How vulnerable families and children in Calderdale have been helped in lockdown

Director of Children and Young People’s Services, Julie Jenkins, updated Calderdale Children’s and Young People’s Scrutiny Board on challenges it had faced and how her directorate had responded.

Ms Jenkins told the board how the directorate had provided help since lockdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic began in March.

Lockdown had brought new ways of working, interacting with young people through social media, use of mobile phones and virtual drop-in sessions, helped by Government making available laptops, tablets or 4G access to vulnerable children, with Calderdale making an initial order for 600 devices and 47 dongles.

With Personal Protective Equipment in place, teams had been able to make visits as they would normally, albeit socially distanced.

By the beginning of this month the council’s child protection teams were also ready to go out and do investigations where they were required, she said.

At the start of lockdown there were reduced numbers of referrals and reported incidents of domestic violence, although both had picked up as the weeks went by.

A crucial point was when testing was in place for both staff and children became unwell.

Foster carers had coped extremely well and under lockdown to early June no children had been fostered outside the borough, said Ms Jenkins.

Coun Howard Blagbrough (Con, Brighouse) said a lot was being learned during the pandemic, including keeping children at home when they were ill.

“In the past the trend was to send them to school.

“We need to effectively communicate that from a council perspective – if you’re ill you need to stay at home,” he said.

Calderdale Council’s Director of Children and Young People’s Services, Julie Jenkins