2.1 Recovery Center Core Group and Responsibilities

The core group within the Recovery Center consists of the volunteers responsible for the following functions:

• Director and Deputy Director - Responsible for the establishment of the Recovery Center, the overall planning and execution of all search operations, establishing communication with law enforcement and other government agencies, maintaining communication with the missing child's family, directing analysis of the recovery information generated by Center operations, and coordinating the staff. The Director and Deputy Director should schedule regular meetings to keep all core group personnel informed and to identify and resolve problems as they arise (Section on Director's Summary).
• Search Operations - Responsible for the collection, processing and dissemination of relevant search information, providing detailed maps of areas to be searched, prioritizing and targeting areas to be searched, briefing and deployment of search teams, maintaining status information about the search and the search teams, maintaining communication with the search teams, and securing and caring for special search teams required such as dog search teams, air search groups, or water search teams (Section on Search Operations).
• Administration - Responsible for flyer design, telephone installation and maintenance, telephone bank operation, the generation and transmission of FAXs (such as flyers and press releases), registration of Recovery Center Volunteers, the installation and configuration of computer systems, establishing procedures for the collection and filing of sensitive and non-sensitive information with the Historian, maintaining security at the Recovery Center, setting up and maintaining internet communications and a Web Site, the maintenance of lists of volunteers and resources, and the provision of first aid services (Section on Administration).
• Resource Management - Responsibilities include the solicitation and disbursement of day to day operating funds, acquisition of supplies, arranging for food service, acquiring any special equipment needed, and getting flyers reproduced and distributed. (Section on Resource Management).
• Public Affairs - Responsible for planning all media events, preparing press releases, passing requests from the other groups along to the media (request for supplies, for example), and keeping the story alive in the local and national media. A media spokesperson should be designated (Section on Public Affairs).
• Family Liaison - Responsible for maintaining communications with the missing child's family, seeking advice and consent from them as appropriate, and ensuring that the family's needs such as meals and spiritual assistance are met. This function may be a shared responsibility of several core group members (Section on Family Liaison).
• Legal & Financial - Responsible for avoiding any legal entanglement by the operation of the Recovery Center, maintaining an operating budget, tracking donated funds and the purpose for which they were donated (Reward or Expense), reviewing volunteer agreements and release of liability, and checking the wording used on any reward statements or flyers (Section on Legal & Financial).

Several of the core group members will access and process information that may be sensitive. These core group members must be reliable and discrete. These functions are indicated on the Organization Chart as wearing red nametags (Figure: Organization Chart).

Ideally each core group function will be shared by two or more persons who can distribute the responsibility. Note that the core positions may quickly become full time commitments and a trusted person to provide relief will be required to prevent exhaustion.

Each member of the core group is responsible for setting up and maintaining the space, procedures, staff, and facilities that they require at the Recovery Center. Any questions or conflicts should be discussed with the Director.