Many of our recent Advanced Insight pieces have considered the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on not only our Independent Social Workers (and their practice response to ensure that our services have remained available throughout) but also the children and families with whom we continue to work.
Few across the country (or world even) have escaped the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as loved ones have been lost, people’s health has been compromised, businesses have closed (temporarily or permanently) leading to financial hardship, adjusted working practices have had to be adopted and children’s education interrupted. The loss of familiarity and comfort that we drew when having to accommodate a ‘new normal’ way of living compounded the anxieties many were experiencing, and some continue to experience.
In this week’s AI we speak to our Business Development Manager, Adam, as a parent making his way through the pandemic…
“My own family’s experience of the pandemic must be considered to fall into category of those who are extremely fortunate and, so far, we seem to have escaped the worst effects of this. By chance/luck, as much as anything, we have all avoided infection (at least to our knowledge) and none of the loved ones in our immediate or extended families have succumbed to significant poor health. Whilst our working practices have had to be adjusted, we have managed to remain in employment and, therefore, not had to experience the financial worries that so many have. Our employers have also been incredibly understanding so that work commitments could be honoured around our Covid-extended childcare commitments.
Despite the comparatively privileged experience we’ve lived since March 2020, there has been a noticeable impact on our children. It must, however, be noted that this impact has been marginal in contrast to those children whose experiences are described in our Advanced Insight of 10 August 2021 and, I suspect, most who read this piece. My insights must be considered to be at the top end of first world problems. However, by sharing these I hoped that any reading this piece might appreciate, at least, some understanding of their experience.
Our boys are now aged four and two – our eldest is shortly to start school (where did those four years go!?!?!?). Both our boys have been attending nursery on a part time basis since the age of one. Whilst neither of our boys have ever been particularly willing attendees at nursery, the stop/start nature of their attendance over the last eighteen months as nursery bubbles closed enforcing their absence has not assisted. Routine child illnesses (coughs/colds/temperatures) have had to be treated as potential cases of Covid resulting in both their further absence from nursery and the distress of having a swab forced up their noses. Routines have consistently changed creating uncertainty and anxiety for them. They seem to have spent more time out of nursery than in it over the last eighteen months with circa a dozen periods of isolation or bubbles being breached. Given the above, it is, sadly, no surprise that delivery at nursery has recently reverted back to how it was when each first started attending with each becoming expressively distressed and having to be peeled from us by nursery staff and pressganged into the building.
Our boys have also been deprived of quality time with their loved ones, they don’t understand why they couldn’t go to see grandma and grandad and have been desperate to return to any activity taking place outside our family home. Fortunately, video calls have gone someway to mitigating this (who’d heard of Zoom before March 2020!?!?!) and the recent relaxation of restrictions has gone some way to restoring the pre-pandemic status quo.
Although only cautiously optimistic given the recent increase In Covid cases in Scotland following the return to school there, we can only hope that the new school year (assisted by extensions in the vaccination programme & testing, the development of herd immunity and/or divine intervention etc) will bring us a little closer to the ‘old normal’ many of us crave.”
