Print it. Fill it in with a pen. Put one in each go-bag, one on the fridge, and one in each child's school bag or coat pocket.
Fill in the addresses, not just the phone numbers. If the phones stop working, an address is something a child can walk to and a number is not.
Always these numbers
999 for police, fire or ambulance. Free from any phone, even one with no credit and no SIM.
Childline, 0800 1111. Free, any time, and it does not show up on a phone bill.
Try them even if you think they will not work.
To say out loud
Practise this until it comes out without thinking.
My name is ______________. I am ______ years old. I live at ______________________. I am on my own and I need help.
Then, if they ask who to contact, read the names off this card.
For a younger child
Read this to them. Get them to say it back. Do it again another day.
If I cannot find my grown-ups: I stay where I am. I do not go with anyone I do not know. I look for my card.
In the go-bag
Alongside this card, each child should have:
- A whistle, on a cord, worn rather than packed. Three blasts means "I need help".
- A torch that works, with the batteries in the right way round.
- A small bottle of water they can open and carry themselves.
- Food that needs no cooking and no tin opener.
- One warm layer.
- One comfort item. This is not a soft extra. A frightened child who has their own familiar thing copes measurably better.
For the grown-ups filling this in
Write it in pen, not pencil, and redo it when a number changes. A card with an old number on it is worse than no card, because it gets tried first and wastes the attempt.
Check the ages on it once a year. Check the child can still read it aloud, and that a younger sibling can find it without help.