Scottish Government

05 FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE

Articles: 5, 9-11, 18, 19-21, 25, 27 , 39

A) SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

248 The Executive has funded a considerable range of support for families and children aimed at improving life opportunities for children. This is holistic support which comes from local authority children's services, adult community care services, health services and other partners.

Young Carers

249 The 2001 Census indicated there were 16,701 children aged 5-17 with caring responsibilities - 2.1% of all Scottish children. Other studies indicate that 10% may be a more accurate figure given that the Census is completed by adults and is generally thought to under-report the real incidence of young caring.

TABLE 18 Number and age of young carers aged 0-17 in Scotland by hours of caring per week

Source: 2001 Census

250 Taking on caring responsibilities can affect a child's physical and emotional health which can result in both immediate and long-term implications for their personal development. There is therefore a clear need to support the young carer through children's services but also to support parents through appropriate adult community care services so that, wherever possible, a child does not have to take on a caring role whether it be for a disabled parent or for other siblings because the parent is unable to cope.

251 In recognising that in some circumstances children want to undertake a degree of caring for a family member, the Executive is committed to supporting young carers whilst also protecting them from inappropriate caring responsibilities. Improved support for young carers has been realised under the Executive's Strategy for Carers in Scotland (1999) with the number of young carer support projects in Scotland rising from 23 in 1999 to 57 in 2006. The Executive's starting point is that young carers are children first and foremost. Support for this group will therefore be mainstreamed into existing policies aimed at improving children's services ( Getting it right for every child) and improving the support available to children at school (the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act).

252 A self-evaluation tool is being developed so that agencies and partnerships involved in supporting young carers and their families can assess the outcomes being achieved for young carers and where necessary improve their services. Policies to improve the support available to young carers are also being linked to the Executive's wider work to support children and families affected by drug and alcohol misuse.

B) CHILD PROTECTION

Articles 34 - 37

The child protection reform programme

253 Protecting the vulnerable in our society, especially children, is a priority for Scottish Ministers. Following an audit and review of child protection and the publication of the report, It's everyone's job to make sure I'm alright, in November 2002, Ministers published the child protection reform programme. This set out a 5 point action plan, including:

• developing a 3 year programme of sustained activity to reform child protection services and bringing in a team of professionals with extensive experience of child protection to work with the Executive in carrying this forward;
• developing a tough new multi-disciplinary inspection system;
• developing a children's charter setting out the protection that every child has the right to expect; and
• providing additional resources to ChildLine and Parentline.

254 In 2003 a reform team was recruited, which included secondees from health, police, education and social work, to take forward the 3 year programme. In the first year of the programme, working closely with practitioners and agencies, the programmed produced:

• Protecting Children and Young People: the Charter which was developed with the input of children and was widely distributed to practitioners in child protection across all agencies, schools, and for display in local offices, etc.;
• Protecting Children and Young People: Framework for Standards which translated the Charter into 8 overarching standards for professionals working in child protection. The key objective is that children get the help they need when they need it;
• Safe and Well which provides guidance to staff in schools and local authorities on the care, protection and welfare of children in schools;
• a structure for the development and delivery of multidisciplinary inspection; and
• a strengthened model for Child Protection Committees ( CPCs) in all 32 local authority areas.

255CPCs are non-statutory bodies that operate throughout Scotland and their membership comprises representatives of those agencies with responsibility for child protection - social work, the police, health, education and local authorities. CPCs are directly accountable to Chief Officers of these agencies. As part of the strengthened model, each CPC is required to prepare and submit an annual report and business plan to the Executive, as part of the integrated children services planning requirements. CPC annual reports and business plans must include an account of work against the previous plan, information on the level and quality of inter agency work and an outline business plan, including a budget for the coming year. CPC annual reports and business plans enable some comparisons across CPCs and, more importantly, year on year trends for individual CPCs. They also provide public information, both to staff in partner organisations and the wider public about the activity of the CPC; and inform policy development at local and national level.

256 The second year of the programme involved members of the reform team working on a paired basis with individual CPCs to drive forward the reform agenda, developing guidance for the new CPC arrangements and piloting of the approach to be used in joint inspection.

257 Work was also done on raising awareness of what people can do if they are concerned about a child through the publication of Protecting Children and Young People: What you can do to help if you are worried about a child or a young person - which was distributed nationally and contained generic information and localised telephone contacts. In February 2007 a 24 hour single gateway freephone number, ChildProtectionLine , was launched, funded by the Executive. It offers straightforward access to local child protection services across Scotland for anyone who has a concern about a child. Trained call handlers provide information about child protection and route calls to local child protection services. It is expected that ChildProtectionLine will produce gradual and sustained improvements in reducing the public's confusion about who to contact, when they are concerned about a child. The Executive is working with local agencies to develop and refine local monitoring arrangements for tracking the impact of the service and will formally evaluate the service in Autumn 2008.

258 The Executive is working with stakeholders from the statutory and voluntary sectors to develop a Code of Practice on Sharing Information When A Child Is In Need Of Protection. The draft Code is currently being considered by stakeholders to ensure its information-sharing principles can help strengthen how children at risk are identified and their needs assessed and supported.

259 To strengthen social workers' understanding and knowledge of child care and protection as part of the new social work degree, key capabilities in Child Care and Protection have been developed in conjunction with Scottish Universities and others involved in delivering the degree. These build from the Standards in Social Work Education that were developed for the degree and which set out what it is social workers should know and be able to do on qualifying. The key capabilities will provide a strong foundation for those entering the profession and help ensure they understand their responsibilities towards children. The key capabilities are in the process of being embedded in the teaching and learning of the degree. Progress will be monitored by the Scottish Social Services Council ( SSSC) which was established in 2001 to regulate the social service workforce and its education and training.

260 As part of driving up standards and improving public protection, the SSSC has also set Post Registration Training and Learning ( PRTL) requirements for social workers. In order to maintain their registration social workers must complete a minimum of 15 days (90 hours) PRTL over 3 years. At least 5 days (30 hours) of the PRTL activity must focus on working effectively with colleagues and other professionals to identify, assess and manage risk to vulnerable groups. This is in order to ensure that newly qualified social workers are assisted to meet their primary responsibility of protecting children and adults from harm. The number of social workers registered in Scotland in June 2007 was 9,920.

261 The child protection reform programme has been independently evaluated by the Centre for Child Care and Protection at the University of Dundee and Barnardo's Scotland. Their remit was to examine whether setting up this programme was an effective approach to reforming child protection. The full findings of the evaluation were published in March 2007 and are available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/03/13100337/0. The key findings were:

• there was an overwhelming consensus that the reform programme had been successful in meeting its aims and objectives and has led to improvements at a national and local level;
• respondents noted increased public and professional awareness of children's needs for care and protection;
• all sub-projects of the reform programme were influential; the Framework for Standards and guidance for CPCs tended to be singled out as particularly important;
• much of the success so far was attributed to the extensive work and commitment put in by staff at all levels in all key agencies in taking the national policy agenda forward locally;
• child protection professionals described significant improvements in the amount of awareness, information sharing and joint working. They also considered that there had been a rise in a sense of shared responsibility for identifying and meeting specific needs of children which might previously have slipped through the net; and
• in the surveys and the focus groups there was a strongly expressed view that increased awareness of child protection issues had lead to an increased workload for all professions and that this had impacted on resource.

Ongoing work from the child protection reform programme

262 The Executive has recently asked Aberlour Child Care Trust in partnership with the Scottish Coalition for Young Runaways (a partnership of statutory and voluntary bodies with wide experience of working with runaways and other vulnerable young people) and the Centre for Crime and Justice Research at the University of Stirling to conduct a scoping study of services across Scotland for young runaways.

eCare

263 The Executive is currently developing the eCare Framework to enable electronic multi-agency information exchange for a number of client groups, including vulnerable children and adults. It is working with 14 local data sharing partnerships, each one covering one of Scotland's health board areas, and is inclusive of health, education, social care, police and other agencies. These partnerships have responsibility for implementing local data sharing using the eCare Framework.

264 One of the initial priorities for the partnerships is the roll-out of the eCare child protection messages. Pre-determined messages are automatically generated whenever a formal child protection activity is recorded on the Social Work IT application. The messages are viewed and acknowledged on the Social Work application, sent to the local eCare Multi-Agency Store, then viewed and acknowledged by partner agency practitioners with agreed permissions. National implementation of this system is planned, with nationally agreed minimum data and technical standards.

265 This is being taken forward by the Executive's Transformational Technologies team which manages the eCare Framework. The Executive is also currently considering options for an architectural framework for Scotland-wide information sharing. The next phase of work is to support the information-sharing requirements for Getting it right for every child. The Executive is working with local partners to determine the data and technical requirements that will underpin this.

Disqualification from working with children

266 Up to 1 million people in Scotland work with children (or vulnerable adults) either through their paid employment or as volunteers. The Police Act 1997 put in place a statutory framework to allow for criminal record checks for employment for these and other workers and these checks have been available since April 2002 from Disclosure Scotland. Individuals seeking employment in care/childcare positions are normally eligible for an enhanced criminal record check under current arrangements. In these cases, as well as information about convictions, the police have discretion to provide non-conviction information they consider to be relevant to the position being considered.

267 The Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003 established a list of individuals who are unsuitable to work with children under 18 (the Disqualified from Working with Children List) and was commenced on 10 January 2005. It is an offence for an organisation to offer work in a child care position to an individual who is on the DWCL. In instances where an individual is applying for a job to work with children, the enhanced criminal record check reveals whether the individual is on the DWCL. It is also an offence for an individual on the DWCL to work in a child care position.

268 Individuals are only placed on the DWCL following a referral by an organisation or court. An organisation must refer an individual who has harmed or is considered to be a risk of harm to a child and whom the organisation has dismissed or transferred (or would have done so) for this reason. Organisational referrals are considered by senior officials with relevant expertise on behalf of Scottish Ministers. Courts must refer individuals convicted of certain serious offences and may make referrals in other cases. Court referrals lead to automatic listing (i.e. without further consideration). By 24 April 2007, after 27 months of operation, there were 154 individuals listed on the DWCL, 119 through court referrals and 35 following organisational referrals.

269 The current legislation on vetting (Police Act 1997) and barring (Protection of Children (Scotland) Act 2003) and their operation has been shaped by the lessons learnt from the Dunblane Tragedy in 1996. More recently, Sir Michael Bichard reported in June 2004 following his inquiry into the murder of two schoolgirls in Soham, England in 2002. Sir Michael Bichard's report was directed at England and Wales but the significance of the underlying issues prompted the Executive to legislate for Scotland, mirroring similar legislation for England and Wales.

270 Thus the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007 provides the framework for an improved vetting and barring scheme for those working with vulnerable groups in Scotland. The objectives of the new scheme are to prevent unsuitable individuals from gaining access to vulnerable groups through their work and to ensure that people who become unsuitable are detected early and prevented from continuing to work with these groups. The 2007 Act replaces and brings together the relevant provision in the 1997 Act and 2003 Act so that the vetting and barring are integrated into a coherent process. (It also provides for a list of individuals disqualified from working with vulnerable adults for the first time in Scotland.) This means that relevant information on the new version of an enhanced criminal record certificate will be assessed by a new barring unit and, if it indicates that the individual is unsuitable to work with children or vulnerable adults, that individual will be listed and prevented from joining the relevant workforce. Furthermore, new relevant information which comes to light once the individual is in the workforce will be considered as it arises and, if the aggregate information merits it, the individual will be listed and removed from the relevant workforce.

Draft Code of Practice on sharing child protection information

271 The Protection of Vulnerable Groups Act, as introduced to the Scottish Parliament, contained provisions around statutory duties in relation to the sharing of child protection information. Poor information sharing has been identified as a contributory factor in a number of catastrophic child protection failure cases. However, the timescale had precluded any formal consultation on these specific provisions and Parliament did not support this part of the Act. Ministers agreed to withdraw the provisions.

272 Following that decision, the Executive has taken forward the development, in association with stakeholders, of a generic draft Code of Practice on sharing child protection information. The draft Code was circulated to a wide range of stakeholders over the spring and summer 2007 to gauge views across agencies and groups who will work with the Code once it is established to ensure that it is fit for purpose.

Abuse and neglect, including physical and psychological recovery and social integration

Articles 34-37, 39

273 Local agencies have in place their own protocols and procedures for handling instances of abuse and neglect with specific underpinning by the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, including seeking compulsory measures through the Children's Hearings System. Protecting Children - A Shared Responsibility: Guidance on Inter-Agency Cooperation, published in 1998 provides the criteria for inclusion of children on local child protection registers to provide additional support. Statistics are published annually by locally authority area which indicate how many children (by age and gender) have been put on/come off the child protection registers and record the main reason for their inclusion. Since April 2002 the Care Commission has inspected all residential care homes for children to ensure the quality of services and that children are being properly protected.

Substance Misusing Households

Article 33

274 In 2003 the UK's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs published Hidden Harm which highlighted the plight of children affected by parental drug use. The key messages of the report were that:

• parental problem drug use can and does cause serious harm to children of every age;
• reducing the harm to children should become a main objective of drug policy and practice;
• effective treatment of the parent can have major benefits for the child;
• by working together, services can take practical steps to protect and improve the health and well-being of affected children; and
• the number of affected children is only likely to decrease when the number of problem drug users decreases.

275 When Hidden Harm was published, the Executive established a Steering group to take forward this work. The Group benefited from membership from a number of interests from across the Executive as well as key external stakeholders. The Executive responded to the Report and following a wide ranging consultation which involved key stakeholders, families and young people published Hidden Harm - Next Steps; Supporting Children - Working with Parents in May 2006.

276 Across Scotland there are an estimated 40,000-60,000 children affected by parental drug use. An estimated 80,000-100,000 children are affected by parental alcohol misuse. The vision for all children in Scotland is that they should be safe, nurtured and healthy and have the opportunity to reach their full potential in education and grow to become active responsible citizens. This is not always achievable for children affected by substance misusing parents.

277Hidden Harm - Next Steps identifies a range of actions and initiatives to improve the way in which children living in substance misusing households are supported and protected. It describes action already underway as well as setting out priority areas for future action:

• more effective identification of children at risk;
• more effective communications between agencies, particularly those dealing with adults and children, including the sharing of information;
• re-training of social workers and other frontline staff in child protection;
• ensuring that drug users with children undergo a multi agency assessment so that decisions can be taken on capability and care plans with a timetable for action;
• a more interventionist approach by social work and related services in working with parental drug users to ensure adherence to care plans;
• developing a new fostering strategy; and
• improving connections between sexual health and addiction services.

278 While the key focus of this work puts children at the centre it is recognised that parents with substance misuse problems need help. If that help is available then their life circumstances can improve. This work set against a number of other initiatives. Getting Our Priorities Right was published in 2003 and set out guidance for working with children and families affected by substance misuse. This was followed by Getting it right for every child which aims to put the child at the heart of children's services.

279Looking Beyond Risk was published in 2006. This is a scoping study on parental substance misuse, commissioned from the University of Bath, with support from the University of Birmingham. The research included an in depth and detailed literature review, and identified a number of key gaps in the literature available.

280 Following the launch of Hidden Harm - Next Steps in May 2006, Scottish Ministers launched a comprehensive work plan to tackle issues around children in substance misusing households. This suite of robust actions is founded on the principle that chaotic substance misuse is incompatible with parenting, and that the safety and welfare of children is paramount, even above keeping families together.

281 The following case study illustrates the type of situation where some of the actions being proposed to help parents who have substance misuse problems might improve their situation and that of their children considerably. These include developing contracts with substance misusing parents which will place children at the core of a plan signed up to by all parties to ensure that children's needs are prioritised.

Tracey was 19. She started using cannabis when she was 13, became pregnant at 15 and now had 2 children, one only 2 years old. Her current partner was in prison, but before he went away, he introduced her to injecting heroin by first injecting her himself, and then showing her how to do it. One day Tracey forgot to pick her children up from nursery. The Social Work Department were called, and when they visited Tracey at home, they found her intoxicated on heroin and her house in a terrible mess.

After this, Tracey and the children had a full assessment, and it was decided Tracey should sign up to her children's single record and plan, which detailed expectations of what the children needed to be safe and nurtured, as well as what Tracey had to do to seek treatment herself and protect and safeguard the children. This also detailed a number of support services which would be offered to Tracey and the children. It was made clear to Tracy, that a significant deterioration in hers' and the children's circumstances could result in a referral to a Children's Hearing and that this could result in compulsory measures of care for the children. At worst, this could mean Tracy no longer being considered able to care for them.

All of this was in the children's interests, and the information within the plan and contract would help everyone establish what they needed to achieve for the children's sake, and how they would know if improvement's had been achieved.

Support for children ensuring there is no victimisation in legal proceedings and that privacy is protected

Articles 12, 39 and 40

282 The Executive has acted, through the Vulnerable Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2004, to improve conditions for witnesses to enable the most vulnerable, including children, to give the best evidence they can. Implementation of the Act, associated practitioner guidance and public information material will help ensure that a vulnerable child is not victimised in legal proceedings by providing support for the witness when giving evidence, while taking account of the child's views on how that should be done. It also promotes a child's sense of dignity and worth by seeking to ensure that a child's evidence will be taken seriously whether the child is a witness or an accused person.

283 Specific steps relating to child witnesses include an entitlement for child witnesses under the age of 16 to give evidence from behind a screen (not available to an accused person in criminal proceedings) or via a TV link and the presence of a supporter for the child. Other special measures provided for in the Act may also be available to help child witnesses give their evidence. They are available to child witnesses in High Court and Sheriff Court criminal proceedings, children's hearings court proceedings and all civil proceedings in the Court of Session and Sheriff Courts. In addition the following provisions of the Vulnerable Witnesses Act are directly relevant to child witnesses:

• an expectation that child witnesses under 12 in certain cases of a sexual or violent nature are not required to attend court to give their evidence provided that this will not give rise to significant risk of prejudice to the trial. Evidence would instead be given via a commissioner or from a remote live TV site;
• where a witness in a criminal trial has previously identified an accused person through a recognised identification procedure, dock identification may not be necessary;
• in sexual offence cases certain expert evidence can be admitted for the purpose of explaining the behaviour of the victim to rebut any inference adverse to the credibility of the complainer which might otherwise be drawn from their behaviour;
• in certain types of criminal cases involving a witness who is under 12 years old a prohibition may be placed on the accused person to the effect that they cannot personally conduct their defence. Such a prohibition may also apply where older child witnesses are involved;
• there is a prohibition on an accused person personally conducting a precognition of a child witness under 12 in certain cases involving violent or sexual offences;
• in Children's Hearings court proceedings a new rule is created which restricts evidence or questioning with reference to the character or sexual behaviour of the child who is the subject of the referral, subject to certain exceptions; and
• the competence test for witnesses in all criminal and civil proceedings is abolished.

These new court measures and dealings with child witnesses throughout all stages of legal proceedings are supported by the Child Witness Support Guidance Pack for practitioners on Special Measures for Vulnerable Adult and Child Witnesses as well as extensive public information material for child witnesses and their parents and guardians which explains what it means to be a witness.

284 Independent monitoring and evaluation of the impact of the 2004 Act has begun, and adjustments will be made in the light of emerging evidence.

Reporting system and training for those working with children in the identification, reporting andmanagement of case of ill treatment

285 Section 53 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 allows a local authority, a police constable or any other person to refer a child to the Children's Reporter where compulsory measures of supervision may be necessary. The Reporter is then obliged to investigate appropriately and make a decision on any future action to assist or protect the child. Induction training for Reporters and the Reporter Accreditation Scheme address the identification and management of ill-treatment of children.

286 As part of the child protection reform programme the Executive undertook to develop a training framework and a national suite of training materials. A national set of arrangements to support those working with complex child protection issues and cases has been developed by a working group set up for this purpose. This included guidance which has strengthened the role of Child Protection Committees across Scotland. CPCs have a key role in the training and development of staff working with children and families. They are responsible for promoting, commissioning and assuring the quality of inter-agency training and ensuring that this training raises awareness of child protection issues and multi-agency working to make sure children get the help they need when they need it.

Data and research on crimes committed against children

Article 19

287 There is no specific information on the number and percentage of children reported as victims of abuse and/or neglect by parents or other relatives/carers. However, the number of children referred to the Children's Reporter under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 as being likely to suffer unnecessarily; or be impaired seriously in his health or development due to a lack of parental care' was 17,801 in 2005-06. 17,331 children were victims of offences in 2005-06, a 308% increase over the past 10 years. There was almost exactly a 50/50 gender split, but girls more likely to be victims of sexual offences and boys more likely to be victims of bodily injury.

288SCRA data and Victims Support Scotland research commissioned by the Executive in 2005 also indicated that many victims of child and youth crime in Scotland are other children and young people.

289 Nor is there any specific data on the number and percentage of cases reported that resulted in sanctions or other forms of follow up for perpetrators. There is, however, information from SCRA on decisions made by Reporters on children referred to them. Some categories of crime in Scottish Executive statistics by definition involve a child victim (though not their age), for example 'cruelty and unnatural treatment of children'. The detailed statistics collected on homicide also pick up information on the age of the victim. However, for all other crime categories information on age and other victim characteristics is not collected.

290 Scottish statistics on court proceedings are now starting to pick up offence aggravator codes which identify offences involving a child victim. However, this data - which doesn't specify the age of the child victim - is still building up and we have yet to evaluate the coverage and reliability of any statistics that could be derived from it.

TABLE 19 Children in Scotland registered following a case conference by category of abuse/risk identified

Note: Children referred for child protection inquiries in Scotland in the years ended 31 March 2005 and 2006 who were subject to a case conference and were registered as a result of that conference. In 2004/05, failure to thrive also included child known/suspected perpetrator.
Source (1): Child protection 2004/05 and 2005/06 surveys, Scottish Executive.
Source (2) % of population based on 2004 and 2005 mid-year estimates from General Register Office (Scotland) using population of 0-17 year olds.

TABLE 20 Reporter decisions on children referred to the Children's Reporter, 2005-06

* This figure counts every child referred to the Reporter once for the year. A child may be referred to the Reporter more than once in the year on different grounds, so the total does not equal the sum. This is reflected in the breakdown of children for each ground, which does not aggregate to the total when counting each child once.
‡ The number of cases where "No indication of a need for compulsory measures" was the outcome reflects the fact that the Reporter may only act where it is believed that compulsory measures of supervision are necessary. Where these are considered unnecessary no further action may be taken by the reporter although the referring agency may put in place voluntary measures.
Source - SCRA Annual Report 2005-06.

291 Paragraph 40(f) of the 2002 Concluding Observations recommended that all crimes committed against children should be included in the British Crime Survey. The British Crime Survey has not covered Scotland since 1988 although there is a Scottish equivalent, now called the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey ( SCJS). This survey has not covered crimes committed against children, but rather personal and household crime committed against adults. The Executive will consider whether the SCJS could be used to gather information on crimes committed against children in future.

292 As part of the Executive's National Strategy for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse a £2m Survivors' Fund has been set up. Part of this funding will be used for a new Sexual Abuse Service Development Fund which will allow organisations to apply for funding to extend existing services to new areas or to develop more innovative approaches to studying causes and prevention. Good progress is being made on the strategy more generally and other work to date includes initial development of 2 pilot projects on data collection with the intent of helping map services currently available while concurrently providing training programmes, awareness raising and "training for trainers".

C) PARENTAL GUIDANCE

293 Information about the principles underpinning the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 including the definition of parental responsibilities and rights ( PRRs) were fully described in the last UK report. In summary, Section 1 of the Act places a duty on parents to safeguard and promote a child's health, development and welfare; provide direction and guidance to the child; maintain personal relations and direct contact with the child and act as the child's legal representative. Much of the language used in section 1 can be traced to the UN Convention as the Act was designed to give effect to it.

D) PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Articles 5, 12, 14, 18, 19 and 20

Legislative position

294 Changes to the law on parental responsibilities and rights ( PRRs) were introduced by the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006. The core principles which underpinned these reforms were: the best interests of children; the need to promote and support stability in families; and the need to update the law to reflect the reality of family life in Scotland today. The changes made which directly connect with the rights of the child were:

• the extension of PRRs to unmarried fathers who jointly register the birth of their child with the child's mother (affects approx 40% of children born each year). It also ensures that where registration as a father in England, Wales or Northern Ireland confers PRRs, it also does so in relation to a child subject to the law of Scotland; and
• the strengthening of legislation to address issues of domestic abuse where child contact and residence are concerned. Section 11 of the 1995 Act was amended to provide that courts must take a number of factors into account in determining the child's welfare when making orders about future contact or residence arrangements for children. For example, the need to protect the child from abuse or risk of abuse and the effect such abuse or risk of abuse might have on the child.

295 Following these changes, two new information booklets, Family Matters: Marriage in Scotland and Family Matters: Living Together in Scotland have been produced and widely distributed. Both of these booklets explain parental responsibilities and rights and emphasise the need to hear and consider children's views when important decisions are being made.

Support for parents

296 The Executive wants every child, including children from vulnerable families, to have the best possible start in life. Helping children realise their potential is key to giving them a sense of fulfilment and equipping them for the future. Parents do an invaluable job in enabling children to reach their potential and it is likely that, in order to help them, all parents will need information and support at some point in the lives of their children.

297 The Executive has not developed an overarching strategy to support parents, but there is a wide range of cross-cutting action underway offering support to parents and families. This includes the development of positive parenting skills through Sure Start Scotland, funded parenting classes and peer support groups. The Executive also provides funding to a range of organisations to support parents such as ParentLine Scotland, Parenting Across Scotland, Homestart, Parent Network Scotland and One Parent Families Scotland. These organisations provide a range of training and classes for parents to help them deal with difficult behaviour, general parenting skills, etc.

298 In addition, the Executive established Starting Well, a national health demonstration project for early years based in Glasgow flowing from the White Paper Towards a Healthier Scotland. It aims to demonstrate that child health in Glasgow could be improved by a programme of activities that both supported families and provided them with access to enhanced community-based resources. It has been independently evaluated and the learning is being shared across Scotland. In Glasgow, following Phase Two of Starting Well (2005-2006) there has been a commitment by the NHS Board and its local partners to mainstream the work as part of local implementation of Health for All Children (Hall 4).

299 The Executive is determined that parents should take responsibility for parenting their children well and has introduced parenting orders through the Antisocial Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004 to help achieve this. A three-year pilot was introduced in April 2005 for which there was funding to improve parenting services and provision. Where a parent has refused to take advantage of help and support made available to them on a voluntary basis and where their behaviour is having a negative impact on their child, parenting orders make it compulsory for a parent to access the support they need. They are an additional tool to be used as a last resort for those working with families in difficulty. To date no parenting orders have been applied for in Scotland.

300 The Executive's pre-school education and childcare census 2006 found there were 4306 childcare and pre-school education centres in Scotland. These centres provide a wide range of services including nursery education, out of school and breakfast clubs, parent and family support groups and health services. In addition there were 5460 registered childminders.

Domestic abuse

301The National Strategy to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland launched by the Executive in 2000 includes recommendations for action locally and nationally. The main activities outlined were:

• enforcing current and identifying the need for new legislation;
• improvement and expansion of services;
• education of the public and professionals to improve understanding of domestic abuse; and
• improvement of data collection to enable an accurate picture of abuse to be drawn.

302 The Strategy estimated that between 25% and 33% of women in Scotland will experience domestic abuse at some point in their lives. While no precise figures exist about the number of children experiencing domestic abuse in Scotland, extrapolating from what is known about women, it can be assumed that it is extensive. It was estimated in 2001 to be in the region of 100,000 children.

303 Building on the Strategy the Executive is working to develop a strategic approach to violence against women, including its impact on children. The Executive has allocated £6m between 2006 and 2008 to ensure a minimum standard of direct support is provided to children experiencing domestic abuse in Scotland. This input is being augmented by approximately £2m contributed by local authorities and will ensure a key worker service in Women's Aid refuges and beyond, whilst also allowing Women's Aid and local authorities to establish an outreach service to children experiencing domestic abuse in the wider community.

304 The National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group for children and young people was established in December 2006. This is a cross Executive and cross-agency group which reports to Ministers. Its aims are to develop and implement a National Strategic Delivery Plan (2007-2010) to deliver better outcomes for children experiencing domestic abuse which will be presented to Ministers in 2007, and to ensure that the aims and objectives of the Getting it right for every child Domestic Abuse Pathfinder Pilot are met. A key element of this work will be the participation of children in informing policy and practice.

305Getting it right for every child means that, no matter where they live or whatever their needs, children and families know what help is available, where to get it from and that it will be appropriate to their needs and delivered to the highest possible standard. The two-year Domestic Abuse Pathfinder Pilot will look to ensure that the response from all relevant agencies to children affected by domestic abuse is in accordance with the Getting it right for every child approach, i.e. appropriate, proportionate, and timely - that children get the help they need when they need it. The pilot will work in four local areas in Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk and West Dunbartonshire. Local Pathfinder Co-ordinators have now been recruited in each of these areas and development work in the Pathfinder areas is underway.

E) SEPARATION FROM PARENTS

306 The Executive fully supports the principle that children should be separated from their parents only where absolutely necessary and where it is determined to be in the best interests of the child.

307 Section 1 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 gives parents responsibilities and rights, underpinned by the best interests of the child, to safeguard and support their children. Where it appears that a parent is having difficulty in meeting their responsibilities, the local authority may provide additional support to the family. If early intervention does not prove successful in addressing those difficulties then a child may become formally "looked after" by the local authority. The 1995 Act sets out how local authorities should go about assisting and supporting children who are formally looked after by them, many of whom will remain in the family home cared for by their parent(s) with support provided by the local authority. Only when it becomes apparent that remaining with their parents is not in the best interests of the child would a child be provided with accommodation and support away from their home. Work being undertaken by the Executive on improving outcomes for looked after children is described in more detail at paragraphs 475-483 below.

308 Effective, early intervention which enables children to remain with their families is a key aim of Getting it right for every child. It should, however, be borne in mind that for a very small proportion of older children, residential care can provide a good alternative to the family home or foster care. Two important goals are to ensure that the child has a care plan during their time in residential care and that appropriate aftercare arrangements are in place, together with continuous improvement in the standard and quality of care provided in residential care.

309 The Executive also recognises the need to create better stability for looked after children - many face frequent changes in placements which can have a detrimental effect on their development. This issue will be a key theme of the National Fostering and Kinship Care Strategy to be published later this year. The Strategy will build on current activity and ensure that fostering is supported even more effectively in the future. The Fostering Regulations are also being updated, with consequential amendments to the Looked After Children Regulations. Private fostering, including any necessary updates to the legislation, will be considered as part of the National Fostering and Kinship Care Strategy.

310 In addition, the Executive provides funding to the Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum, an organisation which aims to improve support for young people leaving care by influencing the development of national policies and local support services. Funding has also been made available to assist in the operation of the Scottish Healthy Care Network which will look to influence improvements and developments in the health and well-being services provided for looked after children.

311 The Scottish Prison Service ( SPS) Mother and Child Strategy at Cornton Vale provides the opportunity to enable the mother and child relationship to develop whilst safeguarding and promoting the child's welfare. The strategy is a key part of the SPS families' agenda and is being developed using a multi-agency approach, expert advice and present and previous experiences to articulate best practice and to ensure fairness and consistency in relation to the assessment, decision-making and management processes which support the supervision and care of mothers who have their children with them in prison.

Opportunity to participate in proceedings and make their views known

Article 12

312 There is provision at sections 6, 11(7) and 16(2) of the 1995 Act which provide that, taking account of the child's age and maturity, the views of the child must be taken into account, where practicable, in decisions which affect their lives.

Safeguards for children in alternative care

Article 20

313 The Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 set up the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care ('the Care Commission'). The Care Commission inspects care services including care homes for children and providers of foster care services against National Care Standards. The standards are designed to ensure a high quality service for children and that appropriate safeguards are in place by setting out what each individual child in residential care or foster care can expect from the service provider.

314 The Executive has also undertaken considerable activity to ensure the protection of children in foster care. Funding has been provided to the Fostering Network to produce a Code of Practice for Foster Care Recruitment and £12m has been provided to local authorities to improve recruitment and retention of foster carers, and to increase placement choice. With regard to private fostering, the Executive has issued information to local authorities and those who provide private fostering reminding them of their responsibilities. The Executive is monitoring the use of this information and its impact.

Data on looked after children

315 The Executive currently collects aggregate information with regard to looked after children from every local authority in Scotland. The Executive does however recognise that more effective data gathering is required and commissioned Logica CMG to carry out an audit of the readiness of systems which support the exchange of data for looked after children. This audit covered the effectiveness of Management Information Systems and the business processes which underlie them, in local authority social work and education departments, JobCentre Plus and Careers Scotland.

316 That audit is now complete and the Executive will consider its findings through the We Can and Must Do Better - Data Working Group before agreeing an appropriate course of action for improving the gathering of information for looked after children from Scottish local authorities.

TABLE 21 Number of children looked after away from home in Scotland - by type of accommodation

Note 1: Excludes children looked after at home with parents
Note 2: Table excludes children who are on a planned series of short term placements
Note 3: In 2006 - where local authorities were unable to provide data then their 2005 data has been incorporated into this table. In 2006, age information was expanded to collect information on 18-21 year olds. Therefore, in local authorities where previous year's data was used, this means that young people aged 18-21 will not be included. Consequently totals may be an undercount.
Source: Children looked after survey ( CLAS) 2004/05 and 2005/06 surveys, Scottish Executive

TABLE 22 Number of children looked after in Scotland - by statutory reason for being looked after

Notes
Table excludes children who are on a planned series of short term placements
In 2006 - where local authorities were unable to provide data then their 2005 data has been incorporated into this table. In 2006, age information was expanded to collect information on 18-21 year olds. Therefore, in local authorities where previous year's data was used, this means that young people aged 18-21 will not be included. Consequently totals may be an undercount
Source (1): Children looked after survey CLAS 2004-05 and 2005/06 surveys, Scottish Executive
Source (2): % of population for 2005 and 2006 based on 2004 and 2005 mid-year estimates from General Register Office (Scotland) using populations of 0-17 year olds and 0-18 year olds respectively.

TABLE 23 Number of children ceasing to be looked after by length of time looked after in Scotland

Notes
Table excludes children who are on a planned series of short term placements
A child may cease to be looked after more than once during the year and will be counted once for each episode of care ending
In 2006 - where local authorities were unable to provide data then their 2005 data has been incorporated into this table. In 2006, age information was expanded to collect information on 18-21 year olds. Therefore, in local authorities where previous year's data was used, this means that young people aged 18-21 will not be included. Consequently totals may be an undercount
Source (1): Children looked after survey CLAS 2004/05 and 2005/06 surveys, Scottish Executive
Source (2): % of population for 2005 and 2006 based on 2004 and 2005 mid-year estimates from General Register Office (Scotland) using populations of 0-17 year olds and 0-18 year olds respectively.

TABLE 24 Number of children ceasing to be looked after by destination in Scotland

Notes
Table excludes children who are on a planned series of short term placements
A child may cease to be looked after more than once during the year and will be counted once for each episode of care ending
In 2006 - where local authorities were unable to provide data then their 2005 data has been incorporated into this table. In 2006, age information was expanded to collect information on 18-21 year olds. Therefore, in local authorities where previous year's data was used, this means that young people aged 18-21 will not be included. Consequently totals may be an undercount
Source (1): Children looked after survey CLAS 2004/05 and 2005/06 surveys, Scottish Executive
Source (2): % of population for 2005 and 2006 based on 2004 and 2005 mid-year estimates from General Register Office (Scotland) using populations of 0-17 year olds and 0-18 year olds respectively.

Secure accommodation

Articles 36 and 37

317 Children are only detained in secure care if they meet the requirements of Section 70(10) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, ie if they are likely to injure themselves or another person or if they are likely to abscond. If they meet these criteria, a Children's Hearing may decide that it is in the best interests of a child - either because of concerns about their welfare or their offending behaviour - for them to be placed in secure accommodation, but this must be used as a last resort and should be for the shortest time possible.

318 At 31 May 2007, there were 114 secure places in Scotland in 5 secure units. The Executive has however made available £20.5m to assist with a programme of redevelopment of the secure estate. This will lead to a total of 125 places being in place by autumn 2008 and improvements in the standard of accommodation. The reconfigured estate has ensured there is female only accommodation for the first time. It will also avoid, as far as possible, under 16s being remanded to young offenders' institutions and help keep children closer to home where that is appropriate.

319 There were 251 admissions to secure accommodation in 2005-06 and 252 discharges. There was an average of 81 residents in secure units throughout 2005-06 with a range from 73 to 90. The following table gives the percentages of children discharged from secure accommodation, covering the period 2004-2006.

TABLE 25 The percentage of young people discharged from secure accommodation at any point between 1 April 2004 and 31 March 2005 and 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 - by length of stay.

Notes
Children can be discharged more than once within a year.
Source: Secure accommodation census, Scottish Executive.

320 The National Standards for Scotland's Youth Justice Services 2002 set out clear principles for targeting the use of secure care accommodation appropriately and to ensure it is effective in reducing offending behaviour and providing good outcomes. These standards were to be met by March 2006 and progress towards them was published in July 2006. 29% of all children leaving secure in 2005-06 returned to the same type of placement as they were in before being admitted. In most cases, children were living with parents/friends/relatives prior to admission and returned to them on discharge.

321 The Executive secure census collects annual data on children and young people in secure accommodation which is published on the Scottish Executive website. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Children/PubChildrenResidential. In 2006, returns showed that on 31 March, 76% of young people in secure were male, 13% were 13 years old or younger, 23% were 14, 40% were 15 and 23% were 16 years old or older.

322 The Executive has funded a programme of specialised training for those working in the secure estate in Scotland. This training was delivered by Young Minds, the national charity committed to improving the mental health of all children and young people, and was developed in conjunction with Heads Up Scotland who have recently developed the National Project for Children and Young People's mental health. To address the need for staff training on mental health issues, YoungMinds delivered a multi-level training programme for staff in six Secure Units across Scotland.

F) ADOPTION

Articles 18-21

323 The UK ratified the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption in February 2003. Scotland therefore operates within the Hague Convention and is contributing to the UK input to the Council of Europe's current efforts to draw up a revised treaty on adoption.

324 A two-phase review of adoption policy in Scotland was commissioned by the Executive in April 2001 and was conducted by an independent Adoption Policy Review Group. The review was required because: existing legislation was almost 25 years old; the number of adoptions was falling and there was unmet need for families to adopt; and the profile of children needing permanent families had changed - more were older and had strong bonds with birth parents or other carers and complex needs that required support.

325 The Phase I report was published in June 2002. It made 33 recommendations on improving adoption services, within the existing legislative framework, that were accepted by Scottish Ministers. The Phase II report, published in June 2005, made 107 recommendations almost all of which were supported by Scottish Ministers in their response to the Report which was published as a consultation paper. Key themes which emerged during consultation were that the welfare of the child should be the most important factor when considering who should be able to adopt, that the process for deciding whether to grant an adoption order should be as swift as possible and consistent with proper scrutiny, and that adoption support services should be extended to all parties involved in adoption.

326 Following that consultation, the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 was passed. Its main policy objectives are to:

• modernise and improve the legal framework for adoption and permanence planning;
• create greater long-term stability and permanence (the sense of belonging to a family) for children who cannot live with their original families;
• improve procedures, services and support for adoptive and foster parents and everyone involved in adoption and permanence;
• ensure the most vulnerable children have the protection and security they need; and
• create a modern, child-centred adoption and permanence service that responds to the changing needs of individual children.

327 Key provisions in the Act are:

• replacing existing freeing orders and parental responsibilities orders with a single order called a permanence order, which will increase stability for children who cannot live with their original families but which will be flexible enough to cater for the needs of individual children;
• allowing joint adoption by unmarried couples (including same-sex couples);
• better adoption support services for people affected by adoption; and
• widening existing requirements in relation to views of birth parents and guardians, to add a requirement to take account of the wishes of other relatives.

328 The 2007 Act will be implemented in due course, following the preparation of accompanying regulations and guidance. Many of the Act's provisions extend and improve existing adoption services, particularly those already provided by local authorities and other adoption agencies. It is expected that the Act, once implemented, will encourage more people to adopt. The Financial Memorandum for the Act identified a need for some increased resources and this will be pursued in detail in the context of the 2007 Spending Review: work is in hand with local authorities to survey costs.

329 The law on adoption, including intercountry adoption, has recently been updated for England and Wales by the Adoption and Children Act 2002. Although this Act contains provisions updating Scots law on intercountry adoption, these were not commenced but have instead been replicated in the 2007 Act. This means that there are differences in the regimes north and south of the border at the moment (e.g. in the treatment of adoption by relatives) of which Home Office Entry Clearance Officers are aware. Concerns that improper financial gain might influence adoption from some countries is the key reason for new restrictions on bringing children into the UK in certain circumstances.

Adoption data

330 Adoption applications are made to the Sheriff Courts in Scotland. Applications are also considered by the Court of Session. The figures supplied relate to the year in which the adoption was registered, rather than the year that the outcome occurred.

TABLE 26 Number of adoptions registered

Source : General Register Office Scotland

331 Children habitually resident outside the UK may be adopted by British residents in the child's state of origin where the adoption order is recognised under UK law or brought to the UK by British residents for the purposes of adoption in the UK courts. British citizens living outside the UK may also adopt children habitually resident outside the UK through procedures agreed with the child's state of origin. Figures are only held for the number of applications involving a home study assessment in Scotland and sent to the Scottish Executive for processing. Not all of these applications are by British citizens.

TABLE 27 Number of Overseas adoption applications

Source: Scottish Executive, 2006

G) PERIODIC REVIEW OF PLACEMENT

332 Central to the Supporting Young People Leaving Care Regulations, which were introduced in April 2004, is the duty of local authorities to carry out an assessment of the needs of young people in care prior to them leaving care. Supporting information, Pathways, has been produced to help local authorities carry out this duty effectively.

333 The new permanence orders in the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 also offer considerable flexibility to review placements and to reflect fully the situation of individual children. Only a local authority will be able to apply for a permanence order. They can be sought with or without a measure granting authority for the child to be adopted, dependant on the needs of a particular child. Where such authority is granted, the permanence order will ensure that the child remains properly looked after between the granting of the permanence order and the granting of an adoption order. This will be similar to the current process of "freeing" a child for adoption, but the child will have greater security between the making of a permanence order and the making of an adoption order.

334 Should the child not be adopted, it will be possible to apply for a variation of the permanence order to allow parental responsibilities and rights to be reallocated which is not currently possible. Where a local authority does not consider adoption to be an appropriate option for a child, a permanence order can be made without authorising adoption of the child. In this case, parental responsibilities and rights will be granted to appropriate persons. In practice this situation may be similar to long-term fostering: a child will live with a family, with the intention that the placement is permanent. If, however, a local authority later decides that adoption is appropriate, it will be able to apply at a later date for that authority. The intention is that the permanence order will be flexible enough to meet the changing needs of every individual child.