Leading family centres through Covid-19

Stuart, Kaz ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7952-5779 (2020) Leading family centres through Covid-19. Social Publishers Foundation Practitioner Research .

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Abstract

The outbreak of Covid-19 globally led to a national lockdown in England from March to July 2020 and November to December 2020. Key workers in front line health care, food production or delivery services were allowed to continue working, but all other workers, including family centre leaders, had to go home and work from home where possible. Family centres (once known as children’s centres and prior to that SureStart centres) provide wrap around multi-professional support for families with pre-school children. The centres provide a huge range of support from baby health checks to fathers and sons clubs, to play sessions, baby massage, debt management, job seeking skills, and so on. In this respect the centres meet the wider needs of families, support families as a unit, and offer holistic support to some of the most disadvantaged families. Lockdown meant the family services were disrupted and had to be reconfigured from face to face to online, with centre staffs working remotely whilst also managing one’s own family circumstances. Leaders were stretched to maintain services for the most vulnerable, support staff and themselves. This research investigated what was achieved and how leaders managed to achieve it in such challenging circumstances. The findings show eight characteristics identified by the family centre leaders that were fundamental to their success. This leads to recommendations for these leadership practices to be developed more widely and beyond the legacy of Covid-19 as humane approaches to supporting staff to achieve great work.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Social Publishers Foundation Practitioner Research
Publisher:	Social Publishers Foundation
Departments:	Institute of Health > Social Work, Children and Families Centre for Research in Health and Society (CRIHS)
Depositing User:	Christian Stretton
Date Deposited:	25 Jan 2021 13:54
Last Modified:	13 Jan 2024 11:17
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/5897

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