In the chaos caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, more than 5,000 children were separated from their loved ones. Such separations are traumatic for children, parents, and guardians alike, and rarely in U.S. history have these separations occurred on such a large scale. In the days and weeks after the storms, some 411,000people dispersed to 48 states, and tracking and reunifying these fractured families was an enormous challenge.