Urgent action needed in Scotland to meet care review promises, watchdog warns
Joe Lepper
Thursday, May 26, 2022
The chair of Scotland's care review has called for "urgent action" from Holyrood to implement its pledge to improve support for children in care, two years on from the publication of her report.
In March, the Scottish government unveiled a raft of commitments to improve its children's social care system in response to the Scottish care review’s 2020 report The Promise.
This includes setting up a £500m early intervention fund to support families tackling mental health issues and poverty as well as alcohol and drug issues.
But the oversight board, led by former review chair Fiona Duncan, which was set up to monitor improvements, says that the Scottish government needs to “urgently pick up the pace of change” to ensure effective reform takes place by 2030.
The board is particularly concerned about the use of cross border placements, involving both children in care in Scotland and England and often involving the separation of siblings.
Its report calls for a “clear, collaborative plan” between the Scottish and UK governments that takes into account that “inadequate provision in England is the key driver of cross border placements into Scotland”.
Other concerns in Scotland raised by The Promise Oversight Board include a “continued lack of mental health provision”, including long waiting times for children with experience of care.
Today, The Promise Oversight Board published its first report into progress 🏴 is making to #KeepThePromise.
— The Promise Scotland (@ThePromiseScot) May 26, 2022
Made up of 21 people, over half with lived experience of the ‘care system, their job is to report on progress & hold 🏴 to account for the change promised. pic.twitter.com/TCiFEAXjCI
Confusion over the use of restraint on children in care is also raised by the board. It is concerned about the continued use of restraint and a lack of data about the number and severity of incidents.
The Scottish government’s £500m early help fund is also called into question by the board. This fund’s initial investment of £50m for 2022/23 “seems light, given the overall ambition” of ministers in Scotland.
“The lives of too many babies, infants, children and young people in Scotland are still determined by their circumstances,” Duncan said.
“In times of adversity, too many face a system that does not love and does not care as it should. By 2030, at the latest, that must change.
“It is concerning that more than two years have already passed since The Promise was made and with less than eight years left to keep it, we need greater urgency across Scotland to deliver the change needed.”
Oversight board member Maria McGill, who is a former chief executive of Children’s Hospices Across Scotland, added: “In the coming year, we would expect to see more tangible plans and priorities beginning to deliver the change that infants, children, adults and families were promised.”
The board's call comes in the same week that England's Care Review unveiled its recommendations to improve the care system, including an increased focus on child protection, improved support for kinship carers and the creation of regional bodies to oversee the commissioning of residential care, foster care and secure placements.
