Agenda item

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 Argyll 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.