ARU Final Report

Full Report – March 2021 25 “At the very beginning of the first one my health visitor was calling me every three and half weeks and just seeing how I’m dealing with my daughter and everything but then all of a sudden that stopped and I’ve been asking her to call me constantly so I can talk to her about different things that I’m noticing different problems I’m having. And I’m still waiting for a phone call nearly seven weeks later. I broke down the other day because I’ve got no support at all at the moment.” (FG: Female, 24) For those who did receive support, this included food and children’s activity packs from a local charity, help from a friend, and children still being able to go to school or nursery, which was particularly appreciated for those with more than one child, or a child with additional needs: “I got some but not from social care, it was from [charity] who brought food and activity packs.” (Q: Female, 23) “Nursery place for my SEN child.” (Q: Female, 26) “My eldest 2 children attend school during lockdowns which is such a great help.” (Q: Female, 24) “My nurse and CICC [Children in Care Council] were able to get my daughter back into nursery as her first nursery closed down during the first pandemic and I was really struggling with two toddlers at home. This allowed me 3 hours a day to have a bit more chill time.” (Q: Female, 22) In terms of what support would have been helpful, some said they did not need support while one would have liked ideas for activities to do with their children, one would have welcomed a place at nursery, and one said that any support would have been helpful and may have meant their family could stay together: “If I could’ve got her into nursery or a group because she’s at an age she should be socialising but too worried with Corona.” (Q: Female, 18) “I would have found this very helpful and maybe my son wouldn’t have been removed.” (Q: Female, 24) “If someone were to help with ideas of what to do at home that would be good. What you could do.” (FG: Female, 20) In the literature, Roberts et al. (2020) found that care leavers who were parents worried about not having enough money to feed their children and pay for rent, gas and electricity as well as having concerns about the welfare of their children during the pandemic, which caused additional stress and anxiety. Additional support needs to be available for care leavers who are parents as we look to future tier restrictions and/or future lockdowns (Essex Involvement Team, 2020; Roberts et al., 2020). The individual challenges facing care leavers who had children were evident in our findings: “I’ve found it really difficult in terms of I’ve got a disabled child and a lot of the support I was supposed to get has all been put on hold and my daughter going for an operation during the middle of the pandemic as well again was so difficult because I had to keep her inside for so long before that operation. And my partner was working a lot, so it was just me and two small children at home all day long with no one to talk to and not even being able to go for a walk really really contributed to the mental health problems I’m having now.” (FG: Female, 24) 4.2 Mental health and wellbeing Mental health and wellbeing was a prominent theme across the questionnaire and focus group discussions, including the impact of the pandemic