‘They are always in the top of our mind': Designated Teachers' views on supporting care experienced children in England

Care experienced children are at substantial risk for poor educational outcomes, so it is vital to understand where the challenges and opportunities may lie in providing improved support for them. Designated Teachers have statutory responsibilities within maintained schools in England to promote the educational achievement of care experienced children, but very little research has examined their views and experiences. Following purposive sampling, in‐depth, online, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with five Designated Teachers during the COVID‐19 pandemic to explore their experiences of the facilitators and barriers to supporting care experienced children. Four themes were developed through reflexive thematic analysis. Designated Teachers enacted change through both systemic working, and the provision of targeted support to address individual child needs. Various facilitators and barriers to role fulfilment were identified, including multi‐agency working and the impact of competing roles and responsibilities. Implications for professionals are discussed and suggestions for future research are made. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Children & Society is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Assessing Thai Hospitals' Evacuation Preparedness Using the Flexible Surge Capacity Concept and Its Collaborative Tool

According to the concept of "flexible surge capacity,” hospitals may need to be evacuated on two occasions: (1) when they are exposed to danger, such as in war;and (2) when they are contaminated, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the former, the entire hospital must be evacuated, while in the latter, the hospital becomes a pandemic center necessitating the transfer of its non-contaminated staff, patients, and routine activities to other facilities. Such occasions involve several degrees of evacuation—partial or total—yet all require deliberate surge planning and collaboration with diverse authorities. This study aimed to investigate the extent of hospital evacuation preparedness in Thailand, using the main elements of the flexible surge capacity concept. A mixed method cross-sectional study was conducted using a hospital evacuation questionnaire from a previously published multinational hospital evacuation study. The tool contained questions regarding evacuation preparedness encompassing surge capacity and collaborative elements and an open-ended inquiry to grasp potential perspectives. All 143 secondary care, tertiary care, and university hospitals received the questionnaire;43 hospitals provided responses. The findings indicate glitches in evacuation protocols, particularly triage systems, the inadequacies of surge planning and multiagency collaboration, and knowledge limitations in community capabilities. In conclusion, the applications of the essential components of flexible surge capacity allow the assessment of hospital preparedness and facilitate the evaluation of guidelines and instructions through scenario-based training exercises. © 2023, The Author(s).

Multiagency safeguarding arrangements during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic: Identifying shared learning.

Measures to combat transmission of the coronavirus presented unprecedented challenges for safeguarding and child protection practice, including through withdrawal of routine opportunities to observe and engage with children and families and disruption of systems for inter-agency communication and coordination. This article reports on a two-stage study designed to identify shared learning from adaptations to professional practice in response to the measures. Interviews with 67 London-based senior safeguarding leads from seven professional groups undertaken during the summer of 2020 informed an England-wide survey to similar groups in February-March 2021. SPSS was used to analyse 417 responses, which were supplemented by answers to open questions. Findings are reported using the six practice themes which the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel expects to inform shared learning to improve safeguarding at national and local levels. The study revealed the formidable barriers facing professionals in understanding the changing environments in which children were living and in identifying and assessing new or altered risks due to the pandemic; steps taken to respond to changing risks and to keep in touch and re-engage families; strategies to support critical thinking and challenge among professionals working under unprecedented pressure; and opportunities for enhanced multiagency working and inter-agency collaboration.

Multiagency working between children's social care and schools during COVID-19: case study experiences from English local authorities and international reflections: Managing Community Care

Purpose>A multiagency approach to supporting and enhancing child welfare lies at the heart of policies and practice in England and many other countries. The assumption is that if professionals together from different disciplines share their knowledge and skills this will lead to better outcomes for children and their families. The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the “normal practice” of such arrangements. This research explored how the pandemic's disruption led to new ways of communicating and professional behaviour, while exploring the potential for longer-term impact in England and other jurisdictions.Design/methodology/approach>Case studies were conducted in 2020 in five English local authorities to explore how schools worked with Children's Social Care and other professionals during the COVID-19 period. It was supplemented by a survey of schools and discussions with and reflections from those with relevant experience in five other countries.Findings>Many schools played an extended role in supporting vulnerable and “in need” families during this period. Children's Social Care recognised their contributions and the improved communication achieved, although schools were divided over whether relationships had improved. Most communication and meetings were online;while benefits were noted there were concerns for families who were digitally disadvantaged.Originality/value>The work provides a contemporary picture of multiagency work during the 2020 pandemic and identifies factors which may shape this work in the future in England and internationally.