ESN participates in Scotland's debate on children's wellbeing

The 20th annual conference of Children in Scotland took place on the 5-6 November in cooperation with Renfrewshire Council, a recent ESN member. The conference took place at a time when the Scottish Children and Young People's Bill was being discussed by the Parliament; the purpose of the bill is to make provisions about the rights of the children and young people; about investigations by the Commissioner for Children and Young People; about children’s hearings and for an adoption register, amongst others. This would make it more vital than ever to keep children and young people at the centre of future social work. Peter Macleod, Director of Social Work at Renfrewshire Council in the UK, Graham Owen, Director of Social Services in Botkyrka in Sweden, and Alfonso Lara Montero, Senior Policy and Research Officer, represented ESN at the event.

At the session on social inclusion, delegates heard the testimony of a young woman who has been in care and has been moved into a total of 46 different placements, hence highlighting the need to enhance cooperation between professionals. ESN members also spoke of the looked-after and other vulnerable young people. Peter Macleod identified some of the challenges they have faced in Renfrewshire, as well as progress made in regards to services for children in care and their transition into adulthood. He emphasised that: "We need to tackle the disadvantage faced by Looked after Children by positively discriminating in their favour. These includes giving them training and employment opportunities, good housing and great after care support. The 'Please Listen' pledge campaign in Scotland has been run by ‘Who Cares Scotland’ and has highlighted the poor outcomes faced by many young care leavers."

Graham Owen presented the different services for children and young people provided in the Municipality of Botkyrka in east central Sweden, with a focus on inter-sectoral cooperation. He referred to ‘Kraftsamling’, a joint professional structure from the education and social sectors, that enables professionals to work together to identify problems early and provide support for children and young people at risk: “We have seen throughout the years that it is extremely important to establish a sustainable structure for collaboration between schools and social services. This allows us to identify at early stages children who are in need of support and social work intervention. Developing positive collaboration between social services, teachers and other school professionals can help optimise the child’s potential at school. We all know from research and experience that regular school attendance and good school performance are factors that protect children from further risks as they enter adulthood.” Graham also briefly described the ‘Skolfam method’ which is currently being rolled out in Sweden: “Children in foster care are assessed by a team consisting of school psychologists, special education teachers and social workers to develop a plan for how schools can best meet their needs. This method has shown positive results for school performance of children in care.”

Alfonso Lara Montero spoke alongside Tam Baillie, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, in a session devoted to the Scottish Children and Young People’s Bill and similar frameworks in Europe. He presented the work undertaken by ESN in the framework of the European Recommendation ‘Investing in Children’ and highlighted the role of local public services in ensuring its implementation. Alfonso reminded: “In order to monitor the implementation of the Recommendation it is necessary to set targets and indicators at the local level that will be collected by the national level and report back to the European Commission”. He also emphasised the need to measure outcomes: “In delivering the aspirations of the Children and Young People's Bill, it is essential to engage them in the design and implementation of services, and to evidence the impact of policies and services on children and young people.”

ESN will continue to work with the Scottish Government in our policy and research project Investing in Children Services in 2014 in order to analyse the organisation of children services in Scotland and compare it with the framework set in the European recommendation.