Coronavirus puts vulnerable UK children at greater risk, campaigners warn

School closures remove vital safety net. But Covid-19 means there will be even fewer foster carers to pick up the pieces

Care-leavers across the country are already repeatedly failed by the state. This pandemic will only make their situation more precarious, campaigners warn. It’s not just those who have left care. What will happen to the more than 78,000 “looked-after” children if already-scarce foster carers become ill and cannot cope with the needs of the traumatised or disabled children they’ve taken into their homes? Or if residential care home staff at children’s homes are not able to work in the numbers required for those settings to operate safely?

Government guidance published last week means that pupils with safeguarding and welfare needs may be able to attend school, providing a safe place to be, but teachers will struggle to provide the necessary support with skeleton staffing levels.

There will be [foster] placement breakdowns because of [Covid-19]

This could tip many kinship carers over the edge

Related: Children in care services are at ‘breaking point’

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/33PXyTh