Family preparedness plan in California: steps immigrant families take if a parent is detained

What is a family preparedness plan?

A family preparedness plan is a written plan for who takes care of the children, and how, if a parent is detained, deported or otherwise cannot come home. The same words are used for disaster planning; this page is about the immigration meaning. The California courts' self-help site tells parents planning for detention or deportation to make one, and links the free step-by-step guide of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) (California Courts). California's Family Preparedness Plan Act of 2025 (AB 495, Stats. 2025, ch. 664) changed several of the rules below, starting January 1, 2026.

A plan is not one form. Most of it is practical and free. Signed documents are one part: they give a caregiver paper authority for specific things, such as school enrollment or medical care, that a spoken agreement does not.

What does a family preparedness plan include?

Most plans include the same practical steps, and nearly all of them cost nothing; the Attorney General's guidance for TK-12 schools (December 2025) lists many of the same items for families:

• A back-up caregiver the parents and the child trust, who has agreed in advance, including how long it might last and who pays for what.
• The school emergency card at every school and child care provider, with that caregiver on it (next section).
• Phone numbers. Children know whom to call; parents memorize or carry the number of the person who would carry out the plan.
• Papers, keys and copies. Birth certificates, passports, Social Security cards, insurance cards and medical records in one known place, with a decision about who has a key and who has copies.
• Medical information: each child's conditions, allergies, medications, doctor and insurance.
• Passports. For a child under 16, a U.S. passport generally needs both parents, or one parent with the other's notarized consent (Form DS-3053) or evidence of sole custody (22 CFR §51.28).
• Private contacts: the parent's A-number, if any, and the consulate's number, kept where only the caregiver will find them.
• Immigration advice about the parent's own case, from a licensed attorney or a nonprofit immigration legal services provider.
• A talk with the children about who will take care of them.

Who can pick up my child from school if I am detained?

In California, when a parent is not available, the school starts with its own emergency contact information, so the adults on the child's emergency card are the people the school turns to first. Education Code §49408 lets a school district require parents to keep that information current, including a relative or friend authorized to care for the child in an emergency when the parent cannot be reached.

Education Code §234.7(d) covers this exact situation: if a school employee knows a parent or guardian is not available to care for a student, the school must first use the parent's instructions in the emergency contact information it has to arrange care. The same subdivision encourages, but does not require, schools not to contact child protective services unless they cannot arrange care that way or through other instructions from the parent.

Licensed child day care facilities and license-exempt state preschool programs, when they know a parent is not available, must first exhaust the parent's instructions in the child's emergency contact information (Health and Safety Code §1597.640(d)). The "encouraged not to contact child protective services" language is only in the Education Code section for schools.

The Attorney General's model policy, which school districts, county offices of education and charter schools had to adopt (or an equivalent) by March 1, 2026, says that when a parent has been detained or deported the school releases the student to the emergency contacts or, alternatively, to an adult who presents a signed Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit. That affidavit is signed only once the child lives with the caregiver, so on the day of a detention the emergency card is usually what the school has.

If a parent is detained or deported, who can make decisions for the children?

The parents keep custody: in California only a court order, such as a guardianship, takes legal custody from a parent, so the documents in a plan give a caregiver limited, specific authority (California Courts, options other than a guardianship).

• School and medical care: a caregiver who signs a Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit once the child lives with them (Family Code §6550), or an adult the parent authorizes in writing to consent to medical and dental care (Family Code §6910). Under the affidavit, a parent's contrary medical decision still controls unless it jeopardizes the child's life, health or safety (§6550(b)).
• Longer absences: only a court appoints a guardian. A parent's written nomination tells the court whom the parent chooses, and the court must give it due weight (Probate Code §1502(a)), but the court decides.

On a guardianship petition, a court may also appoint a custodial parent and the parent's nominee as joint guardians when the parent is temporarily unavailable; a family cannot set this up on paper alone. The conditions are written into the statute:

If a custodial parent is temporarily unavailable due to circumstances, including, but not limited to, a serious medical condition or disability, military service, incarceration, or an immigration-related administrative action, specified in the parent's nomination of a guardian, the court, in its discretion, may appoint the custodial parent and the person nominated by the custodial parent as joint guardians of the person of the minor. A nomination made pursuant to this subdivision shall not be made over the objection of a noncustodial parent without a finding that the noncustodial parent's custody would be detrimental to the minor, as provided in Section 3041 of the Family Code.

In short: this route is for a custodial parent who is temporarily unavailable for circumstances listed in that parent's nomination (an immigration-related administrative action is one of them); the court decides in its discretion; and if a noncustodial parent objects, the statute first requires a finding that that parent's custody would be detrimental to the child (Family Code §3041).

Joint guardianship itself is older: §2105(f) already allowed it for a custodial parent with a terminal condition. AB 495 added the temporary-unavailability route and made these case records confidential (§2105(g)(3)). If no parent and no caregiver can be reached, child protective services and the courts can become involved, and no document decides how a particular case ends. Questions about the immigration case itself belong with an immigration attorney or a nonprofit immigration legal services provider.

What documents can be part of a family preparedness plan?

The court and nonprofit guides cited on this page most often mention two documents: the Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit and a nomination of guardian. The seven below are the ones in the RightForms Family Preparedness Package, described here so each one's signer and limits are clear. No law requires a family to have any of them, and RightForms does not choose documents for a family.

Consent for minor child to live with a non-parent (courts' sample form)

The California courts' self-help guide offers this sample form for an informal consent: the parents allow the children to live with the caregivers they name, between two dates, and check what those caregivers may do for the children, such as consent to medical, vision and dental care, make school decisions, travel, or receive benefits. The parents sign before a notary public; the caregivers sign too. The courts' guide says an agreement like this gives the caregiver rights to care for the children but not legal custody, that a parent can cancel it at any time, and that a provider may still refuse to recognize it. The form is free on the courts' site.

Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit (Family Code §6550, §6552)

The caregiver signs this California form, not the parent, and only once the child lives in the caregiver's home: the form opens with the caregiver's sworn statement that the child lives in the caregiver's home. Items 1–4 cover school enrollment and school-related medical care; a relative, as the form defines it, who also completes items 5–8 can consent to other medical and dental care. No notary or court is needed, and since 2026 item 8 accepts a government-issued consular card number. The Judicial Council form is free on the courts' site; see the Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit guide.

Nomination of guardian (Probate Code §1500, §1502, §2105(g))

A parent signs a written nomination of the person the parent wants a court to appoint as guardian if a guardianship petition is ever filed; it appoints no one by itself, and the court decides after a hearing. Probate Code §1500 lets a parent nominate a guardian when the other parent joins or consents in writing, or when, at the time the petition is filed, the other parent has died, lacks capacity, or would not have to consent to an adoption. A nomination can take effect on a stated condition, such as the parent's absence (§1502(b)). The Judicial Council's form GC-211 (revised 2004) has a free nomination section but no item for the circumstances that §2105(g) joint guardianship requires the nomination to specify; ILRC's guide describes how to list them with the form. See the nomination of guardian guide.

Authorization for Consent to Medical Treatment (Family Code §6910)

A parent signs this authorization, which lets an adult the child has been entrusted to consent to the child's medical or dental care. It is consent for treatment, not custody. Section 6910 sets no expiration date; on the RightForms form the parent picks the end date (the form's default is one year), and it ends for each child at that child's 18th birthday. See the medical consent form for a minor guide.

HIPAA and FERPA authorizations (medical and school records)

A parent signs these so a named adult can receive the child's records. A HIPAA authorization (45 CFR §164.508) lets a doctor or hospital release the child's health information to that adult; it is not consent to treatment. A FERPA consent (34 CFR §99.30) is the parent's signed and dated consent for a school to disclose education records; FERPA rights pass to the student at 18 or on enrollment in a postsecondary school (34 CFR §99.3, §99.5). RightForms prints the two as separate files.

Durable power of attorney for financial matters (Probate Code §4401)

This is California's Uniform Statutory Form power of attorney. The parent, as principal, has the signature acknowledged before a notary public, which the statutory form requires (Probate Code §4402(c)); the agent can then act in the categories the parent initials, such as banking. It covers money and property, not the children. The form is free from the Sacramento County Public Law Library; see the California durable power of attorney guide.

Parent's Instructions for School and Child Care, and Caregiver Sheet

This is the family safety plan letter, not a statutory form. The parents sign and date it (it is not sworn, and a notary is optional); it lists their caregivers in order and is addressed to schools, child care, medical providers, child protective services and any adult caring for the children, not to police or immigration officers. It does not transfer custody. Private details (A-number, consulate, where documents are kept) go on a separate Caregiver Sheet for the family and caregiver only.

Can a parent set up temporary guardianship without court? In California only a court appoints a guardian; the temporary guardianship without court guide explains this and compares what a parent can arrange without a judge. A travel consent letter for a child going abroad is a separate document, outside this package; see the minor travel consent form guide.

Where can I get a free family preparedness plan template?

Free templates are widely used: ILRC's Step-by-Step Family Preparedness Plan (English and Spanish) and the Los Angeles County Office of Education's sample Family Preparedness Plan, with fill-in pages for emergency contacts and each child's medical information. The courts also publish a free "Consent for minor child to live with a non-parent" form, an informal consent the parents sign before a notary public.

RightForms is software for the document part: a parent answers one questionnaire (shown in English, Spanish or Russian), and it fills in the English PDFs with signing instructions for each. It gives no legal advice and files nothing; see how RightForms works.

Can schools ask about immigration status in California?

As a rule, no. Education Code §234.7(a)(1) says school officials and employees may not collect information or documents about the citizenship or immigration status of students or their family members, except as required by state or federal law or to administer a state or federally supported educational program. Health and Safety Code §1597.640(a) sets a similar rule for licensed child day care facilities and license-exempt state preschool programs.

Where do families keep the documents, and who gets copies?

• Signed originals stay with the family's papers, and at least one caregiver knows where.
• Each caregiver gets copies of the documents that name them; the Caregiver Sheet goes only to the caregiver the family trusts.
• A caregiver with a Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit gives copies to the school and medical providers, and must tell them if the child stops living with the caregiver; the affidavit stops working once they get that notice (Family Code §6550(f)).
• The Parent's Instructions letter goes to a school or child care provider only if the family is comfortable with everything printed in it.
• A nomination of guardian is used if a guardianship petition is filed; it is not filed with a court on its own.

What this page does not answer

These depend on a family's facts and need individual advice:

• an existing custody, divorce, guardianship or juvenile court case or order, which controls over any document here;
• a parent who disagrees, cannot be found, or does not join a nomination;
• children who live in, or will move to, another state (these are California-law documents);
• special education decisions, and the parent's own health care decisions (a financial power of attorney does not cover them);
• anything about the parent's immigration case.

The courts' self-help centers help with family and guardianship forms at no cost, LawHelpCA lists legal aid organizations, and the National Immigration Legal Services Directory lists nonprofit immigration legal services.