected to use. Can you identify the home address, the relevant contacts and any meeting information in the plan? Does a label such as “Dad's office” identify a place you can understand, or does it depend on knowledge only the family has?
Ask the parent to clarify ambiguous names and locations in the source record. If a school or activity has its own collection or reunification arrangements, have the family explain your role and obtain the relevant information from that organization. Do not assume the household plan overrides another organization's requirements.
Check whether you can reach the agreed copy of the information under the circumstances the family has planned for. Discuss access and privacy together. You need the appropriate information for your role, while sensitive household details should remain in the family's agreed locations and channels.
Try a fictional unavailable-phone tabletop
In this fictional example, nanny Drew and parent Morgan sit at the kitchen table with the household plan. They imagine that Drew's usual phone is unavailable while reviewing how the family would communicate. They make no calls and do not move the children.
Morgan asks, “Where does our plan say the contact information is available?” Drew points to the designated paper copy. They discover it names a family contact but gives only a nickname that Drew does not recognize. Morgan clarifies the identity and takes responsibility for updating the record.
Next they read the plan's existing alternative communication arrangements. One refers to access that Drew has never been shown. They stop the exercise at that gap and arrange the needed orientation. Drew does not invent a substitute contact sequence to keep the rehearsal moving.
Finally, they look at the family's stated meeting information. A description is unclear, so Morgan marks it for correction. The useful result is a short list of defects in the existing plan, each with someone responsible for resolving it.
Distinguish a message from an acknowledged message
Ask how the family's plan handles communication that has not been acknowledged. What information should be shared, with whom, and through which agreed route? These answers must come from the plan and its responsible adults rather than an improvised sequence in this guide.
In a rehearsal, use precise language: “I have found the contact” differs from “The contact has received an update.” A message appearing to send is not proof that somebody has read it. Similarly, identifying a meeting place does not establish that everyone has agreed to use it in every circumstance.
This exercise does not introduce a requirement to wait for parental permission before urgent action. Actual emergencies require the applicable emergency arrangements, professional instructions and official directions. Keep the tabletop focused on whether the communication information is accessible and understood.
Check the corrections before relying on them
At the end, identify who will correct each gap and how you will know the current record has changed. “We discussed the wrong number” is not the same as replacing it in the copy you carry. Ask for an opportunity to review corrected information and receive any missing orientation.
Revisit the relevant parts when the family changes contact details, care locations, schools or your responsibilities. Include other authorized caregivers through the family's process so that different adults are not relying on conflicting versions.
The preparation is useful when you can explain where the plan is, what your assigned role means and which questions remain open. An attractive contact sheet or a completed rehearsal is not proof that every emergency has been anticipated.
Sources
City of Riverside: Communication. Checked 27 October 2026. The fictional tabletop is an original review exercise for an existing household plan.