Planners Offer Help Keeping Families Together During Inauguration

(AP)

Inaugural planners are asking those bringing their children to see the president-elect take the oath of office to set up rendezvous points in case families get separated among the throngs watching tomorrow's parade.

"Families should have a predetermined meeting place if they become separated from one another," according to a memo from the inaugural committee.

(Hint: Pick a time and place away from the crowds. The Washington Monument at 1 p.m. is probably not going to be a whole lot of help.)

The Red Cross will be on hand to help reunite families who do get separated. Thirty-two "Go Teams" will be on the National Mall to work with law enforcement officers connecting lost kids with their parents, the committee announced. Volunteers will be wearing yellow vests with orange stripes or red hats.

Planners, though, hope that those Red Cross volunteers won't be needed.

"As with any large crowd situation, a little common sense and forethought will help visitors to the National Mall avoid major headaches," Emmett S. Beliveau, the committee's executive director, said in the memo.