fbpx

Kinship

The kinship care charity

Home / For kinship carers / Advice and Information / COVID-19: Information for kinship families / Covid-19: Useful resources

Covid-19: Useful resources

We have created and gathered together useful info and advice to help with your concerns. It’s all here, including the latest government updates, information on benefits, and staying healthy.

Recent updates

England

From 21st June England moved to step 4 of the roadmap. Everyone should be cautious while managing the risks as cases of COVID-19 remain high. Find out what you should do to protect yourself and others.

From 16 August in ENGLAND

If you’re fully vaccinated or under 18, you will not need to self-isolate following close contact with someone who has COVID-19. You’ll still need to take a PCR test and self-isolate if it’s positive.

Further details at  https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

Wales 

Wales completed the move to alert level 0 on Saturday 7 August. This means that:

  • legal restrictions on the number of people who can meet indoors, including in private homes, public places or at events have been removed.
  • all businesses and premises can open, including nightclubs
  • people should still work from home wherever possible
  • face coverings will remain a legal requirement indoors, with the exception of hospitality premises. This will be kept under review.

You can find more information at https://gov.wales/current-restrictions

For England and Wales, read our new lockdown guide 2021: Answers to your recent questions about concerns due to the recent national lockdown

Contact with parents

Where there is a legal order in place and the court has ordered contact with the parent(s), this should be complied with unless to do so would put the child you are caring for, or others at risk.  If your child or someone in their household has contracted the Covid-19 virus, or they are displaying any the symptoms listed on the Government health advice pages, they should be self-isolating and should not be transferring between households. This is in line with the Government advice for households with possible Covid-19 infection.

You should try and be as accommodating as possible to allow contact to take place in another way. Think creatively about how you can support your child to stay in touch with their parent(s) during any period of self-isolation. For example, Skype or Facetime can be great way to catch up and can be used to read stories, sing or play together. With older children you could also consider a watch party, where you gather online to watch a movie or video, commenting and ‘reacting’ in real time.

Schools

As part of the government’s roadmap out of COVID-19 lockdown, in England, from 8th March face to face education will resume in schools and colleges.

Childcare and children’s supervised activities can also resume where necessary to enable parents to work or engage in similar activities. The government is introducing twice-weekly rapid testing for secondary and college pupils – in addition to regular testing for all teachers – to reduce the chance of the virus spreading in schools.

Higher Education students at English universities on practical courses can also return from 8 March.

For full details of the coronavirus guidance and schools in England, please click here.

Education catch up campaign:

The Education Catch up Campaign offers a range of activities for children of all ages to help them catch up with their school work. You can find more details about it at   https://educationcatchup.campaign.gov.uk/

In Wales there has been a phased return to schools and colleges since 22nd February 2021. For full details of the coronavirus guidance and schools in Wales, please click here.

School Holiday Enrichment Programme:

SHEP is a school-based education programme that provides food and nutrition education, physical activity, enrichment sessions and healthy meals to children in areas of social deprivation during the school summer holidays. You can find out more about it at  ‘Food and Fun’ School Holiday Enrichment Programme – WLGA. You can also ask your children’s school or local authority about accessing the scheme

Other help and information For England and Wales:

Back to school after lockdown – tips from an NHS Psychologist. You can access this fantastic resource here

Special Educational Needs – SEN Show Series. You can access free online webinars on various subjects including, ‘Access, anxiety and remote learning’. The focus of the webinars will change each month so do check in regularly.

Support with technology and communications: Although most support for laptops for children has now ended, you can find some information which you may find helpful if you have had help with laptops from the Derpartment for Education here government information .

Free school meal offers in England during school holidays a list of places that may be offering free meals. Please check with each (last updated October 2020).

Official guidance

Government guidance (England): Check the government’s website for their latest guidance on coronavirus.

Government guidance (Wales): Check the government’s website for their latest guidance on coronavirus.

NHS advice: Stay up-to-date with the latest NHS advice about coronavirus

Government guidance: for parents and carers on supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing

Government guidance on local restrictions: Check the government’s website for guidance on local restrictions.

For kinship carers who have children’s services involvement: Advice from us based on the latest government guidance

General advice

  • Age UK have a whole section on their website with information about staying healthy, helping others and updates on coronavirus.
  • Cafcass have a section with specific coronavirus advice, including information about postponed court cases and contact centres.

Benefits and finances

Children and families

Keeping children and the whole family occupied

Keeping children and the whole family occupied

  • Free audio books: Audible has released lots of audio books for free for children
  • New TV shows: Amazon has released lots of free shows for children
  • Wildlife cameras: Here’s a suggestion of 12 free wildlife webcams you can watch at home, including farms and zoos
  • Virtual museum tours: Lots of museums have virtual tours that everyone can enjoy exploring
  • Tour America’s national parks: Google Earth have created virtual tours of some of America’s greatest national parks
  • Kids news: First News is an independent children’s newspaper for 7-14 year olds. They are giving away their content for free while schools are closed. Every week they will put the latest issue on their website for anyone to download, so kids still have something at home to keep them up to date and informed.
  • Online exercises and workouts: Online PE classes, home workouts for seniors, 5 minute move and lots more from Joe Wicks on his YouTube channel
  • Opera and theatre: The Royal Opera House are launching a new programme of free, online performances that you can watch at home
  • Free art: Printable and free to share artwork and signs to brighten up video calls, social media posts and the walls.

Studying

  • All ages: BBC Bitesize are now bringing you daily content to help with education at home
  • GSCE and A Levels: Seneca have lots of free courses to help young people stay up to speed with their courses
  • Learn to code: Tynker have free access to their premium online coding courses during school closures. Suitable for ages 5+
  • Maths classes: Keep the kids up to speed with their maths with this website full of maths games

Housing

The ban on evictions was lifted on 1 June 2021 which means Court bailiffs can now carry out evictions if your case has reached this stage. Bailiffs will not evict if you let them know that you or anyone you live with has:

  • coronavirus symptoms
  • tested positive for coronavirus
  • been told to self isolate by the NHS

If you need advice about eviction or any other housing issue, please contact our advice team at https://kinship.org.uk/for-kinship-carers/contact-our-advice-service/

Employment

During these challenging times, we understand that many people are concerned about their rights regarding their jobs, including; what pay they are entitled to, what will happen if they cannot go to work, what if their pay is reduced, etc. Our advice team have put together this information which should answer some of these questions.

Staying in touch

Well-being

  • A really useful resource titled Guidance for Better Mental Health. You will find many useful tips and advice on mental health and well-being including:
    • Effects on Mental Health
    • Things to Remember
    • Precautionary Measures
    • Plan and Prepare
    • Evolving Guidelines
    • Anxiety Mimicking Coronavirus
    • Coronavirus, OCD & Anxiety
    • Mental Health Resources
    • Mental Wellbeing
    • Substance Abuse
    • References
  • Young people who have experienced developmental trauma and attachment disruption may be struggling during this period. See our new advice pages with resources that may help you to support them through this.
  • The British Psychological Society has created a report on supporting care-experienced children and young people during the Covid-19 crisis and its aftermath.
  • The campaign to end loneliness are keeping their website up to date with ideas on staying connected for those who are in self-isolation, quarantine or finding social distancing difficult.
  • Mind have some good advice for anyone who is feeling a bit anxious about coronavirus.
  • Explore a useful step-by-step guide on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is hosted by rehab4addiction, but the information is useful for all. Find out more here.

Bereavement

Staying active