Children’s Residential Housing in West Dunbartonshire at Blairvadach on the banks of the Gareloch at Shandon.
There are three residential houses run by West Dunbartonshire Council to provide care and support to children and young people who are looked after and accommodated, providing places for children unable to live at home.
West Dunbartonshire Council has pledged to ensure that:
- Each child is welcomed to the house and knows what to expect during their stay.
- After the initial review a Care Plan will be put in place within six weeks.
- Each child is helped to keep in touch with family and friends, and is also helped to have a good understanding of their family history and relationships.
- Each child ‘s health needs are met and discussions take place with you, in relation to their healthcare needs.
Scotland behind schedule— report on young people in care highlights ten critical shortcomings that needed urgent attention
First Minister John Swinney, Roz McCall MSP and Martin Whitfield MSP.
By Bill Heaney (updated)
Scotland’s promise to care experienced children, young people and families can still be achieved by 2030, says an Oversight Board report published on Wednesday.
Established in 2021, The Oversight Board monitors if Scotland’s promise is being kept. The Promise Scotland acts as secretariat to the board.
The promise, which was made in 2020, is that the conclusions of Scotland’s Independent Care Review will be implemented in full, by 2030 at the latest.
However, a new report released this week exactly five years after the promise was made has found that unexpected events and systematic barriers have delayed implementation of this promise.
In particular, it found that issues impacting the workforce and whole family support have meant the promise is not halfway to being kept— despite 2025 marking the halfway point to 2030.
However, the Board still remains confident that the promise can be kept, having seen the progress that has been made and the restated commitment of those responsible for delivering it.
What areas of the promise did the report look at?
The report looked at key areas of the promise: whole family support, and the workforce.
It found that too many people cannot access the right family support when they need it, facing:
- housing barriers,
- issues with support for kinship, adoption, and foster carers,
- gaps in data to understand what really matters to children and families.
Short-term funding cycles have also been highlighted as an issue, with some in the workforce having to repeatedly secure funding, rather than using that focus to concentrate on the families they support.
Services are stretched, and pressure is growing. The cost-of-living crisis has pushed more children, young people and families into poverty, and the workforce needs targeted investment and a national strategy— rather than cuts.
Additionally, there are continuing issues with social worker retention and recruitment, as well as foster carer numbers.
However, the report also found positive changes. Among these were:
- work from the community of practice for siblings to keep brothers and sisters together
- the new national minimum recommended allowance for foster carers and kinship carers.
“What we need now is action”
David Anderson, Chair of The Oversight Board, said: “All our Board members know how important it is that the promise is kept: many of us have direct experience of care whilst every one of us strives to keep the promise in our working lives.
“What we need now is action: around spending decisions; bravery to do things differently; courage to count what matters rather than what is easy or politically palatable.
“Some people, some organisations, and some systems are not yet doing enough, and this risks the country as a whole failing to deliver the promise.
“In saying that, this report recognises and wishes to highlight that many people are keeping the promise in their day-to-day work. The changes our report highlights will assist them to ensure the right support is available at the right time for children and families.
“Right now, the journey is behind schedule, but progress thus far – added to the continuing commitment to the journey – makes it still possible for Scotland to deliver by 2030. However, there is not a minute left to lose.
“We remain determined that the promise must be kept. This is about Scotland’s children and young people: there is no task which is more important, and not a moment left to waste.”
First Minister John Swinney told MSPs: “I am grateful to Rona Mackay for raising that important question on the fifth anniversary of the Promise. The Parliament made the Promise unanimously and we all have a duty to keep it.
“Yesterday, I spoke with care-experienced young people at the University of Glasgow. I heard about the challenges that they have faced and about their hopes for the future.
“We are making progress to deliver the Promise. We have seen a 15.6 per cent reduction, since 2020, in the number of children in care and more than £110 million of investment in whole family support, and nobody under 18 is now admitted to a young offenders institution.
“I assure Rona Mackay and the Parliament that I am absolutely committed to delivering the improvements needed. I welcome the report by the oversight board, which is clear that, although there is more to be done, the Promise can be kept by 2030.”
Rona Mackay asked him: “What does the Scottish Government hope and expect will be achieved through the £6 million increase in the whole family wellbeing fund that is being provided to children’s services planning partnerships? What improvements can we expect to see as a result of that funding increase from the Scottish National Party Scottish Government?”
Mr Swinney replied: “We have already invested more than £110 million through the whole family wellbeing fund programme. The funding transforms how families are supported so that they can get the right help at the right time for as long as they need it.
“The additional £6 million of funding is for children’s services planning partnerships and will be used to improve local support in a way that best meets the needs of the families and communities and that ensures that Scotland can keep the Promise. Examples of that work include the provision of community-based family support hubs, services to support pregnant women, holistic support for parents with mental health or substance issues, and welfare rights advice.”
However, Conservative MSP Roz McCall said: “The whole family wellbeing fund has underspends right across the country. However, the oversight board’s report made it clear that explicit leadership and drive from Scottish Government and scrutiny bodies to articulate a clear set of principles, outcomes and milestones to ensure that the Promise is kept by 2030 has been severely lacking.
“The report included more than 10 critical shortcomings that needed urgent attention, including workforce shortages, financial instability for care leavers, inadequate focus, fragmented services, lack of co-ordination—the list goes on. Is it not the case that the Scottish Government simply lacks the courageous leadership needed to take the decisive actions to meet the Promise by 2030?”
Mr Swinney told her: “I have every intention, working closely with my minister Natalie Don-Innes, to provide all the necessary focus, leadership and impetus.
“In the programme for government that was published in September, the concept of whole family support was absolutely pivotal to the achievement of the Government’s highest priorities related to the eradication of child poverty.
“I want to make sure that the work that we undertake to improve the experience of care-experienced individuals is right at the heart of our agenda on eradicating child poverty and providing the best start in life for children and young people. The Government is absolutely determined to ensure that that is the case.”
Martin Whitfield (South Scotland) (Labour) raised the point about housing for families touched with the problem of having children in care.
He said: “The Promise oversight board’s report said that we are halfway between when we made the Promise and when we must keep it. However, we are not halfway to delivering on the Promise. One particular area of concern is the absence of a stable home, which, as the report highlights,
“increases the pressures on families and increases the likelihood of children in those families being taken into care.”
“This week, a devastating report revealed that the number of children in temporary accommodation is at a record high. We, in this country, are in a dire situation in regard to that.”
He asked: “What action is the Scottish Government going to take in relation to the number of children in temporary accommodation, which is a breach of the Promise and also a breach of children’s human right to accommodation?”
The First Minister said that the Government is taking steps to reduce the number of children who are living in temporary accommodation.
He added: “Across 20 local authority areas, councils have reduced the number of children in temporary accommodation.
“However, it is not enough. That is why the Government has committed £768 million to invest in housing in Scotland in the forthcoming financial year. Increasingly, more of those resources are being applied to tackle void properties, for example, to make sure that those properties are available for families to occupy.
“In many local authority areas, that change in priority is already delivering better outcomes in which families have long-term accommodation.
“There is a deadly serious point at the heart of Mr Whitfield’s question, which is that I can take the action that he wants me to take on housing only if the Parliament approves the budget. We all—every one of us—are committed, as a Parliament, to the Promise. Therefore, we have to take the necessary steps to make it happen, and we can take those steps only if we have the financial investment to do so.”
She told the Daily Record that Mr Swinney’s administration needs to “raise” their game in helping vulnerable children and that everyone had to be “brutally honest” about the progress in keeping a “promise” she made to care-experienced young people. Her government were often accused of being secretive when it came to failing to deliver on vows.
A report was published on Wednesday which found that the fulfilment of the national promise made to care-experienced children in Scotland to keep them safe growing up has been delayed due to a mix of unexpected events and “systemic barriers.” It said that councils and the government were not doing enough.
“We all need to raise our game. Politicians, Councils, Government.” She added: “We must show the leadership that all of the children and young people in Scotland deserve.” On local authorities, she went on: “It means every council across Scotland setting, tracking and sharing the progress being made in their area. And it means collaborating – working together and pushing each other to go further, faster.”
END