For some looked after young people, residential care is the most appropriate placement and local authorities should make sure that they have a range of provision to meet the needs of individual young people.
Residential childcare establishments provide care for young people who are generally of secondary school age, although some may be younger.
Most young people who live in a residential establishment will have been assessed as needing to be cared for outwith their family home. They are placed in residential care by the local authority, usually after a children's hearing.
Young people living in residential establishments are usually educated in schools nearby. At some establishments, however, education is provided on site.
Residential care homes are inspected by the Care Commission to ensure they meet the national care standards.
The latest statistics show that on 31 July 2010, 1,480 children were living in residential care, representing 9 per cent of all looked after children (15,892). The proportion of looked after children in residential care is now at its lowest since data has been available.
You can view the full statistical report here.
Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care
The Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care (SIRCC) is a partnership of educational institutions - Robert Gordon University, University of Strathclyde, Langside College - and Who Cares? Scotland, a young people's advocacy organisation. SIRCC was established in April 2000 and is funded by the Scottish Government. SIRCC's aim is to influence and improve the quality of care and outcomes for children and young people living in residential care in Scotland. It provides specialised professional development training, certificate and degree courses and consultancy services, and undertakes a wide range of research projects. SIRCC also hosts a variety of events and conferences, provides opportunities for the sector to come together to share best practice, and aims to offer support and leadership to staff, managers, training officers, heads of care, and policy makers in the field.
National Residential Child Care Initiative
It is this government's stated ambition to make residential childcare the first and best placement of choice for those children whose needs it serves. To that end, in spring 2008, Adam Ingram, the Minister for Children and Early Years, asked the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care (SIRCC) to lead the National Residential Child Care Initiative (NRCCI) as a means of responding to a number of challenges faced by the residential sector. SIRCC brought together over fifty stakeholders, including practitioners, regulators, local authorities and children's rights representatives, who worked in partnership to develop recommendations for change. The NRCCI reported in December 2009 and ministers accepted the key proposals within them. We recognise that making an impact in this complex world requires focus and energy. Accordingly, the Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed five priority themes coming out of the NRCCI that comprise a call for action for us in working with our partners: culture change; workforce; commissioning; improving learning outcomes; and improving health outcomes.
Through three main working groups of stakeholders, the NRCCI considered how to ensure the supply of residential childcare services matched the needs of children and young people; what skills and qualities were required of our residential childcare workforce; and how to ensure more effective future commissioning of residential childcare services. A further group was established under the auspices of NRCCI to consider the challenges facing the secure estate. The report on secure care was published in February 2009. The NRCCI delivered three further reports in December 2009 and ministers accepted the key proposals within them. We recognise that making an impact in this complex world requires focus and energy. Accordingly, the Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed five priority themes coming out of the NRCCI that comprise a call for action for us working with our partners: culture change; workforce; commissioning; improving learning outcomes; and improving health outcomes.
Copies of the reports are available from SIRCC, University of Strathclyde, Sir Henry Wood Building, 76 Southbrae Drive, Glasgow, G13 1PP, telephone 0141 950 3683 or email sircc@strath.ac.uk. The reports from the NRCCI are available on the Learning and Teaching Scotland website - www.ltscotland.org.uk/lookedafterchildren and also on the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care (SIRCC) website www.sircc.org.uk.
The Minister for Children and Early Years and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) accepted the key proposals in the NRCCI reports and agreed on five priority areas for action coming out of the NRCCI: culture change; commissioning; workforce; improving health outcomes; and improving learning outcomes. In the joint response, we made clear that although Scotland is facing economic challenges, this is not a reason to disinvest in high quality care. We have set out our commitment to the overall aim of strategic commissioning of residential childcare services because its role in bringing people together to secure the best possible outcomes from the available resource is more important than ever in the current financial climate.
You can view the full text of the joint response at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/12/02102424/1
Looked After Children Strategic Implementation Group (LACSIG)
In our joint response to the NRCCI reports, we recognised that there was an opportunity to bring connected work on looked after children together. This is because many of the challenges facing residential childcare - around culture, leadership, planning and joined-up working - apply to other parts of the looked after children sector. Consequently, we have established a new strategic group - the Looked After Children Strategic Implementation Group (LACSIG) - which will drive forward an implementation programme to improve outcomes for all looked after children and young people in Scotland. The group met for the first time in May 2010 and brings together senior representatives spanning the whole children's service sector. Updates on the group's progress can be found on SIRCC's website.
Getting it right for every child
The Scottish Government has set out its vision for children that means they should be safe, nurtured, healthy, achieving, active, respected, responsible and included.
GIRFEC is the major programme for how this vision can be achieved.
It is the job of councils and their community planning partners to ensure that looked after children, young people and care leavers have a positive experience of growing up, with every effort made to turn around their early experiences which have brought them into the care system.
Getting it right for every child promotes action to improve the well-being of all children and young people. Eight areas of well-being have been identified as areas in which children and young people need to progress in order to do well now and in the future.
Getting it right for every child reflects an approach to working with children and young people that is underpinned by shared principles and values. It recognises children's rights and builds on the strategic pillars of Scottish Government policy for children and young people and the concordat.
Assessment is at the heart of GIRFEC and how services can best match a child's needs.
Who Cares? Scotland
Who Cares? Scotland is the consumer voice for children and young people who are looked after and accommodated in Scotland.
Its remit is:
- to provide an advocacy service throughout Scotland, accessible by all young people with experience of being looked after in public care;
- to provide information to them about their rights and responsibilities;
- to enable these young people to come together to identify issues of importance to them and to campaign for improved policy and practice; and
- to ensure that their opinions are included in all consultations and discussions which affect their lives.
Since it was formed, the organisation has been involved in campaigning and promoting the views and experiences of young people at a local and national level.
Young people form half of the membership of the board of directors, including the position of chair and vice-chair.
Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (the Care Commission)
The Care Commission was established in April 2002 under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 to regulate all adult, child and independent healthcare services in Scotland. Scottish ministers developed the national care standards to ensure everyone in Scotland receives the same high quality of care no matter where they live.