Certain situations must be immediately reported to AFS-USA Staff. These situations include:
- Emergency Moves
- Medical Emergency: Hospitalization and serious medical issues/injuries
- Allegations of Sexual Misconduct: Student victim or perpetrator
- Arrest/Police involvement
- Runaways
- Suicidal thoughts or self-harm
- Natural Disasters that impact student placements
- Death in sending family
- Student’s physical and psychological safety compromised in any way
- Breaking any of the three AFS rules: No driving, No hitchhiking, No drugs.
These situations are considered urgent and emergencies, and AFS-USA's Support and Learning staff or the Duty Officer need to be notified immediately in the event any of the above occur. AFS-USA's Duty Officer system is designed to respond to any emergency involving a participant outside of normal business hours (6:00pm-9:00am EST, weekends, and holidays).
To reach the AFS-USA Duty Officer, call 1-800-237-4636 extension. 9. You will be connected with an answering service, which will take down your information and forward it to the AFS Duty Officer on call at that time. The AFS Duty Officer will then be back in touch with you directly as soon as possible. If you do not get a call back within 15 minutes, please call the answering service again and state clearly that you are calling for the second time. Duty Officers are not in an AFS office when on call.
During regular business hours, this same phone number will lead you to the general line for the AFS-USA Support and Learning Department, whereupon you will be directly connected to a Support and Learning staff member.
Click here for more information on reporting guidelines for AFS volunteers.