In the four and a half years between the Independent Care Review concluding and June 2024 when Plan 24-30 was created, Scotland has come a long way, whilst navigating unforeseen circumstances including COVID and the cost-of-living crisis that continues to have devastating effects on children, young people and families in and on the edge of the ‘care system’, and care experienced adults.
Scotland knows where it is now and where it wants to get to and Plan 24-30 provides the route map required. However, work to #KeepThePromise is not the responsibility of the ‘care system’ alone.
Over time, five issues have been repeatedly identified as the major bridges and barriers to #KeepThePromise. These are: data, scrutiny, risk, money, and policy. All are systemic issues that relate more broadly to the wider public sector reform agenda.
Plan 24-30 lifts these issues and illustrates how they relate to work to #KeepThePromise and how they are interlinked.
Keeping the promise requires collaborative effort by many organisations and sectors. There are key issues and areas of focus that act as both bridges and barriers to progress.
There are significant risks that affect work to #KeepThePromise. The biggest will always be those felt by children, young people, families and care experienced adults.