Reviewing Child Protection in Scotland
In a bid to improve the quality of services and as part of the response to the Audit and review titled "it's everyone's job to make sure I am alright", The then Scottish Executive launched a three year reform programme in 2002 which sought to improve the structures and services in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children in our communities.
The overall goal of the programme was to improve the protection of children at risk of neglect and abuse and reduce the numbers of children who need protection. More detailed aims and objectives for the programme were also prepared.
A team of professionals from a range of backgrounds including social work, education, health and the police force assisted the Executive in taking forward the reform programme and tackling poor performance locally.
The reform programme resulted in the following outputs:
· A children's charter, setting out what every child has the right to expect;
· A framework for standards which applies to all agencies;
· The development of multi-agency inspection for all agencies involved in child protection;
· Clarification of the role and remit of child protection committees;
· The development of a 24 hour child protection service;
· Increased awareness of child protection within communities;
· Inter-agency child protection training; and
· Child death and significant incident review guidance.
New child protection policy developments
In January 2011, the Minister for Children and the Early Years announced a number of new child protection policy initiatives following publication of the national child protection guidance. These include the Scottish Government's plans to:
• revise the guidance on children affected by family substance misuse ( Getting Our Priorities Right);
• review the guidance on child protection guidance for health professionals (the so-called 'Pink Book');
• develop new guidance for children with disabilities, who are at a much higher risk of abuse;
• establish best practice and research on the link between mental illness and child protection, to help professionals better identify concerns and risk factors and offer effective, early support to children and their families; and
• commission development of a national risk assessment toolkit for professionals working in children protection to promote common practices and consistency across agencies