Covid 19 Frequenly Asked Questions for families
I’ve heard from my child’s activity that they plan to resume, what do I need to do?
What if I don’t feel safe or comfortable for my child to return to their activity?
What happens if there is another national or a local lockdown?
How will volunteers support my child at their activity? Will they be wearing PPE?
My child needs physical support to take part, will this be possible?
How will volunteers support my child at swimming lessons?
My child has really enjoyed attending the Me2 Club online sessions, will they be continuing?
I’ve heard from my child’s activity that they plan to resume, what do I need to do?
That’s great to hear! As soon as you know the date that your child’s activity is due to resume, you should let your AVC know as well as any specific guidance or instructions from the activity leader.
If your child is already matched with a volunteer we will begin preparing and planning how to support the volunteer and your child to reconnect so that they get off to a good start back at their activity.
My child is due to return to their activity but they need a new volunteer, when will they be matched?
If your child doesn’t have a volunteer, we’ll begin trying to identify someone suitable to match them with once you let us know the date they’re starting back.
With activities resuming at all different times, and sometimes at short notice, we are having to work more flexibly to be able to support the most amount of children back to activities. We can only start matching your child to a volunteer once we know when their activity will be resuming.
We can’t promise how quickly we will be able to find a match for your child, but we’ll be doing all we can to try and support your child back to their activity as quickly as possible. We’ll keep you updated and would like to thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
I’ve heard from my child’s activity and they aren’t sure when or don’t plan to resume, what happens now?
We know that not all activities may be able to resume yet, or that some activities aren’t quite sure when they will be able to begin again. At the start of the pandemic we began delivering regular online activities for children to take part in and we’ll be continuing to offer some online activities that your child can join.
Will you support my child and their volunteer to reconnect after not having seen each other in a long time?
Yes! Absolutely! It’s really important to make sure that children and their volunteers return to their activities with a positive start and a good relationship. We can arrange online catch up sessions before returning to an activity or a pre-meet before an activity. If you feel your child and volunteer would benefit from us helping them reconnect, please let your AVC know.
What if I don’t feel safe or comfortable for my child to return to their activity?
It can feel like a really uncertain time and you might be worried about sending your child back to their activities. If you don’t feel comfortable for your child to return to their activity, that is ok. Your child will still be able to join in with our online activities and when you and your child feel ready to return to your activity we’ll be able to continue supporting you and find you a new volunteer if needed.
What happens if there is another national or a local lockdown?
We know that things feel like they’re changing all the time and that you might be worried about what will happen if there is another national or a local lockdown put in place. We’re beginning work on resilience planning now so that we can continue to support as many children and families in the future, particularly in the event of another lockdown. In the event of having to put our plans in place, we’re committed to consulting with and keeping you up to date.
We’re making sure that we keep up to date with the latest guidance from government as well as any national bodies to make sure that we’re keeping our staff, volunteers, children and families safe.
How will volunteers support my child at their activity? Will they be wearing PPE?
We’ve been carefully reviewing guidance from government and national bodies to identify the steps we think are needed to mean that volunteers can safely support your child attend their activities. We’ll make our full guidance available to families and volunteers, but it includes what to do if a child or volunteer is displaying COVID-19 symptoms, good hygiene practice, the use of face coverings and PPE. We will share our guidance with you before your child starts back at their activity.
We will be regularly reviewing our guidance and keeping it up to date and in line with national guidance. We will send you updated guidance to you.
I’ve previously been supported by Me2 Club but I’m looking for a new activity for my child, what happens next?
We’re currently not able to provide as much support as we may have done in the past to be able to find new activities. If you’re looking for a new activity, our website has more information about local activities (link to activity clubs) and you can also use your Local Offer who can help you find an activity. If you are changing activity and need a new volunteer, you’ll need to let your AVC know when your child is due to start at their activity and we will begin identifying a suitable volunteer to match them with. We can only begin finding a volunteer once you have let us know their start date.
My child needs physical support to take part, will this be possible?
We’ve drafted our guidance with the specific needs of the children we support in mind, and this includes those who may need some form of physical support. Our guidance goes into more detail about this, but we believe our proposed way of working means that volunteers can provide physical support to children.
In some cases where we feel we need to take more specific actions to enable physical support, your AVC will discuss this in detail with you and make a tailored support plan.
How will volunteers support my child at swimming lessons?
We’ve been developing guidance to help keep volunteers and children safe during swimming activities. We believe that it is safe and possible for volunteers to support children at swimming lessons by following our guidance. Before your child returns to swimming lessons, your AVC will explain our guidance to you and the volunteer.
My child has really enjoyed attending the Me2 Club online sessions, will they be continuing?
Yes! We’ve received great feedback from children and families and will be continuing to offer online activities to children. We will likely begin to decrease the frequency of online activities as more and more children return to their usual activity, but we will still offer some online activities for children and teenagers.
When will the other Me2 Club services be available?
We haven’t been able to run a lot of our other services and projects at the moment and our focus is on supporting children return to their weekly mainstream activity. We’re constantly reviewing how and when we might be able to offer some of our other services again. Our online sessions will be continuing however.
