Stability

Scotland in 2024

Scotland has been making some progress in expanding support services which are tailored to the needs of care experienced children, aiming to enhance their overall wellbeing and stability.

The Independent Care Review heard that care experienced children find transitions ‘scary and upsetting’ and called for a recognition of the importance of the small daily transitions that happen across children’s lives (such as going to and being collected from nursery), so that they are supported to be trauma free.

Scotland continues to work to reduce the number of transitions babies, children and young people experience, and there has been a reduction in the number of changes to the places where children live. However, more work is required to further limit the number of moves children experience.

The promise made clear that care experienced children and young people need to have enduring, positive, lifelong relationships with those who matter to them. The workforce has echoed this desire and there are examples of this across Scotland. However, there are also reported challenges in sustaining relationships due to constraints around regulatory and scrutiny guidance, as well as challenges posed by service restructuring, inconsistent thresholds for service provision and difficulties in recruitment and retention of the workforce.

Where does Scotland need to be by 2030?

By 2030, Scotland will have limited the number of moves that children experience and carers will be supported to continue to care (Pg 67).

This means:

When it is not safe for children to remain at home, they will be with consistent caregivers and children will be supported to maintain relationships that are important to them (Pg 17 etc).
Children will not experience unnecessary moves and will always be in a safe, loving environment where all their needs are met (Pg 67).
Scotland will have processes to learn from things not working out, to avoid children being moved multiple times and to improve the maintenance of relationships (Pg 67).
If a move is unavoidable, the repair to the rupture of that relationship and the impact of any subsequent move will be well thought through. Relationships will be maintained in different capacities, if safe to do so (Pg 67).
Any transition in a child’s life will be limited, relational, planned and informed. Support will wrap around families and the settings of care, so that carers and families are supported, and children experience consistent, safe and loving relationships (Pg 68).
Transitions will not take place in a hurry or feel like an emergency. Children will have time to collect personal items that are important to them in a way that is safe, appropriate and rights respecting (page 68).
Everyone involved in a transition - the child, the family from which they are being removed and the family or safe, loving environment to which they are going - will have as much information as possible to help ensure the child feels safe, loved and informed (Pg 68).

These statements and the page numbers referenced are taken from the promise report, published when the Independent Care Review concluded in 2020.

The route map to get there

Focus must be on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people, as the number entering Scotland’s ‘care system’ has meant that an already stretched system is not well equipped to meet their needs. For the needs of all children and young people to be met consistently, work to reform the 'care system' must prioritise improving current processes and increasing resources to ensure unaccompanied children and young people, and those removed from their families, are given all they need to thrive.

Scottish Government will consult on a package of support for young people transitioning out of children's care services. This must be cognisant of the work of The Promise Scotland and Staf, and what was heard through 100 days of listening.

Scottish Government may include permanence in an upcoming consultation on the Hearings Redesign.

The Children’s Hearings Redesign Board will progress the recommendation 11.7.2 that: “Children’s Hearings must question and test the extent to which implementing authorities are fulfilling their legal and policy requirements with respect to providing consistent, safe, protected, and loving homes for children.”

The Scottish Government is expected to explore or consult on a range of recommendations made by Hearings for Children including:

The Hearing must ensure, wherever possible, children remain with consistent caregivers when it is not possible for them to remain safely at home (recommendation 11.7.1).
Where relationships have broken down, an inquisitorial approach to the children’s hearings system must allow for conversations about how to rebuild these in the best interests of children and their families (recommendation 11.7.3).
The Hearing must be empowered to maintain oversight of orders and exit plans made by Hearings, to consider concerns reported to them regarding implementation and to take appropriate action in response to those concerns (recommendation 12.2).

The actions outlined in the Voice foundation are fully embedded at every stage to progress actions on Stability.

What is helping?

The commitment across Scotland to sustain relationships remains high. The work of the Staying Together National Implementation Group and the Community of Practice for Siblings: Keeping Brothers and Sisters together are demonstrable examples of activity to keep relationships at the heart of everything. Equally, there are numerous examples of individuals and teams seeking to overcome significant barriers to maintaining relationships.