Consortium Co-Chair
Vanessa Flores, CEM
FamilyAssistance@iaem.com

Consortium Co-Chair
Carrie Gonzalez, CEM
FamilyAssistance@iaem.com

Board Liaison
Sara Ruch, CEM
IAEM-USA Region 3 President
USARegion3President@iaem.com

Vision

To build a resilient, cross-sector network that advances victim-based assistance practices and empowers emergency managers and partners to provide coordinated, compassionate support whenever incidents necessitate the activation of family assistance operations.

Mission

To unite emergency managers, victim services, and allied partners in advancing family and survivor assistance by developing best practices, building capacity, and integrating family assistance operations into the all-hazards emergency management environment.

Objectives

• Promote consistency in family assistance concepts across jurisdictions, ensuring a recognizable and reliable framework that can be scaled to meet the demands of multiple or long-term operations.
• Integrate family assistance operations into the all-hazards emergency management environment, aligning with preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation functions.
• Strengthen recovery by embedding family assistance into long-term support processes, ensuring survivors and families remain a central focus beyond the initial response.
• Develop a network of expertise and resources to support jurisdictions in planning, activating, and sustaining family assistance operations.
• Advance planning tools and job aids that standardize approaches while allowing for local customization and operational flexibility.
• Support the development of training and exercises tailored to the wide variety of audiences and stakeholders with roles in family assistance operations.
• Foster outreach and partnership development within the whole community to fill identified gaps and coordinate robust assistance capabilities.
• Promote innovation and leverage emerging technologies to enhance family assistance operations, including equipment, supply management, and just-in-time resource procurement.