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Category: Project

Description: Abstract Background and rationale: The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a number of disruptions for support workers looking after children in care institutions both internationally and in Switzerland. A number of concerns related to consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on foster care staff and residents have also been raised internationally such as an increased risk of abuse for foster children asked to stay with their families, a risk of staff shortage, loss of contact with children’s families, increased violence among children grouped together, increased risk of burnout among staff and shortage of protection equipment meant for staff. No systematic analysis of measures, challenges or tips from Swiss foster care home staff could be found. Objective: To assess and categorize measures taken against Covid-19, challenges and tips from canton Vaud social workers looking after children in care institutions. Methods: A qualitative online survey with 1 multiple choice and 8 open-ended questions was sent to 36 foster care institutions from canton Vaud between March 20 and March 22, 2020. Survey participants were asked about their role within the children’s home, the age of the children they look after, measures taken due to Covid-19, current challenges, resources or tips they would like to share and they were given the opportunity to share general comments Findings: A total of 7 participants contributed to the study from March 20 to April 26, 2020. Four (n=4, 57%) participants were support workers (educators), two (n=2, 29%) were night workers and one (n=1, 14%) was an institutional manager. Survey participants looked after children 5 to 18 years old. Five (n=5, 71%) participants worked in institution(s) looking after young children and adolescents (6 to 15 years old) and two (n=2, 29%) in institutions for older adolescents (15 to 18 years old). Thirty-nine unique measures taken to prevent and mitigate the spread of Covid-19 were reported by the 7 survey participants and classified into 6 categories: rules and sanctions, hygiene, organizational, schedule, restricting access and other. A further thirteen unique measures taken to support residents, eight unique measures taken to support residents’ families and five unique “other” measures were reported by survey participants. Thirty-six unique challenges classified in 8 categories: rules and sanctions, communication, organization, quarantines, complexification, psychosocial and other were reported by survey participants. The most common challenges reported included difficulties making residents follow institutional rules and preventing residents from eloping, difficulties keeping in touch with residents and their families and a general complexification of institutional work. Ten (n=10) unique tips were reported and included (among other things) following the national prevention campaign recommendations, centralizing purchases, making use of play areas and watching television news with residents. Limitations: There were only 7 survey participants and some questions were open to interpretation, it is therefore likely that a number of measures, challenges and tips were not identified. The generalizability of the survey findings should be considered with particular caution given the low sample size. Funding: No funding was received for this work. Registration: See https://osf.io/vgksb/ (Version 4) Data and materials: See https://osf.io/du9pe/; all other data is otherwise included within the manuscript. Keywords: Covid-19, Switzerland, children’s home, children, social work, challenges, interventions