Minutes:
Brian Reid, Interim
Head of Service for Children, Families and Justice Social Work presented a
slideshow on the Promise made by Scotland to children and young people. This
included information on the strategic context - the Children and Young People
(Scotland) Act 2014 introduced the concept of "Corporate Parents"
placing legal responsibilities on all public bodies towards care experienced
children and extending these duties up to the age of 26. These duties include
working together to promote the interests, provide opportunities and take
appropriate action to ensure care experienced children and young people have
the same care and chances that all parents would wish for their children. In
2016 the First Minister made a commitment to figure out how Scotland could love
its most vulnerable children and give them the childhood they deserve. She
commissioned the Independent Care Review and over the next three years the
Review worked to figure out how to keep that Promise. The outcome was the
Promise "We grow up loved, safe and respected so that we realise our full
potential", and a set of seven documents considering the different arenas
within which change will be driven to meet the Promise.
Key messages are that
Scotland's care system is institutionalised and lacking love, with poor
outcomes for those who experience the system; too many children are taken into
care as a result of poor supports to families; valued relationships with
parents, brothers and sisters are disrupted; and care experienced children and
young people are disproportionately criminalised. The Promise also emphasises
that improving the experience of care is not an issue for Children's services
in isolation just as reducing the Attainment gap is not an issue for Education
alone but that tackling poverty, improving supports to parents who experience
addictions, mental health and domestic violence are critically important
drivers of change.
The first year since
the launch of the Promise saw the review team consult widely and develop a
timeline for keeping the promise, with a series of three consecutive plans each
covering three year periods from the promise made in 2020 to the promise kept
in 2030. The first of these plans from 21-24 was published on 31st March this
year. The plan outlines five priority areas with key highlights being a
commitment to back up change with legislation which we have already seen with
incorporation of UNCRC into Scots Law and the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 placing
responsibilities on local authorities and wider public bodies to protect the
rights of children and young people to maintain sibling contact and to
participate in decision making by the Children's Hearings that may affect
contact; and secondly an emphasis on whole family supports.
The Promise Scotland
team who delivered the framework have now been commissioned by the Scottish
Government to lead the implementation of the Promise, and on 25th June the team
published an initial Change Programme outlining supports available for public
bodies and individuals to help drive change. This evolving document includes
acknowledgement of the impact of the COVID pandemic on the lives of children,
young people and their families and includes measures including potential
funding streams, support for organisations to realign budgeting structures to a
whole system approach and a school for care experienced young people to equip
them with the knowledge and skills to enable effective participation in future
planning of community services.
Pippa thanked him for
the presentation and encouraged members to read The Promise documentation as it
is very accessible and sets out compelling aspirations that look holistically
across poverty, opportunity, jobs, young people and families’ voice that we
need to get into mainstream thinking. Takki noted this is a fascinating area
that Scotland are advanced in recognition of and addressing problems. It is a
challenging agenda and we need to look at how the CPP can provide a supportive voice
and support young people - how do we build that into each of our systems and
give the care experienced a voice in plans going forward. Pippa agreed a shift
to that type of approach needs courage and requires intention to look at
services through that lens. The key is to make sure that trust is built and
making communications accessible to the audience that encourage participation.
This applies across all CPP themes not just Children and Families.
Rona added that the
contributions at CPP are based on conversations with young people around what
works for them and have been developed over the last 3 years. A team are
looking to create a youth forum structure in ߣsirƵ and Bute and that can be
used for youth engagement. Rona asked to what extent care experienced children
will engage with the new youth structure or does that need additional
involvement - mindful of not wanted those youth to be separated from other
youth structures, whilst also not diluting their voice. The CPP acknowledged
that the CPP has a governance role in overseeing the work to keep the Promise
given the breadth of the partnership working which will be required and agreed
to continue to revisit this work on a regular basis. Brian advised that the
Corporate Parenting Board has appointed a Participation Officer, Sheila Hannan,
and Rona agreed to make connections to help ensure that the care experienced
voice is fully included in the participation work being undertaken by the CPP
with the wider population of children and young people.
Action - Brian to provide contacts to Rona for
corporate parenting board.
Patricia asked if
this particular group is feeling “left behind” by the pandemic, and is being
looked at, especially in respect of children’s mental health. Brian advised
that the plan did not look specifically at the pandemic but there has been a
lot of work addressing how the pandemic has set the work back of children’s
mental health and how they can catch back up is being addressed in the change
program. Brian advised more on this will be ongoing over the next year.
Fergus added that Young
people need to be treated as a precious resource and that requires us all to
work collaboratively to achieve the best outcome for them, for our society -
and not the council or other organisations.
Supporting documents: