Family Assistance Center(FAC)

• To provide relatives of victims with information, counseling and access to services they may need in the days following the incident.
• To protect families from the media and curiosity seekers.
• To allow investigators and the Coroner access to families so they can obtain ante mortem information more easily.

A FAC should be established quickly, in an area such as a hotel, conference center, school, or church. The area selected should be secured, in order to give privacy to the families. Regular briefings by the Coroner or staff will be done to help keep the families informed. Meeting with the families on an individual basis early on makes it possible to start the process of collecting ante mortem records for use in the morgue operations. The FAC has become so important that federal law recommends one to be established whenever a major aviation disaster occurs. Staffing for the FAC is important. Grief counselors should be available. Personnel from the American Red Cross possessing trained counseling skills and funeral service personnel are good at working with grieving families. Translators may be necessary when working with families from foreign countries.