An emergency plan for your au pair: this information belongs on the fridge
What happens if a child falls, suddenly develops a high fever, or your au pair urgently needs to reach the parents?
And what does an au pair need to know if a child has, for example, epilepsy, a severe allergy, or another particular condition that requires a quick and correct response in a serious situation?
No one wants to experience such situations. Even so, host families should prepare their au pair for them.
The most important rule here is: an au pair does not need to know everything by heart in an emergency. They need to know what to do and where to find the necessary information.
That is why we recommend a simple emergency plan in a fixed place accessible to everyone – for example, on the inside of a kitchen cupboard door or on the fridge.
Your own address comes right at the top
It sounds obvious, but for a young person who has only just arrived in Germany, it is not.
What is the host family's full address? What is the name of the district? Which floor is the flat on?
In an emergency, the au pair must be able to pass on this information quickly.
So write the family's full address clearly on the emergency plan, where it is easy to see.
The most important phone numbers at a glance
The emergency plan should also include everyone who should be reachable in a serious situation.
This can include, for example:
- the mother's and father's phone numbers
- another trusted contact person
- grandparents or other relatives nearby
- a trusted neighbour
- the child's paediatrician or treating practice
- any other important contacts, as applicable
Of course, the relevant emergency numbers also belong on the plan.
Also discuss with your au pair whom they should contact first in which situation.
Setting up the phone together
A list on the fridge is not much help if the au pair is out and about with the children.
That is why you should set up the phone together in the first few days. Sort out the SIM card and reachability, and save the most important phone numbers directly in the contacts.
Name them as clearly as possible – for example, “Host mother – emergency”, “Host father”, “Neighbour, the Müller family”, or “Paediatrician”.
Afterwards, check together once that the au pair can actually make a call and find the saved contacts.
Important information about each child
Are there allergies, intolerances, or health conditions that could be relevant in an acute situation?
Then this information also belongs on the emergency plan.
Especially for children with a disability or chronic illnesses, an individual emergency plan or a medically agreed emergency protocol can also be important.
If a child has epilepsy, for example, the au pair should not be finding out how to react for the first time during a seizure.
Discuss the following calmly beforehand:
What can happen? How will the au pair recognise the situation? What should they do immediately? When do the parents need to be informed? When does the emergency service need to be called?
If a doctor's emergency plan already exists for your child, it should be kept somewhere easily accessible and discussed with the au pair.
Not only in German
Especially at the start of the au pair year, the au pair's German may not yet be good enough to reliably understand complicated instructions under stress.
Important emergency information should therefore be recorded simply, clearly, and ideally in both German and English.
This applies in particular to individual instructions concerning the child.
In a genuine emergency is not the moment for complicated wording.
Don't just write it down – go through it together
Even the best emergency plan is of little use if the au pair has never seen it.
So go through the most important situations together.
Show them where the emergency plan is kept. Where is the fever thermometer? Where is the first-aid cabinet? Are there important medical documents? Which neighbour can help? What is the address?
Afterwards, calmly let the au pair explain back to you what they have understood.
This way, you will quickly notice if there are still any uncertainties anywhere.
Security comes from preparation
No one wants to unsettle an au pair with a long list of possible emergencies.
The opposite should be the goal.
A clear emergency plan provides reassurance: I don't have to know everything. But I know what to do, where to find the information, and who I can reach.
Especially in the first few weeks, when the language, surroundings, and family routine are still new, this sense of orientation can be enormously important.
And most likely, the emergency plan will then hang unused on the fridge for a whole au pair year.
That, in the end, would be the nicest outcome of all.
