Working and living with a shielding child

[mumum1]

Hello,

I've been asked to go back to work after initially being on furlough. Looking forward to getting back to work and seeing my colleagues etc. My work involves fairly close contact with the general public but I understand PPE will be provided.

However my youngest is shielding as she's been classed as extremely vulnerable. As a family we've not left the house since we got the letter hence also why I'm looking forward to returning to work.

She's only 6. Will returning to work mean I will need to keep my distance away from her at home? How have other working parents been able to protect shielding children at home?

The logistics of it all is making me a little anxious about returning to work.

Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

You surly won’t be able to work and live in the same house as anyone who’s shielding

Others will be fast to correct me if I’m wrong but I understand that you should not be returning to work whilst living with her. What did the nhs letter say?

How will you travel and work with a shielding child?

Yes I'm sure it'd mean you ideally have to distance yourself from her, use separate bathrooms etc however that's easier said than done with a child.

@BananaSpanner the letter said anyone living with a shielding person should maintain social distance from them, not share bathrooms etc.

Going back to work is probably not going to happen I suppose.

The letter said that she would need to shield for at least 12 weeks. I've not received any further information about her shielding continuing.

I will speak to my employer tomorrow. I suspect they will suggest I take unpaid leave

Just concerned that if I refuse to return to work this will reflect badly on me especially when possible redundancies are made

I have a shielding child too.
I am lucky in that I can work remotely.
Could you OP?
If you can, your employers should be flexible enough to accommodate it.

I saw that there was guidance published today about shielding children. I live with a shielding child but wonder if she’ll be removed from the list based on this. Don’t know if this might affect you so sharing incase.
www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/covid-19-shielding-guidance-children-young-people

Can you wfh?

You can't go to work.

@NameChangeForThisOneToday
@mineofuselessinformation

Unfortunately no possibility of wfh. My role involves direct contact with people. However I will ask tomorrow if I could be given a temporary role wfh although I suspect this will be quite difficult to do.

@Chocl8

Thank you, I'll have a read and see if there's any guidance

You cannot return to work whilst living with a shielding child
If it were a teenager or another adult and you could maintain a constant social distance/isolated living yes but not a child

We have been shielding and was advised initially that DH would need to move out for 12-16 weeks at the beginning of lockdown if he wished to return to (none public contact) key worker role

@Motherofasleepaphobe

Thank you. Were you advised by your GP?

If I can rather enough information and guidance about shielding a child and working it may help when talking to my employer.

I have a return to work call in the morning in which I will let them know the situation

By a member of our DD’s consultant team, but then had this confirmed by a GP

Both myself and DH are key workers but neither of us have been to work since mid March due to shielding DD
I was informed by my union too that if I was to return to work they would have to guarantee strict 2M social distancing would be possible and if they could not I am to stay home on paid leave

@Motherofasleepaphobe

Thank you. I'll call DD's GP in the morning just to confirm her shielding status.

I feel a bit silly about not doing this before.

For some reason I assumed we would only be shielding just for 12 weeks but having re-read the NHS shielding letter is says at least 12 weeks.

In my head I thought 12 weeks post the start of lockdown, things would be fine. How naive of me!

Very niave of you actually.

There should be an update on shielding next week so maybe keep an eye out for that

@ssd I know

@ClientQ I will do, thanks

Can you look at the charity/member guidance for the condition your child has?

Not quite the same but I've got RA and the British Association of Rheumatology has a lot of guidance on shielding, as does NRAS.

Could be worth speaking to their Doctor or clinical team (I have a brilliant CNS who is far easier to get hold of) to see what their specific guidance for your child is.

Scotland have extended shielding until 31st July, Wales until 16th August. England and NI due to announce this week.

Definitely worth a conversation with the main person looking out for DD and a read of the RCPCH guidelines. They’re written for healthcare professionals. It’s a bit nuanced with children as generally they’re less severely effected but depends on the reason for shielding.

We’ve been shielding DS and his condition is now in category B so may not need shielding but needs an individual discussion with his consultant. His consultant feels he’s not particularly at more risk than other children his age so I have also been tentatively considering going back to work in a public facing role. It’s so difficult though when you get the horrible letters from the government which are very impersonal but say that he’s a high risk of dying and recommend distancing at home and cleaning the bathroom after each use. At 11 months he’s not great a cleaning the bathroom!

I’d say wait for the announcement and have a chat with DDs team before deciding what you want to do.

Following this as DH has been asked to contact someone (who I’m not sure !) for advise on when he will be safe to return to work (both on Furlough due to DD needing shielding ).
It seems it’s not yet but also nothing since the initial letter telling her to shield for at least 12 weeks. I think his work had taken it that he’d be back at the end of the 12 weeks, not sure what to do.

The English government has not announced the next steps for shielding. There is talk that they might further refine the list (starting with DC - perhaps they've realised that they cannot remove the DC's right to an education, schools are finding it hard to arrange dual online and ro ro vision, and paying for 1-1 tuition for DC medically sake to,attend school,is frigging expensive)

So get them to continue furlough until that has been reviewed (if of course rumour is true)

Yes, you are meant to isolate the shielded person from others in the house. Can you actuallymarrange your house so that this is possible? Do you think you can live like that? For many people the answer is 'no' which is why whole households have gone behind the shield, so that their loved one can have a bit of human contact and not worry about the bathroom/kitchen

Start talking to your employer about the human cost of returning to work - if theynare unfurloughng in stages, then you might be put back to a later wave? Or use accrued holiday and unpaid leave for a bit. But seek assurances that younwill have be able to return as soon as the advice for DD changes.

Scotland and Wales have extended into August. The original first wave 12 expires this week, and the small extension tomend June means we shouid hear fairy soon.

What a tough situation for all of you. I'm so sorry. What are you planning to do about education? Surely one of you will need to stay at home and not work to be able to teach her?

But really this is one for detailed and thorough medical advice from a hospital consultant who specialises in her particular condition. The science is changing all the time as our knowledge of covid increases and the initial lists of shielding people were inevitably cautiously over-inclusive. At the beginning, when covid was understood primarily as a respiratory virus, there was a lot of focus on asthma. Now it looks as if people with diabetes and vascular conditions are more vulnerable. There will also be a weighing up of risk. If we get to the point where there are only a handful of new cases every day, mostly in hospitals and care homes, then the detrimental effects of being isolated and missing school might seem too big a price to pay, especially if your daughter is having to attend quite a lot of medical appointments. (My mother currently has cancer. It keeps being emphasised that her risk of getting the virus is much higher at hospital appointments and during treatment than anywhere else.)