Creating a Safe Environment:

Meeting a child’s basic physiological needs (thirst, hunger, sleep, movement and warmth)
as well as attending to their emotional needs helps to create a safe environment. Routines
and predictability matter for all children and help put them at ease. Adults can help by
making sense out of new information for themselves and translating that information in
ways that children can understand. This includes limiting access to television or social
media stories that may create unnecessary confusion and fear in children.

While it’s not necessary to create a rigid or elaborate schedule, establishing new routines
and maintaining as much normalcy as possible is helpful for children and adults alike.
Involving children in the creation of a new daily routine may help increase their sense of
control in an uncertain situation.

The following resources can help you communicate age-appropriate information to share
in a reassuring way, as well as ideas for navigating new routines in a structured and
consistent manner.

Erikson Institute Resources for Emergency Childcare Providers NEW!

Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development NEW!

Essential Digital Citizenship Lessons for the Coronavirus Pandemic - NEW!

Virtual Parent Support Group: Parents of Children with Autism

How Parents Can Find Safe Child Care in Emergencies

Conversational resources for families:

COVID-19 Resources and Social Stories For Kids With Intellectual and Developmental
Disabilities NEW!

Sesame Street: Talking With Your Children About Health Emergencies NEW!

Time to Come in Bear: A Children’s Story about Social Distancing

Como Hablar con los Ninos Sobre el Coronavirus (Child Mind Institute)

Food resources for families:

Expensify.org/hunger
All CPS will offer free meal pickup during the COVID-19 - Free meals will be offered
between 9 am – 1 pm Monday thru Friday at all CPS district schools, as well as select
charter schools. Families will be able to pick up meals outside of their nearest school and
will not be required to pick up meals at their school of attendance. Any student,
regardless of whether they attend CPS school, will be able to have access to meals. Each
child in the household will receive a food bag which will contain three days of breakfast
and lunch meals. Families who need assistance, please have them call the CPS Command
Center at 773-553-KIDS (5437) or email familyservices@cps.edu

The Greater Chicago Food Depository and Chicago’s network of food providers stand
ready to support vulnerable families impacted by school closures or other hardships. A
full list of locations is available at www.chicagosfoodbank.org/find-food/

Catholic Charities at 721 N. LaSalle St will be giving out packaged meals

on Wednesdays to be taken home to eat only during this time.