COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- While a new study of evacuation plans at U.S. childcare facilities found Idaho is not prepared to protect kids during a disaster, a state lawmaker says a bill to bolster these measures could face opposition.
School districts in Idaho have voluntarily drafted plans to evacuate children and notify their parents in case of emergencies, said Idaho Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, but that doesn't mean the state has the authority to make private businesses, like day cares, do the same.
Idaho is among 11 states without laws requiring childcare facilities to adopt precautionary measures, such as an evacuation plan, a strategy for alerting parents, a written plan for dealing with children in disasters and safeguards to guarantee kids with special needs are accommodated while being relocated to safety, the U.S.-based Save the Children said in a report released last week.
Save the Children compiled the state-by-state report card with research conducted by the Vermont-based consulting firm Brown, Buckley, Tucker and based on legislative data pulled from state administrative offices nationwide.
Seven states met all four criteria used in the report to determine if children would be protected in case of a disaster.
Legislation seeking to require such measures in Idaho, however, could face the same struggle as a bill requiring more day care providers to be licensed by the state, Goedde said.
That piece of legislation survived the 2009 Legislature and was signed by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, but it was after lawmakers declined to act on similar legislation for the past several years.
"I just think about the problems that were raised over the last five years in trying to pass a daycare bill," Goedde told the Coeur d'Alene Press. "I could see this falling along the same lines."
Some of these facilities in Idaho, like Northstar Child Development school in Coeur d'Alene, have already developed evacuation plans as a safety precaution.