Reaching families remotely

 The need

As COVID-19 hit and lockdown began, the organisations that support families reacted swiftly by adapting their services for remote delivery. Their quick action brought resources and help to many families, but now, months into the crisis and in the face of even more uncertainty, it is clear that some families are still not receiving the support they need.

A lot of work has been done to bring devices into homes, but when there’s one device for the whole family, limited connectivity in a household, a lack of safe and confidential spaces to chat and a host of competing priorities, engaging in services remotely can be difficult. As a result, many families who need help have lost out as services have moved online.

Our response

Dartington Service Design Lab has worked with a number of charities and families to develop and test different ways of supporting early years services to reach digitally excluded families.

We have now developed the ‘9 steps for reaching families remotely’ website, a practical guide to support services and practitioners struggling to reach and engage with digitally excluded people.

Resources

You can download either of our two posters to support your journey through the 9 steps below. You can also read through our Sprint Notes below to see how we worked in the open in order to create these 9 steps.

Building Resilience in early years services in time of uncertainty

You can view all of our notes and learning from across each sprint so far, below. Just click on the buttons below:

Our partners are Catalyst, who commissioned the project, and Shift, who will be supporting with the design and development process.  This project is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund COVID-19 Digital Response.

 For more information, contact:   

Finlay Green