I would like to thank you for your continued support of our work, especially over the last months which have been so difficult for us all. As one of our very closest friends and supporters, I want to let you know in a little more detail about the new ways we have continued supporting children and families and our plans for a phased return to work.
Although volunteering with children and families has been suspended our staff continue to work closely with families struggling with the impact of social distancing and closure of schools, inevitably these actions have exacerbated existing tensions and hardship within vulnerable families. We have been overwhelmed with the response to our appeal to purchase supermarket vouchers and anticipate that this practical support and our access to emergency grant funding will be needed by families even more as the government job retention scheme is wound down and many of our families will have less money. Thank you to everyone who contributed and shared our appeal.
East Surrey Centre Manager Lynn James
preparing to deliver foodbags
We have piloted an online parenting course with individual follow-up sessions for parents whose children have been referred through the Youth Offending Service and I wanted to share the excellent feedback about the impact of the work from the team manager.
“I appreciate that in such a short turn around you were able to produce a condensed package of targeted support for the cohort of parents at the Youth Offending Service. It was very helpful to talk with Welcare about some of the challenges the parents/carers faced directly or indirectly related to this pandemic including delayed/adjourned sentencing/trials/hearings etc, the impact of this and the emotional wellbeing of young people and their parents.
The closure of schools also saw many within our cohort struggling to manage behaviour at home, teaching and promoting a learning environment at home, conflict between siblings, keeping children at home in line with government guidance and other practical and emotional needs”
I have been incredibly proud of the way our staff have adapted to working flexibly from home and continuing the mission of the charity. Recently we embarked on Phase 1 of a return to working from our centres. For Central Office/Inner London this means one of us will be in the office for one whole day, each day of the week. In East Surrey staff plan to work from the centre for a minimum 2- hour slot and Lynn, the centre manager will be there most days so there will be a maximum of 2 staff in at any one time. In Greenwich, Bromley and SW London staff will work on alternate days. We will monitor how these arrangements work until the end of July and review arrangements along with local and national government advice. For more information see our website
We all miss seeing you face-to-face and losing the familiar routines of regular meetings and the loss of the fundraising and community events planned for the summer months. However, in 2021 we will appreciate and enjoy these occasions even more! Please be assured the work of Welcare continues and is needed more than ever. Our response to the COVID-19 crisis has been made possible because we have such committed staff, supporters, trustees, and funders. We are busy applying for emergency grant funding to sustain our programmes and have all been encouraged by your messages and prayerful support. We update our website regularly with news stories so please follow us on social media to keep up-to-date with our activities in between the eNewsletters.
I send warmest best wishes on behalf of all our staff and trustees – we all look forward to seeing you again as soon as possible. Please look out for our next eNewsletter, due at the beginning of September.
Best wishes
Anna
Anna Khan
Chief Executive Officer
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Welcare is a charity, based on Christian values, working in South London and East Surrey. We strive to empower families with children up to the age of 13 by offering practical and emotional support to overcome challenges and change lives for the better.
For news from our centres and central office see our website
