Emergency Foster Care in New Brunswick: What Happens During an Emergency Placement

The phone rings at 10:30 PM. A child needs a place to stay tonight. DSD has your number on file because you are an approved foster parent, and the regular placement coordinators have exhausted other options. Can you take them?

This is emergency foster care in New Brunswick. It is not theoretical. Approved foster families across the province receive these calls regularly — sometimes with a child arriving within the hour, sometimes with barely enough time to get a bedroom ready before a car pulls into the driveway.

Emergency placements are among the most demanding situations in foster care, and also among the most important. A child removed from their home in a crisis needs to be somewhere safe that same night. Understanding what is coming — and preparing your household before that call — is the difference between a chaotic first night and a managed one.

When Emergency Placements Happen

Emergency placements occur when DSD child protection workers determine that a child faces immediate risk and cannot remain in their home. This can happen at any hour. The Department of Social Development operates an After-Hours Emergency Social Services (AHESS) line — 1-800-442-9799 or 1-833-733-7835 — that runs from 4:30 PM to 8:15 AM on weekdays and 24 hours on weekends and holidays. AHESS workers manage crisis removals outside of regular office hours.

A child may arrive with little context. The AHESS worker or placement coordinator will share what they know — which may be limited if the investigation is still active. You will typically receive the child's name, approximate age, any known medical conditions or allergies, and information about whether siblings are involved. Deeper case history may follow in the days after placement.

What Happens in the First 24 Hours

The Child and Youth Well-Being Act and the Child and Youth Social Services Regulation (2024-6) outline what must happen at the start of a placement.

You should receive:

• A Preliminary Plan — a short-term document outlining the immediate safety situation and the child's basic needs as DSD understands them
• Known medical information, including medications, allergies, and any behavioral triggers the worker is aware of
• The child's Medicare number or a temporary status code (children in care are covered by NB Medicare from the point of placement)
• The name and contact number of the child's assigned caseworker
• The AHESS number for after-hours emergencies

Your immediate tasks:

• Note everything the worker tells you. Write it down or record it — you will not remember it all after a stressful first night.
• Do a quick inventory of what the child arrived with (clothing, medications, personal items).
• Begin your Record of Care log. Foster parents in New Brunswick are required to maintain a daily log documenting medical needs, school attendance, behavioral observations, and parent contact.

Within the first 24 hours, if the child has medications, you need to confirm the dosage and schedule. If you do not have the medications yet, contact the caseworker immediately — do not wait until morning.

Clothing and initial needs: An initial clothing allowance is available through DSD for children who arrive without adequate belongings. Ask the caseworker how to access this — do not absorb that cost personally without raising it.

What to Have Ready Before You Get the Call

Emergency placements test whether your household is genuinely prepared or just theoretically approved. The difference shows up in small, practical ways.

Bedroom: Is the bedroom for a foster child ready to be occupied tonight? A bed made up, drawers cleared, a lamp that works — not "mostly set up." Emergency placements do not give you a week to prepare a room.

Food and basics: Keep a supply of easy, non-triggering foods on hand. Some children in crisis will not eat anything unfamiliar. Bread, fruit, simple snacks, and a familiar cereal cover a lot of ground at 11 PM when a child is scared and overwhelmed.

Age-appropriate items: A comfort item — a stuffed animal, a book, a simple activity — matters more than you might expect in those first hours. Children in crisis removal have often left behind their own comfort items. Having something age-appropriate available is a small act that carries weight.

Your emergency contacts ready: AHESS (1-800-442-9799), your regional DSD office number, and your caseworker's direct line should be saved in your phone before you ever receive a placement call.

Your Record of Care log system: Whether that is a notebook, a binder, or a digital note, have your log system ready before placement — not three days after.

The Emotional Weight of Emergency Placements

Children arriving in emergency situations have typically experienced something acute and frightening within the last few hours. They may be withdrawn, tearful, angry, or completely shut down. None of those responses are a rejection of you or your home. They are normal responses to abnormal circumstances.

Your job on night one is not to process the child's trauma or establish a therapeutic relationship. Your job is to create physical safety, calm predictability, and as normal an evening routine as the situation allows. Warmth, a calm voice, and a clear routine — bedtime at a reasonable hour, lights out, a brief check-in — are more valuable than any particular technique.

Does Being Approved for Emergency Placements Require Anything Extra?

Not in terms of the approval itself — any licensed foster parent in New Brunswick can receive emergency placements. However, you will be asked during your home study and licensing process whether you are available for emergency placements. Being honest about your availability and household situation helps DSD match calls appropriately.

If you want to be specifically registered as an emergency placement resource, make that clear to your caseworker and to the NBFFA (New Brunswick Foster Family Association). The NBFFA operates the FAST (Foster Assistance and Support Teams) program, which can provide peer support to foster parents managing difficult or high-intensity placements.

Preparing Your Household

Emergency foster care requires a household that has thought through the practicalities before the call comes. The New Brunswick Foster Care Guide includes a first-placement arrival checklist with everything that should be documented in the first 24 hours, the questions you should ask the caseworker at placement, and what financial supports are available from DSD for unplanned immediate needs.

The children who come through emergency placements are in some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. The families who answer those late-night calls are doing something that matters in a very direct and concrete way. The preparation is the part you can control — so do it before the phone rings.

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