SCIE: Safeguarding children and families during the COVID-19 crisis

This quick guide is for practitioners working to safeguard children and families during the COVID-19 outbreak, including social workers and those working in social care settings.

As a practitioner you are facing unprecedented challenges to support and safeguard vulnerable children and families, especially as we head into the new period of national lockdown. During this time of uncertainty, it is particularly important to safeguard children who may be at an increased risk of abuse, harm and exploitation from a range of sources. However, it is equally important to safeguard families, with parents facing significant pressures to continue to protect and promote the welfare of their children. These parents may already be struggling and so with additional pressure the likelihood of harm or significant harm may increase. SCIE report here