Agenda item

Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People, Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People, and Helen Blackman, Director for Children’s Integrated Services gave an update on work to manage the impact of Covid-19 on Children’s Services.  They highlighted the following information:

a)  In response to feedback from parents about concerns of isolation, financial worries and lack of play and social opportunities for children, the Early Help Service has worked to enhance the virtual and telephone offer for families, expand communications to ensure that families are kept informed about the support that is available and provided resource packs for those unable to access things online.

b)  Some parents have also raised concerns about managing child behaviour at this time and issues relating to mental health and domestic abuse.  In response to those concerns parenting programmes have been adapted for delivery online, with 1:1 support as required.  Within four weeks delivery of group parenting programmes moved online but group size is restricted to 6 parents to allow all participants to engage fully.  This has reduced the number of parents who can access a session but it has been possible to hold more sessions due to reduced travel time.  Services have been in weekly contact with 129 women who have been referred to access the Freedom Programme.

c)  The Family Intervention Project has continued to provide a service in people’s homes supported by the use of personal protective equipment.  However, it has been challenging to provide services outside of the home due to lack of access to physical buildings.

d)  It has been a challenging time for care leavers particularly those who were reaching the end of their period in care and needing to move to new accommodation.  Some care leavers asked if their placements could continue until things become more settled and this has been facilitated.

e)  The Youth Justice Service has continued to provide socially distanced face to face visits for the high risk cohort, with virtual contact for medium and low risk cases.  Major projects such as implementation of the SkillMill and embedding trauma-informed practice has continued. 

f)  Capacity to deliver online health and dental assessments for children in care has been a challenge.

g)  There have been delays in the court process for securing permanence for some children with a plan for adoption, particularly in situations when all parties aren’t in agreement and courts want to make sure that all parties have a fair opportunity to engage.  While courts are now operating again there are significant backlogs.  Despite this, plans have continued to be progressed and children placed with adoptive families. 

h)  Feedback has been sought from children and families on their experiences.  This has found that some parents and children have really liked the virtual services as it doesn’t require travel and childcare to be arranged and enables young people to connect with others in a way that they feel comfortable, but it has been challenging to deliver some services online, particularly where there are confidentiality issues such as in cases of domestic abuse.  Some parents have also commented that they miss the social aspect to face to face services.

During the subsequent discussion the following points were raised:

i)  If the ‘new normal’ is that more services will be provided online, then it is crucial to ensure that all citizens have the means to engage with online services, both in terms of equipment and internet connection.  There are some areas of the City e.g. Aspley where internet access not via a mobile phone is very low.  Education Services have made a good start on addressing this issue with the provision of laptops and dongles to enable pupils to access online learning while they were unable to attend school (1200 laptops and tablets were issued in the first phase in addition to 200 devices provided to children in care, and a second phase is being managed through schools) but this is a challenge for many services provided by the Council, and partners in the City.

j)  When families who need to access Children’s Integrated Services are unable to do so online, the vast majority have been able to be contacted by telephone, although it is acknowledged that this isn’t ideal, and if necessary face to face visits have taken place socially distanced on a door step or in a garden.  Officers are confident that the most vulnerable families that social care are aware of have been able to access necessary services.  Outdoor contact will be more challenging to do in winter months when the weather is poorer.

k)  While services want to try and retain the benefits of working virtually, it is recognised that this is not appropriate for all services and all individuals, and therefore it will be important to take a flexible approach to service delivery going forward.

l)  Detailed reinstatement plans have been developed to enable a return to previous service delivery models as soon as possible but this must be done safely.  Services constantly have to adapt to changing Government guidance e.g. youth services are opening up and utilising outdoor space but this will be kept under review as rates of Covid-19 in the City change. 

m)  Youth workers and Children’s Centre workers have not stopped working during this period, they have just had to be more creative in how they engage with people.

n)  Communications will be kept open so that families have regular opportunities to give feedback as things change.

o)  The first lockdown was done in a period of emergency and crisis and decisions about services had to be taken very quickly.  Since then, lots of lessons have been learnt and there is better understanding now of how services can be delivered and service user experience which will inform future decision making in the event of a second lockdown situation.

p)  It appears that things are not going to return to the ‘pre-Covid normal’ for some time and services cannot stay in ‘survival mode’ and need to continue to drive improvement forward and be aspirational about what can be delivered.  This is a new challenge, particularly in the context of the transformational work taking place.

q)  There is additional support in the system to deal with a potential increase in mental health issues.  40 schools are signed up to the Mental Health Support Teams in School programme and there are two dedicated teams in place.  The #YouHaveBeenMissed campaign has been launched and the Early Help Team is commissioning a behavioural and emotional support pathway to help contact young people at an early stage.

Resolved to refer the issue of digital access to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for inclusion in its work programme to look at current digital access across the City; how this impacts on access to services particularly given the likelihood that there will be a continued emphasis on virtual/ online provision for the foreseeable future; and what can be done to address these issues.