'I can't know the children are safe': social workers' fears over lockdown

Face-to-face visits are integral to social work practice, but the coronavirus crisis has reduced contact with at-risk children

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When Kate* went to do an initial child protection assessment the other day, she had to see the youngster in the garden. “They didn’t really understand what was going on, they were cold and they didn’t want to talk,” she says. “It wasn’t very effective.”

At least Kate, a 32-year-old children and families social worker, got to see the child who had been referred to her local authority in the south-west of England. Other social workers report that the coronavirus crisis has reduced their contact with at-risk children to a WhatsApp call, or being shown them at a safe distance on the doorstep by parents who say they are self-isolating or are anxious about infection.

Related: Self-isolating UK care workers face debt and hunger, warns charity

Related: UK government must recognise care workers are on the coronavirus frontline too | Vic Rayner

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2wU6WJq