The impact of COVID-19 on Children’s Social Care in England

 

Mary Baginsky & Jill Manthorpe – Child Abuse & Neglect 16 Sep 2020

Abstract

Background

As a response to COVID-19 the population of England was asked to stay at home and work from there wherever possible. This included those working in children’s social care (CSC) who have responsibility for child protection and other safeguarding duties.

Objective

The study was designed to understand how CSC made the transition from being an office-based agency to one where the majority of social workers were based at home and to understand how CSC perceived the impact on children and their families. Participants and setting Senior members of CSC staff in 15 local authorities took part in the research in June 2020.