A household support map records who has agreed to help with a specific task, what a backup can do, and which public or professional service may be needed. Start by asking each person what support they consent to, then record only the details required for that task. A map can cover transportation, children, pets, communication, mobility, power-dependent equipment, or access to a shelter. It is a private planning record, not a promise that a person, route, agency, or service will be available when you need it.
Start with a task and a conversation
Begin with one question: what might someone in this household need help doing? The answer could be collecting a child from school, taking a pet to a safe place, reaching a meeting point, communicating with a responder, or checking on a device that depends on electricity. A small map is easier to discuss and maintain than a long list of names.
Ask the person who would receive help to describe the support in their own terms. A person with a disability may want a particular kind of transportation, communication method, or shelter arrangement. FEMA guidance describes self-determination as a central part of planning for functional needs, and it recognizes that disability needs are not the same for everyone. Read its guidance on planning for functional needs support services when your household needs to plan for access, transport, or shelter.
Consent applies to the record as well as the task. Before you share a phone number, address, access code, medical detail, or pet information, ask the person and the helper what may be recorded and how it may be shared. A helper may need a safe way to contact someone, but may not need a diagnosis, a full address, or every detail about an animal. Write down the smallest amount that lets the agreed task happen. Keep the map in a place that the household considers private, and decide who may see a paper or digital copy.
Give each task a primary and a backup
For each task, name a primary helper and a backup helper. Write what each person agreed to do, the safe contact method, and when the arrangement should be reviewed. “Can help with transportation” is less useful than a specific agreement such as “can take the child from the school pickup point to the household meeting place if the parent cannot arrive.” The details should come from the people involved, not from assumptions about who lives nearby or owns a vehicle.
An agreement can fail for ordinary reasons. A helper may be injured, displaced, without a vehicle, caring for another person, or unable to cross a closed route. A backup may face the same barrier. Consider a public or professional contact when a task depends on transport, shelter access, caregiving, or an agency. Keep the arrangement current by asking whether the helper still agrees, whether the contact method works, and whether the task has changed.
Use the household contact sheet for a separate paper or digital record of agreed contacts. A contact sheet can hold the details, while the support map explains the role and the conditions attached to it. Do not put private medical or access information in a public article, shared group, or unprotected device merely because it is convenient.
Record the details that change the answer
The support map should make a task clear without asking a helper to guess. Depending on the household, record the following fields:
- Task or decision: what needs to happen, and for whom.
- Primary helper: what the person agreed to do.
- Backup helper: what this person can do if the primary helper is unavailable.
- Safe contact method: the method and any time or privacy limits the person approved.
- Transportation: the type of vehicle or other arrangement, mobility equipment, service-animal needs, and route conditions that matter.
- Communication: preferred language, interpreter needs, hearing or speech access, and a backup way to receive information.
- Power or equipment: the device or system that matters, who knows its safe use, and what instructions or provider contact should be available.
- Children and care: school, childcare, caregiver, or workplace arrangements that affect pickup and supervision.
- Pets and service animals: who can transport or care for the animal, along with the animal details that person has agreed to receive.
- Review date: when the household will ask whether the plan still fits.
This structure is a starting point, not a requirement to collect every field. If a person does not want a detail recorded, respect that decision and adjust the task. A helper should not be expected to infer how to move someone, operate equipment, give medication, or communicate with a person who uses another method. Ask the person, clinician, equipment provider, or caregiver what help is safe and authorized. Do not assign a role that requires training or consent the helper does not have.
Children, schools, caregivers, and workplaces
Children may have several handoffs during a disruption. Record who may collect a child, where the handoff can occur, how the school or childcare provider verifies an authorized adult, and who takes over if the first adult cannot arrive. Keep the provider's own emergency plan in view. A household map supports that plan, but does not replace the provider's rules or release procedures.
The same care applies to an older adult or someone who depends on a caregiver. Note who can communicate with the care provider, who can travel with the person if that is agreed, and what the person wants the helper to do. Do not treat a family relationship as automatic consent. Ask the person directly when possible, and document a preferred decision-maker only when the household has agreed to that role.
Workplaces may have their own evacuation, shelter, transportation, and communication procedures. Record the workplace or supervisor contact only if the person has approved it, and note which part of the household plan it supports. A person who is at work may not be able to carry out a home pickup role. The primary helper and backup should know that the plan can change when school, care, or work responsibilities take priority.
Ready.gov's family emergency communication plan includes school, childcare, caregiver, workplace, out-of-town contact, meeting-place, pet, and service-animal considerations. Use those categories to prompt a conversation, then adapt the record to your actual household and the plans of the organizations involved.
Mobility, power, language, and communication needs
Ask what makes transportation or shelter workable before a disruption. A person may need a particular vehicle, extra time, a clear path, a place for a service animal, access to charging, or a communication format that responders and helpers can use. Ask which equipment the person uses and who understands its safe operation. The map should state the requested support, not label a person by a presumed limitation.
Power-dependent equipment creates a coordination task. Record the equipment name or purpose, the person who can explain its safe use, and the provider or caregiver contact the household has approved. Keep the relevant instructions with the equipment or in the agreed private record. Do not tell an untrained neighbor to change settings, disconnect equipment, give medication, or move a person. If immediate danger is present, contact emergency services and follow the instructions of the appropriate authority.
Language and communication preferences deserve the same attention. A helper may need to interpret, read a message aloud, use a sign-language service, or deliver information in another language. Ask what the person wants and whether a backup method is acceptable. An out-of-town contact may relay information when local household members cannot reach one another, but that person cannot promise local transportation or shelter.
For reunification, choose a place that fits the people who may use it, and keep a second option if the first location is blocked or inaccessible. A meeting place that can change can help with this part of the plan. Write the conditions that make a location workable, such as a step-free entrance or a way to communicate when phones are unavailable.
Pets and service animals
A pet or service animal may need a different helper and different transportation than the rest of the household. Ask who can carry or guide the animal, who can bring food or supplies, and who can take responsibility if the animal and the person become separated. Record only the animal information the helper needs, such as a name, species, feeding instruction, or service-animal role that the household has approved.
Service animals are part of the person's access plan. Do not assume that an unfamiliar helper can handle the animal or decide where it should go. Confirm what the person wants, what the animal needs, and how a school, workplace, shelter, or transportation provider handles its own emergency arrangements. A pet care handoff note can hold animal-specific instructions without turning the household support map into a public record.
Children and older adults may also need additional time, supervision, or transportation when an animal is involved. If evacuation becomes necessary, coordinate roles before the event and keep the instructions short enough to use under pressure. Do not separate a person from a service animal or dependent animal unless an appropriate authority directs it and the person consents when possible.
Verify public and professional services
Informal help is useful, but it has limits. Add a public or professional contact when a task depends on accessible transportation, shelter, caregiving, disability assistance, or another service that a friend or neighbor cannot provide. The Administration for Community Living identifies Eldercare Locator and the Disability Information and Assistance Line as national ways to connect older adults and people with disabilities to services. Availability and eligibility vary by location, so use the service's official channel to confirm whether it serves your area and what it can do.
For each service, record its name, official phone number or website, hours, eligibility, language or accessibility features, and the date the household last confirmed those details. A number copied from an old note may no longer answer the same need. Confirm the details again when a move, health change, school change, new caregiver, route closure, or local emergency changes the plan.
Do not publish private helpers' details in the household's public documents, social posts, or an article. A private map can contain a contact method; a public page should contain only general planning guidance. Service information also should not be treated as a promise. A program may have limited hours, eligibility rules, transportation limits, or no capacity during a particular event.
Emergency services remain the route for immediate danger. The map helps a household coordinate and ask for the right kind of support. It does not dispatch responders, replace an emergency call, or make an informal helper responsible for a task they have not accepted.
A private fill-in structure
Copy this structure into a private notebook or approved digital record, then complete it with each person's consent. Use a label or role instead of real personal details while discussing the plan.
| Field | Household entry |
|---|---|
| Task and person supported | [task] for [household member or role] |
| What the person wants | [requested help and preferred method] |
| Primary helper and agreed role | [role or name] can [specific task] |
| Backup helper and agreed role | [role or name] can [specific task] |
| Safe contact method | [approved method and privacy limit] |
| Conditions that change the plan | [route, vehicle, language, access, power, care, or animal need] |
| Public or professional contact | [official service name and channel] |
| Last confirmation and next review | [date] and [review trigger or date] |
Read the completed row back to the person who will receive help. Ask whether the wording matches their choice, whether the helper understands the role, and what happens if the primary and backup options cannot help. Keep the record where the agreed household members can reach it, and protect any detail that could expose someone's location, health, access, or safety.
Frequently asked questions
These answers add a few practical boundaries to the map.
Does every household need a large network?
No. Start with the tasks that matter to the people in your household and identify one primary and one backup option where possible. A small, current agreement is more useful than a long list of people who have not agreed to a role.
Should a neighbor give medication or move someone?
Only when the person has expressly agreed and the helper has appropriate instructions and training for that task. Otherwise, record a safer role, contact the clinician, equipment provider, caregiver, or emergency service as the situation requires.
What if the household has no nearby helper?
Record the trusted out-of-town contact and identify public or professional services that may fit the task. Confirm eligibility, hours, language, accessibility, and local availability through the official channel, and keep emergency services for immediate danger.
How often should a support map be updated?
Review it when a helper's circumstances, a school or workplace, a caregiver, a route, a phone number, or a household need changes. Set a regular review point that the household can maintain, and confirm service details again after a local change or disruption.
Can the map replace a school, workplace, or shelter plan?
No. Use the organization or authority's actual emergency plan alongside the household map. The map records who may help and what the household has agreed to do, while the organization controls its own release, access, transportation, and shelter procedures.
Make the next check
Choose one task today, ask the person what help they consent to, and write a primary and backup role without adding private details that do not serve that task. Confirm the public or professional contact through its official channel, note what changes the plan, and set a review point. That leaves the household with a private, consent-based map that supports real choices while staying honest about the limits of informal help and service availability.