Child care remains open during lockdown

Last year the child care staff have done a fantastic job and worked very hard. Initially, there was a great deal of uncertainty. The guidelines kept changing very fast, and the day care centre staff had to react flexibly, creatively and quickly. The whole country was in lockdown, but child care remained open. Because some of the staff also got ill, the others had to make do with much fewer people. In the spring, a number of day care centres and IBOs (after-school care initiatives) even had to go into quarantine. The IBOs helped provide emergency care for nursery and primary school children during the lockdowns.

The Growing up in Brussels organisation (Opgroeien in Brussel) continued to support the day care centres and IBOs via social media, WhatsApp, a newsletter, an upgraded website and a series of online training programmes. The Local Child care Counter (Lokaal Loket Kinderopvang) expanded its helpdesk, supported day care centres by referring families in vulnerable situations to child care, with emergency questions and with the restart of child care.