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Caring for a young child exposed to early trauma, along with caregiving stress and heightened by the impact of lockdowns as a result of the COVID-19 response, may compromise the development of the parent-child relationship. Understanding a foster carer's attachment history and considering relational dynamics through an attachment lens may shed light on areas they need support in, to enhance their parenting capacity for vulnerable children.
The feasibility of collecting and coding observational data and attachment interviews of foster carers and their children, when conducted remotely…
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased inequalities experienced by many children across Europe. In 2020, the authors conducted a snapshot survey across the UK and elsewhere in Europe to provide early evidence of the contexts children were experiencing, responses to COVID-19 and the possibilities for children’s participation. Their research revealed that rather than recognising the hardships experienced and celebrating the contributions being made by children and young people, some have experienced an increased lack of income, food, medication and access to formal education; some families did…
Eurochild has published two new pieces of analysis to support efforts by the EU and the Ukrainian government to ensure the care of children arriving from Ukraine unaccompanied, separated from their families or who are placed in alternative care.
Building on Eurochild’s DataCare project with UNICEF ECARO, Eurochild is supporting UNICEF’s emergency response work to the invasion of Ukraine to support coordination efforts with the Ukrainian Ministry of Social Policy, the EU and Member…
This report highlights the changing characteristics of children in and on the ‘edge of care’, including unaccompanied minors, increasing numbers of young people with unmet complex needs and BAME young people. It also outlines some of the longer-term trends that vulnerable teenagers face, including county lines, sexual exploitation and violence and how these have altered and, in some cases, made worse by the pandemic.
This article explores responses of 41 UK social workers to ethical challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, utilising UK data from an international qualitative survey and follow-up interviews in 2020. Challenges ranged from weighing individual rights/ needs against public health risks, to deciding whether to follow government/agency rules and guidance. Drawing on a narrative methodology to explore ethical agency, four broad types of response are identified: ethical confusion; ethical distress; ethical creativity and ethical learning. The article considers conditions that promote ethical…
In June 2020 CELCIS produced the first Lifelong Links Briefing, outlining the ongoing evaluation of Lifelong Links in Scotland. In it, we presented some of the initial topics that were emerging from the data we had received or collected. The aim was to help local sites and Family Rights Group to continue to develop their practice and improve the lives of children and young people in Scotland.
In this follow up Briefing, we highlight some of the new things we have been hearing, focusing on the impact that…
This report presents findings from qualitative research conducted with a range of children, young people and parents in vulnerable or seldom heard groups, carried out to explore their lived experiences during and throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Participant groups were selected to fill gaps in the existing evidence base and included children, young people and their parents with additional support needs; with domestic abuse experiences; who are asylum seeking and from minority ethnic backgrounds; and in gypsy/traveller families. Participants also included young and single parents; parents…
This report was prepared by CELCIS in collaboration with local authorities and stakeholders in Scotland to inform the Scottish Government Children and Families Collective Leadership Group's consideration of the impact of COVID-19 on children and families.
The weekly SOLACE data return provided by local authorities since April 2020 continues to be a key data source in helping to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Scotland's children and young people in need of care and protection. The data has been widely used by Ministers and to inform the Children and Families Leadership…
Abstract
Currently, 78,150 children are in care in England, with 11% of the most vulnerable living in 2,460 residential homes due to multitype traumas. These children require safe and secure trauma‐informed therapeutic care. However, the children's residential care workforce delivering this vital care is an unrepresented, under‐researched and largely unsupported professional group. The workforce undertakes physically and emotionally challenging work in difficult conditions, exacerbated by the COVID‐19 pandemic. Practitioner wellbeing is directly associated with outcomes for children.…
Abstract
This essay describes the impact of the pandemic on our experiences as Independent Visitors (IVs) for children who are looked-after. Independent Visitors are volunteers who visit, advise and befriend children with the aim of helping them develop a positive, long-term relationship beyond the care system. Based on our personal experiences of being matched with and visiting two young people, we consider how supporting the children remotely during the pandemic has helped us reflect on our relationships with them and our role as IVs. We discuss the role that foster carers play in…