To think children's centre management are a bit lazy.

[Welikebeingcosy]

All last year I kept asking the children's centres when they would reopen when the restrictions were all lifted and they kept saying they hadn't been told anything and that it could be September and then it could be January. But they never opened despite groups being given permission to reopen (we were in tier one here). I mentioned to them that they were allowed to run groups under the rules and they were like 'oh we haven't seen that, we will have a look'.
I thought I'd try and ask them again seeing as the roadmap has been released.
The woman just told me 'we haven't been given a date'. But the WHOLE country has been given a date. And the rules even state that indoor children's groups can reopen from next week up to fifteen people (not including under five's). So why are they just sitting there waiting for Boris Johnson to call them up personally and tell them to reopen or are they using it as an excuse for a nice long holiday? I even had my MP chasing it last summer and they told him they're providing support online so are fulfilling the need.
Rant over. Just drives me mad that they get away with it.

The trust I work for straddles 2 different council providers.

None are running any of the activities.

1 borough have staff to man and maintain the buildings.

1 doesn't. Leaving me and my colleagues (we're midwives) to open and close the building. No sign of them returning yet. It's a nightmare tbh.

@Welikebeingcosy

Right so you're trying to tell me that someone who was trained in singing Humpty Dumpty to toddlers is suddenly being put on child protection teams with no experience and training and that somehow because of a pandemic the contact centres need extra staff? And I know those contact centres are after school hours so that has nothing to do with running three or four toddler groups a week. It might be the case in your area that they're super hardworking for their paycheck, but here the staff are doing YouTube videos playing in their backgardens.

I'm surprised you want to entrust your precious child to those who you are so rude and dismissive of. Hump the Dumpty

Every post is just another slag off of council services

OP if you think staff in children's centres have no experience or training then you're just showing your ignorance (again)

And yes, staff are needed to staff additional venues for contact because a) the capacity of existing contact centres has been reduced massively (need to rotate rooms for cleaning/airing) and b) a large proportion of contact is usually in the community and that can't go ahead if everywhere is closed.

@Welikebeingcosy

I also am particularly infuriated now of this is a LA decision because when I was on a child protection plan for my daughter having returned to the country with a newborn and no housing options, they made a continual point to bash me for wanting to rest and take walks recover from my travel and stress, rather than take my three month old to multiple baby groups at the children's centres each day , and made a point in court to say I was depriving my child of neccessary social development. And yet now they are the ones who refuse to reopen those services when we actually need them having a toddler to keep happy! Makes me grrrrr at their hypocrisy.

Ahhh. There it is

I run a similar type of group as part of my job in children's services. We've been told by our head of service June at the very latest, most likely September and not to put any firm reopening dates out.

I'm amazed that all these childcare workers are friends with their clients on FB and allow their youtube videos to be public so that anyone can see them. It has been 15 years since I worked in local government but that would have been a major privacy issue even back then. Any sensible council worker in this area of provision would have their FB locked down to avoid any issues with disgruntled families.

I run a not for profit, technically we are allowed to run but the way our insurance dictates at the moment makes it too costly and time consuming so we are delaying opening until nearly all restrictions are lifted. Breaks my heart we're not able to help people at the moment but the reality is often more complicated behind the scenes.

I've done some courses run by family services and the ones I met weren't HV or social workers they were ex Nursery staff ( so knowledgeable in that sense) and one had a child behaviour degree, but was very awkward with real children she only knew the theory. Here our centres are closed permanently, they use a room in one of them occasionally for their courses, but it's really sad as the buildings aren't maintained. A few miles away in another county their centre is amazing, but I can't use it.

Well we will just have to agree to disagree because I'm still going to persue this issue with local leaders and I hope anyone else who thinks this isn't right will continue to do the same. But thanks for the information which gives me some sort of sketchy idea as to who is behind these decisions.

And I'm not slagging off anyone working in children's centres. I too have done the Humpty Dumpty job along with others I know, with plenty of safe guarding training, and none of us would ever be okay with suddenly being a priority worker in child protection services at the drop of the hat. Sounds a bit fishy to me. Maybe they just sat them in that department to make it look like they were doing something with the wages.

I've thought the same!! Ours seems very reluctant to open. An outside group was cancelled months ago with no sign of it restarting. What are these people doing??

We are starting our toddler sessions Monday week but we are actually pretty concerned because we are worried parents won't stay 2m apart and try to keep their kids from not grouping together. No drinks at all are allowed but what if a parent starts to feed their child, can we refuse non breastfeeders?

I don't think this is a bashing thread - and I'm public sector. Our job is to deliver for the taxpayer and if we're not doing so then the public should complain.

Lots of nutty bureaucracy in local government which frustrates me as much as anyone - and yes the leadership should be called to account. Are there local elections in your area in May? Might be time to make yourself known to the candidates standing.

Yeah that's what my mum said she is phoning them for me next week. Thanks for the support.

@moochingtothepub if it makes you feel any better my mp directed me to the government list of what toddler groups have to do to stay covid compliant and it said that trying to adhere to social distancing in children's groups if it is possible. So you'll be okay if they bump into each other a bit. I've attached a screenshot of what you have to adhere to to run a children's group indoors.

It doesn't say anything about drinks but if that's a personal preference I respect that.

As a trained “Humpty Dumpty” member of staff from a children’s centre who now works in frontline children’s services it is clear you have no clue about what children’s centres actually do, or how highly trained the staff are.

Yes we provide lovely groups for mums and babies to come too but in the background we are also offering low level family support, including organised meetings with families and professionals to ensure families don’t escalate to social care. We do 1-1 visits to struggling mums, baby massage, 2 year old funding visits - all manner of things that if you have never had call to use then you probably wouldn’t know about, and this part has continued throughout Covid.

I can also assure you that staff in my local authority have absolutely been redeployed where necessary to help with contact/children’s homes/Covid hubs etc because they are more than capable, and not just to pay them a wage, but because of staff shortages. They have also had to manage that with delivering online groups/activities etc so I can assure you that they are not just stuck at home singing songs, despite your belief that’s the case.

Contact doesn’t just happen after school - what kind of bonkers thought is that? In this area we use community resources, including children’s centres and community centres for contact that take place at all times of the day, because not all kids in care are school age.

This thread has given me the absolute rage.

Quote::"the fact that everything is paid for by the tax payer so they wouldn't have even been hit financially this past year"

I work for a Local Authority and have been office based, not WFH, throughout.

You have NO IDEA of the probably £Milions just my Council has spent dealing with the pandemic. Just ensuring CRITICAL Council services could continue to operate safety has cost a fortune.