A report has been published detailing all the support and activities held with families with children under 5 from April 2020 to March 2021.
Under 5s Family and Parenting Support during COVID-19 2020-2021 reflects the work done by Early Years staff funded by the Flying Start, Families First, Pathfinder Pilot, Early Years Integration, Integrated Care Fund & Child Development Fund grants. The work supported families with children under 5 during the COVID-19 pandemic by working as partners and moving their work digitally.
Early Years staff showed their commitment to families across Ceredigion by working seamlessly across services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health, county council, voluntary organisations and 3rd Sector services worked together to meet families with children under 5’s needs through providing courses and groups, keeping in touch calls, training, and childcare. They organised the distribution of food parcels, resource bags, baby bundles, rainy weather gear and other kit as families needed, on top of their normal duties.
By Autumn 2020, courses had been adapted to families’ circumstances. All of the courses and 1:1 support were available virtually. Equipment such as iPads and training were available to make sure that all families were enabled to join any groups they wanted. An interagency joined-up waiting list was held to keep track of what groups and courses were needed. This helped to make the service more responsive to families’ needs. Many of these successful innovations will remain as part of the offer of support into the future.
Teuluoedd Ceredigion Families Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TeuluoeddCeredigionFamilies/, as well as Family Centre Facebook pages across Ceredigion were used to share important messages, links to other resources and advice. To support those who were not on social media, a Booklet was developed – Getting Ready for the Big World and this was widely distributed through Nurseries, Health Visitors and Family Centres. In addition, information was available on Dewis Cymru and from the Family Information Service. To check out the courses available, go to Dewis Cymru and select #Ceredigion and #FamilySupport.
Activities in numbers:
- 1,030 resource bags, 1,382 parent packs and 230 Actif Family Packs were distributed
- 74 targeted enhanced packages of health support delivered
- Altogether, over 250 parents enrolled on an ante natal, parenting, emotional wellbeing or baby massage course
- 50 parents received support through the digital inclusion service, with iPads loaned to allow parents to access courses
- 7,678 childcare sessions were funded
The Under 5s Family and Parenting Support during COVID-19 2020/2021 Report can be seen on the Council’s website: http://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/media/9612/under-5s-family-parenting-support-during-covid-19-2020-2021.pdf
Find Ceredigion Flying Start information on Dewis Cymru: https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/resident/children-young-people-services/family-support-services/flying-start/
30/07/2021