The Scottish Government, in partnership with local government, is committed to strengthening and supporting families which may be struggling to care for their children.
In 2007 the Scottish Governments strategy " Getting it Right for Children in Kinship and Foster Care" was published. It sets out the its vision for all children and what care children and young people should expect to receive whether in their own home or looked after by a local authority.
To move towards this vision being realised, the Scottish Government identified areas where more work was required. A Reference Group coordinated by BAAF and tFN published the Moving Forward in Kinship and Foster Care report in September 2008. This report seeks to strengthen the capacity of foster carers and kinship carers.
In September 2009, the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009. came into force. These regulations provide the legislative framework for the planning for and care of children once they have been identified as needing to be looked after. They also give kinship carers of looked after children, for the first time, a formal statutory basis with a range of responsibilities and duties of both the local authority and the carer to meet the needs of the looked after child.
The Scottish Government have commissioned the British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) and The Fostering Network (tFN) to develop guidance on the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009. This guidance is to support local authorities and other agencies with the implementation of the new Regulations. This guidance will be issued together with a training programme, in every local authority.