If one phone is lost, damaged, uncharged, or out of reach, a paper contact sheet gives the household another way to find the right person and decide what to do next. Keep it short enough for another household member to read quickly. Include names, phone numbers, preferred ways to reach people, meeting places, pet and service-animal information, and the date it was updated. Keep private medical, identity, and access details in a separate protected record. The sheet supports a household plan, but it never replaces 911, another applicable emergency number, or current instructions from local authorities.
Start with a page another person can use
The useful test is simple: could another person in the household pick up the sheet and understand who to contact, where to meet, and which instructions to follow? Write for that moment. Use plain labels, readable type, and enough space to write a replacement number by hand. A printed form is fine, but a blank piece of paper works too.
FEMA's Family Emergency Plan asks households to record contact information, household members, meeting places, and an out-of-town contact. It also recommends keeping a copy in an emergency kit or another safe place. You can use that same basic structure without turning the sheet into a directory.
At the top, put the household name or address only when that copy needs it, followed by an update date. A person who finds the page should be able to tell whether it is current. If the page will travel in a bag, consider writing the address on a separate home copy instead. A widely carried sheet should contain enough information to coordinate, not every detail that identifies or gives access to the household.
Read every entry aloud as you complete it. This catches a digit copied incorrectly, a nickname that a caregiver will not recognize, or a contact method that one household member cannot use. The reader should not need to guess whether a number belongs to a school, a neighbor, a clinic, or a relative.
Record the people and places first
Begin with the people who may need the sheet. Give each household member a line for their full name, preferred name if useful, and at least one way to reach them. Add a note about when to use the number, such as “daycare pickup,” “work,” or “primary text.” Do not assume that one number or one communication method fits everyone.
Add an out-of-area contact who can help pass along information when household members are separated. Include the person's name, relationship, phone number, time zone if it affects calls, and the agreed order for contacting them. Add one or two nearby trusted contacts when the household has people who can check a home, meet a child, or help coordinate a pet. Confirm that those people have agreed to be listed.
List the organizations the household actually uses. Depending on your situation, that might include a school or care setting, a landlord or property manager, a utility, an insurance office, a pharmacy, a clinician, a veterinarian, or a local agency. Put the purpose beside each entry. “Utility, outage reporting” is easier to use than a company name with no context. For a school, care provider, or clinician, add the office number and the after-hours instruction supplied by that organization.
Your main contacts section can use fields such as:
- Name and relationship
- Primary phone and preferred contact method
- Backup phone or alternate method
- When to use this contact
- School, care, work, utility, medical, insurance, or pet-care role
Do not fill a national template with a guessed local number. Add the current number provided by the relevant organization or local authority. If a service uses a location-specific emergency or non-emergency number, confirm that number for the place where the sheet will be used.
Give the household more than one way to connect
A contact sheet should describe the household's plan, not promise that a network will work. Write down a primary method and a backup method for each important contact. For example, the household might try a text first, then a voice call, then the out-of-area contact. Another household might need an accessible relay service, a landline, an in-person check, or a caregiver's number. The right sequence depends on the people and services involved.
Keep the instructions short and specific. “Text first if safe, then call” gives a reader a sequence. “Use the out-of-area contact to relay updates” explains the role. If an authority gives different instructions during an incident, follow that current direction. A paper plan is useful when a phone is unavailable, but it cannot tell you whether a route is open, a shelter has capacity, or a utility crew has restored service.
Households that rely on official alerts should keep a separate way to confirm current messages. The notes on alerts, warnings, and message backups can help you pair the contact sheet with a routine for receiving and preserving official instructions. Write down the name of the authority or service that issues local alerts, along with the method the household uses to receive them. Do not treat an old printed alert as current.
Add meeting places that work for the people who use them
FEMA planning materials use meeting places inside the home, in the neighborhood, outside the neighborhood, and outside the town or area. You do not need four elaborate destinations, but you do need a primary and backup location that the household can identify. Write the name, general location, and a plain description of how to recognize each place. Include a note about who may need transportation, extra time, a quieter route, or help entering the location.
Check each place against the people and animals who may use it. A meeting place near stairs may not work for someone who cannot use them. A location that allows people but not animals may split the household. Think about children, older adults, mobility equipment, service animals, pets, and the possibility that a usual entrance or road could be closed.
Because a location can become unavailable, record a backup and a way to confirm a change. The meeting-place plan covers how to choose and revise locations as household needs or local conditions change. On the contact sheet, keep the instruction practical: “Use the backup location if the primary site is closed. Check current authority instructions before leaving.”
Do not write a meeting place as though it is an order to travel. During an active event, follow evacuation, shelter, utility, school, and public-health instructions from the responsible authority. A household may need to stay put, leave by a different route, or use a designated site instead of its planned location.
Keep pets, service animals, and access notes visible in the right way
Give each pet a line with its name, species, a current caregiver or veterinarian, and the contact method to use. Add the location of supplies if that will help another household member, but do not list a full inventory that makes the sheet hard to read. If an animal has a handler, include the handler's name and a backup contact.
Service animals have access and handling needs that should not be reduced to a pet-care note. Include the handler's preferred contact method and the information needed by the people who help that handler, with the person's permission. The service-animal planning page explains why accessible communication and handler contacts belong in the plan.
Keep a short access note on the main sheet only when another person genuinely needs it to coordinate help. A note might identify the preferred communication method, mobility equipment, language support, or who should be contacted for instructions. Ask the person, caregiver, or relevant professional what information is necessary and who may receive it. Do not make a diagnosis, medication list, custody detail, access code, or identity number part of a sheet that many people may carry.
Separate the carry copy from protected records
Privacy is part of good planning. A sheet that travels with a child, sits in a vehicle, or goes into a shared kit can be misplaced. Keep account numbers, passwords, entry codes, full medical details, identity documents, and other sensitive records in a separate protected location. The contact sheet can say where the protected record is kept and who may access it, without printing the contents on every copy.
The protected-document copy plan can help you decide which records need a more secure home and which person should be able to reach them. Use the same separation for pet records, custody paperwork, or service information when those records contain details that should not be widely carried.
Make copies according to the household's needs. One can stay with the household kit, another with each person who needs one, and another in a secure location that is not exposed to the same hazard. A copy stored in a car is not a useful backup if the car is in the same flood zone or inaccessible building. Keep the location of each copy in the household's routine, and replace old copies rather than writing so many corrections that the page becomes hard to interpret.
Check local instructions before relying on the page
The sheet should include a clear emergency boundary. For an immediate emergency in the United States, call 911. In another location, use the applicable emergency number and service instructions for that location. Confirm the correct emergency and non-emergency numbers before using the sheet outside your usual area. Do not print a made-up local number on a national template.
For a current incident, follow the responsible authority's instructions about evacuation, shelter, utilities, schools, transportation, and public health. Ready.gov's planning information points households toward planning for hazards, but local directions control the immediate decision. A contact sheet helps people coordinate after receiving those directions. It does not replace an operator, an alert, or a current order.
Set a review trigger instead of waiting for a calendar reminder. Update the page when a person changes a phone, a child changes schools, a caregiver or provider changes, a pet's veterinarian changes, a route no longer works, or a meeting place is closed. Review it after a move and after a household change. Write the new date at the top and discard copies that no longer match.
Questions people ask about a household contact sheet
What should go on the first version?
Start with household members, an out-of-area contact, one nearby trusted contact, meeting places, and the emergency boundary. Add the school, care, utility, medical, insurance, and pet contacts the household actually uses.
Should every person carry the same sheet?
Not always. Give each person the information they need, and keep sensitive records in a protected location instead of copying them onto a page that travels widely. A child, caregiver, or person with an access need may need a simpler or differently formatted copy.
How many meeting places should we write down?
Record a primary and backup place that the household can recognize and reach, plus a way to confirm a change. The appropriate locations depend on mobility, transportation, children, animals, and current instructions from local authorities.
Can the sheet include medical or disability information?
Include only the access information another person needs to coordinate help, and ask the person or relevant caregiver what is necessary. Keep diagnoses, account numbers, access codes, and detailed records in a separate protected record.
What happens when a phone network is down?
Use the agreed backup method if it is safe and available, and follow current authority instructions. The sheet can provide names and sequence, but it cannot promise that text, voice calls, or an out-of-area contact will work during every incident.
Make the next check today
Write one compact sheet, add the update date, and read it with the household. Test one backup contact and check that each meeting place can work for the people and animals who may use it. Add the current local contacts supplied by schools, care providers, utilities, and authorities. Keep the carry copy easy to read, keep sensitive details protected, and review the page whenever the household changes.