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The Swedish Presidency has initiated a declaration to support the protection of Ukrainian children. The declaration will mobilise support among EU Member States for continued engagement in protecting the children who have been affected by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The declaration also urges the European Commission to continue prioritising the reconstruction and reform of Ukraine’s child protection system. At the meeting, a large number of Member States signed the declaration.
The Scottish Government Implementation Plan sets out the Government of Scotland's actions and commitments to Keep the Promise for care experienced children, young people and their families. The plan lays out what the government will do to Keep The Promise by 2030. The goal is for every child in Scotland to grow up loved, safe and respected so that they realise their full potential.
Separating a baby from his or her mother at birth when there are safeguarding concerns is traumatic for birth parents and painful for professionals. This report presents findings from a study that analysed qualitative data from the lived experiences of parents and professionals where the state intervened at birth. The aim was to identify key challenges and to surface good practice examples with a view to developing a draft set of best practice guidelines for piloting with partner research sites in England and Wales.
This study comprised the collection and analysis of new empirical data…
It is starting to be recognised that young people with mental health and/or intellectual disabilities making the transition to adulthood from out-of-home care require focused attention to understand their needs and service requirements. Within the UK jurisdiction of Northern Ireland (NI), young people with mental health and/or intellectual disabilities are over-represented in the population of care leavers and yet very little is known about their specific needs. The overall aim of the study reported here was to examine the profile of care leavers with mental health and/or intellectual…
This report highlights the changing characteristics of children in and on the ‘edge of care’, including unaccompanied minors, increasing numbers of young people with unmet complex needs and BAME young people. It also outlines some of the longer-term trends that vulnerable teenagers face, including county lines, sexual exploitation and violence and how these have altered and, in some cases, made worse by the pandemic.
Children need stable and safe relationships with caring adults to thrive, and such relationships are far more likely to be created in a family environment. Those growing up in alternative care have very often experienced significant trauma before being placed in care. Residential care, in particular, can expose them to all the risks associated with social exclusion if it is not equipped to give them the tailored support they need.
That is why it is important to know the proportion of children placed in residential care compared to those in placed in formal family-based care. This would…
The Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ), in collaboration with the Scottish Child Law Centre, has produced a resource to support Scottish solicitors and practitioners with Good Practice Principles when representing care experienced children in police custody, to ensure their rights are upheld.
Children with care experience are more likely than their peers to experience police contact and criminalisation, despite no evidence that they commit greater offences than other children. They are less likely to receive support at the police station from family or a responsible…
The work of the Independant Care Review in Scotland culminated in the publication of seven reports in February 2020, including 'The Promise' which set out what needs to change in the care system to ensure children and young people grow up loved, safe and respected.
The Promise reflected what over 5,500 care experienced children and adults, families and the paid and unpaid workforce told the Care Review in the hope that Scotland was listening. It told Scotland what it must do to make sure its most vulnerable children feel loved and have the childhood they deserve.
When a decision is taken to remove an infant from his or her mother within hours or days of the infant’s birth, this presents particular challenges for professionals and is highly distressing for birth mothers, birth fathers and wider family networks. It is therefore important to establish the proportion of cases that are issued at birth and begin to build an empirical evidence base about this particular population of infants in the family justice system. The objectives of this report are to:
a. provide the first estimate and profile of newborns in care proceedings in England using…
In this commentary piece, Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, explores the use of children's care homes in England and the need for improved supports to prevent placement in children's home and to provide for the needs of children and young people who are placed in these homes. Longfield applauds "the ambition of the [Lancet Group Commission on…