SCIE Knowledge review 19: Caring in a crisis: The contribution of social care to emergency response and recovery

By Camilla Child, Daniel Clay, Camille Warrington and Julie Das

Published: July 2008

The aim of this report has been to examine lessons learned around the contribution of voluntary and statutory social care services in the coordination and provision of psychosocial support following an emergency or major incident. The report is particularly interested in unpicking lessons learned from previous incidents as recounted in the research literature and through case study interviews.

The key issues for this research are:

• the expected and actual roles of social care services in emergency planning,
• response, and recovery activities
• the training and support needs of social care responders
• how different organisations, and, indeed, different authorities, work together
• how social care provision can best engage and utilise local communities in planning.