If you think poverty doesn’t affect you, you are part of the problem

Claire Burns, Director (Acting), CELCIS – Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection discusses how COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities in society.

The national Children’s Hearings advocacy service

The introduction of the advocacy service is an important additional support. It’s already the case that hearings must consider views of children and young people as far as possible and they are able to do this in a number of ways – through the child, their parents and families, through social workers and other professionals.

Therapeutic Parenting in adoption

For Adoption Week Scotland this year, Fiona Aitken, Director of Adoption UK Scotland, looks at why therapeutic parenting is so important for children who have been adopted.

We need to talk about FASD

This Adoption Week Scotland, Barbara Ogston, FASD Advisor in the FASD Hub Scotland, managed by Adoption UK, who is an adoptive parent, discusses the impact of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) within the care community, and why it’s vital that children and families receive the support they need.

We can and must do more to provide food security for all

On World Food Day 2020, Paul Sullivan, Sector Engagement Lead at CELCIS, reflects on some of the existing food insecurities affecting families across Scotland and what the community-led responses during the public health emergency this year tell us.

Ensuring there is choice in financial help

For Challenge Poverty Week 2020, this blog post from Mhairi Reid on behalf of the Life Changes Trust and their Advisory Group, takes a look at how the Young People with Care Experience Programme responded to the new challenge of COVID-19.

Securing better futures

October 8, 2020 marks a very important moment for children and young people who experience secure care. That’s because it’s the day that the Secure Care Pathway and Standards will be launched in Scotland’s five secure care centres, celebrating the hard work, creativity and passion that children put into helping to develop these. Paul Sullivan, Sector Engagement Lead at CELCIS, explains what this mean for the future of secure care in Scotland.

Under the spotlight of COVID-19: Real change is possible

Claire Burns, Director of CELCIS (Acting), takes a moment to consider how much we have learned that we didn’t know before the COVID-19; how this emergency has thrown a spotlight on so much of what we already knew and what this means as we work to make change happen to realise The Promise.

Reimagining the way we nurture and stay connected during COVID-19.

Food and other essential items are something that we have always had available for our young people in the Youth Team, Aberdeen but we were aware that when COVID – 19 hit that we would need to be more creative about how we made sure food was available for young people in a safe and structured way.

COVID-19 – An opportunity to connect with time

Elaine Hamilton, Service Manager at Nether Johnstone House describes how lockdown due to the current emergency health crisis has changed the thinking, outlooks, and actions of both the young people and the team that surround them.