CELCIS Blog
Our blog is a hub for perspectives and analysis of issues that matter to the lives of children, young people and their families. You will hear from our staff and guest bloggers on many topical issues where they will be reflecting and sharing their policy, practice and research insights..
Got a burning issue you would like to blog about? Then we would love to hear from you. Contact our communications team.
Read on and join in the chat...
The views expressed in the posts on this blog are those of the author/s and may not represent the views or opinions of CELCIS or our funders.
Welcome to the Protecting Children area of the CELCIS website.
A blog by Linda O'Neill discussing what children had to say in the recent Rees Centre report
We need access to data at both population and individual levels if we're to be successful in improving the attainment of looked after children.
We were delighted to welcome Bill Kahn as our Keynote Speaker this year. Bill Kahn, Ph.D, is an organisational psychologist and Department Chair and Professor of Management and Organizations at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. He teaches, publishes, and consults on the emotional complexities of organisational life and the implications for productive work, often focusing on caregiving organisations. He is particularly interested in how issues such as burnout and engagement are shaped at multiple levels of analysis -individual, interpersonal, within and between groups, and organisational.
In this session we explored the key findings from CELCIS's mapping of the support available in Scotland during pregnancy and a baby's first few months, and the key recommendations from Nesta's Getting it right for every baby research. Bringing together practitioners, managers, local authority children’s planning partnerships, children's services workforce, and strategic leaders from across Scotland, the session considered the national and local changes needed to ensure families receive consistent, timely, joined-up support from pregnancy through the early years.
First published by Citizens Theatre, 30 January 2020.
Olivia Khan is a Rural Business graduate who worked at the Champions Board in South Ayrshire before moving to Berlin. Olivia stays connected to her care roots with a freelance role and in 2021 launched a creative project with a group of five young people. She makes the case for new tech friendly and tech literate care world.
In this blog Liz Brabender discusses how CELCIS tackles drift and delay in permanency.
Dr Chrissie Gale, international lead for CELCIS, reflects on research which could help shape the drive for better alternative care for children in countries around the world.
This page has been developed to provide staff working with children and young people with information about how to identify, understand and respond appropriately to sexual behaviours in young people.
Amanda Lawler explains why CELCIS really cares about training and learning.
How the Care Experienced Bursary is making a difference in the lives of care experienced young people.
On World Book Day UK, Kirsty Capes, author of the upcoming novel, ‘Careless’, and marketer at HarperCollins, discusses how her childhood experience in care led to a career in writing.
Leaving care too early. Kenny McGhee blogs on the problems facing care leavers in Scotland.
Course moderator Sarah Hume-Anthony gives a snapshot of the interactions on the CELCIS MOOC.
Advice if you are worried about a child or young person.
Elaine Adams, Learning and Development Lead at Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership, writes about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Children’s Hearings in Scotland and what this might mean for hearings in the future
Claire Burns, Director (Acting), CELCIS – Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, marks the first anniversary of The Promise.
Jennifer Davidson blogs about her mission to change the world for the better.
Dr Graham Connelly discusses the use of acronyms when talking about looked after children and children in care.
In January 2026, the Scottish Government announced[SF1.1] an independent review of the Scottish legislative framework for children’s care.
The review will run from February 2026 to February 2027 and is taking place an at important moment.
The importance for children in residential care to develop the ability to navigate friendships with each other.
To mark World Social Work Day, Janine Fraser, a Social Work Team Leader for Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership in North East Glasgow, reflects on her profession and the challenges it faces.
Bairnshoose Policy and Practice Lead Anna O'Reilly reflects on how far we've come towards securing a Scottish Bairnshoose, and what must still be done to give children the rights they deserve.
Claire Burns, Director (Acting), CELCIS – Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection discusses how COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities in society.
Introducing issue 12 of REACH, which explores stigma, language, perception and the representation of care and care experience.
Attend, encourage and enjoy to learn - a blog by Graham Connelly
Active Implementation - what it is, what it is not, and how it could help bring about lasting change to children's services.
Stigma, language, perception, and representation: "Being 'in Care' is an experience not a definition"
Laura Steckley explains how people are coming together to consider how to apply what we know about both experience and theory to address the practice of restraint in residential care.
Alongside characters and values, what other factors make a great manager? What parts do professional identity, learning and development, and experience play?
Stephanie is a Modern Apprentice at CELCIS, and here she talks about landing her first ‘real’ job at only 16.
This article was first published by TES on the support teachers can offer unaccompanied and separated children.
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.
Gordon Main talks about how commitment in the care system is not enough.
Lizzie Morton blogs on how Corporate Parents are taking ownership of their new duties.
How the Student Support Review Group is trying to ensure care experienced students have a fair standard of living.
This page offers a brief explanation of the resources and information that is available on the CELCIS website, and how to find them.
We are now moving towards a professionalism that is defined by passion and commitment expressed through the transparent and responsible use of relationships.
The difficult issue of self-harm in residential care, exploring the experiences of young people and the support workers need to help.
Guest Joe Rankin of the Nevis Group discusses the need to stamp out stigma for those with care experience.
Jacqui Dunbar is the Project Lead at Our Hearings, Our Voice, an independent board for children and young people who have experience of the Children’s Hearings System in Scotland and want to help improve it. She works directly with 11 children and young people, 9 who are members of the board and 2 who are advisors for Our Hearings, Our Voice.
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.
Gordon Main continues the conversation on commitment, discussing the emotional investment of foster carers.
Kenny McGhee reflects on the Scottish Care Leavers Covenant, six months after the launch.
Norma Brown of Falkirk Council describes their Moneywise project and the difference it's making to the lives of care leavers in the area.
Jillian Ingram ponders how getting a train from A to B might just offer clues to how to meet children’s needs.
Iain MacRitchie is the founder of MCR Pathways, a school-based mentoring programme which supports young people in or on the edges of the care system to realise their full potential through education.
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.
Claire Burns introduces the evidence into practice theme of the new issue of our REACH publication.
Kenny McGhee talks about his research into implementing Staying Put for care leavers.
Jo Cochrane is the Children’s Services Development and Assurance Team Manager at Dumfries and Galloway Council, since retired. Since 2018, CELCIS has been working alongside local public sector partnerships in Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk, and East and Midlothian, to develop a Minimum Dataset for use across all 30 of Scotland’s Child Protection Committees.
Find out about CELCIS. Who we are and what we do to improve the lives of looked after children in Scotland.
Blog
Year: 2015
Topic: Foster care, Looked after at home, Residential care
Author: staff and guest bloggers
Topic: Foster care, Looked after at home, Residential care
Author: staff and guest bloggers
The Drawing Together project explored how 53 young refugees experience integration through rebuilding their everyday lives in…
By recognising abuse as a pattern of behaviour, the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 closer matches victims’ accounts of…
This bulletin presents statistics on domestic abuse, based on details of incidents and crimes recorded by Police Scotland in…
Evidence Based Guidance For Professionals Working With Children And Young People.
The Virtual School Head Teachers' Network, which CELCIS has facilitated since 2019, has published the findings of a survey of…
In this blog post, Dr Alex McTier, Evidence and Evaluation Specialist at CELCIS, takes a closer look at Scotland’s Child…
At this meeting of the Education Forum we learned about a partnership project called the Keeping The Promise Award Programme,…
For our September Forum meeting, we were delighted to welcome Kyle Fleming, Head of Education, and Eileen McColl, Education…
Book reviews
Who Cares? Scotland consulted with 87 young people to establish their experiences of living in care, their hopes for life after care and the types of support they would need to achieve this.
The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 has the ability to change the disproportionately poor outcomes of this often forgotten group of young people. It provides new rights and opportunities, ensuring the voices of care experienced children and young people are heard in any discussions or planning which affects their lives.
The views presented here are intended to help corporate parents and others involved in the implementation of the Act to get it right for every care experienced child and young person across Scotland.
to come
In this session we explored the key findings from CELCIS's mapping of the support available in Scotland during pregnancy and a baby's first few months, and the key recommendations from Nesta's Getting it right for every baby research. Bringing together practitioners, managers, local authority children’s planning partnerships, children's services workforce, and strategic leaders from across Scotland, the session considered the national and local changes needed to ensure families receive consistent, timely, joined-up support from pregnancy through the early years.
Our second learning conversation focuses on workforce wellbeing and trauma-informed approaches in residential child care in Scotland and takes place online on Wednesday 28 October.
This research report from CELCIS aims to provide the most comprehensive picture to date of the support available to families in Scotland from pregnancy to age three.
Findings of new research published today (8 October) by CELCIS, the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, for the Scottish Government, highlight the need for more consistency, coordination and better access to the range of support and services parents need during pregnancy and early infancy, and identify opportunities to improve planning and service delivery in Scotland during this critical period for children and their families.
New findings from the Challenging Justice Inequalities with Children in Conflict with the Law project have revealed the experiences of children under 18 in Scotland who encounter justice systems as a result of offending behaviour.
As a new installation on the care system in Scotland tours the nation, Nicola McCartney, lead artist on the National Theatre of Scotland’s Caring Scotland project, reflects on the importance of listening to and learning from people with care experience if The Promise of Scotland's Independent Care Review is to become a reality.
CELCIS has responded to the Education and Gaelic Committee's call for evidence on reforming the care system for looked after children in Scotland, which is part of the Committee’s for pre-budget scrutiny for 2027-2028.
What might the use of AI might mean in systems that are specifically required to respond to the needs and rights of children, young people and their families?
Children, young people and families who may need the support of children's social care navigate many legal, judicial and quasi-judicial systems that are in place to respond to these needs. Organisations working with these systems are currently considering what advances in artificial intelligence could mean for how things are done and whether AI could help improve support, services and proceedings for everyone involved in these.
In this webinar we explored AI with SCRA and Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, the challenges and risks involved, and what governance might be required in order for artificial intelligence to be used safely in the context of hearings and family law.
CELCIS has responded to the Scottish Parliament’s Public Service Reform Committee’s call for views on public service reform, which is part of the Committee’s pre-budget scrutiny for 2027-28.
The Scottish Government has published (28 July) statistics on the number of children in residential child care in Scotland, based on data from Scotland’s national Census in 2022.
The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) has published official statistics setting out the numbers of children involved in the Children’s Hearing System in Scotland between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
The Scottish Government has published (23 June) the latest annual official statistics on achievement, exclusions, and attainment for ‘looked after’ children in Scotland, and leaver destinations of school leavers who had been ‘looked after’.
A coalition of children’s charities and anti-poverty organisations, including CELCIS, have called for the creation of a Parliamentary Cross-Committee dedicated to tackling child poverty in Scotland, in a letter sent to conveners of three Committees of the Scottish Parliament.
CELCIS has written to the UK Government’s Secretary of State for the Home Department, The Rt. Hon. Shabana Mahmood MP to express concerns about proposals set out in the ‘Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns’ consultation to change the provision of support for adult ‘care leavers’.
AI is now integrated into the digital technologies most of us use every day. How AI tools are used and what this technology is asked to do is rightly under scrutiny. And no more so than in the context of child protection. What does the use of AI now mean for keeping children safe from harm and preventing sexual abuse?
To provide an insight on this for people with a professional and personal interest in the care and protection of children, on 27 May, we brought together an opportunity for expertise and new information to be shared.
As a member of the Scottish Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) Steering Group, CELCIS is committed to supporting FGDM coordinators, managers and practitioners in Scotland as more local authorities adopt this approach in their work with children, young people and adults.
Scotland’s Child Protection Statistics, the official figures collected by all 32 local authorities in Scotland, show how many children are involved in Scotland’s child protection processes. In this blog post, Dr Alex McTier, Evidence and Evaluation Specialist at CELCIS who led the development of the Minimum Dataset for Child Protection Committees, examines what the latest statistics show, advising caution in seeing an apparently static picture and encouraging us to continue improving the data collected about children’s lives.
Child Criminal Exploitation affects some of our most vulnerable children. As awareness grows, so too does recognition that traditional responses have too often punished children instead of protecting them. In this blog post, Lesley Gordon, Director of Criminal Exploitation UK at Action for Children, reflects on what needs to change, why it matters, and how emerging approaches are helping systems respond more effectively.
In this blog post for Foster Care Fortnight, Ang talks about fostering children with her husband Steve for the past 15 years, and describes what’s she’s learned along the way and her passion for helping children to thrive.
to come
In this session we explored the key findings from CELCIS's mapping of the support available in Scotland during pregnancy and a baby's first few months, and the key recommendations from Nesta's Getting it right for every baby research. Bringing together practitioners, managers, local authority children’s planning partnerships, children's services workforce, and strategic leaders from across Scotland, the session considered the national and local changes needed to ensure families receive consistent, timely, joined-up support from pregnancy through the early years.
Our second learning conversation focuses on workforce wellbeing and trauma-informed approaches in residential child care in Scotland and takes place online on Wednesday 28 October.
This research report from CELCIS aims to provide the most comprehensive picture to date of the support available to families in Scotland from pregnancy to age three.
Findings of new research published today (8 October) by CELCIS, the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, for the Scottish Government, highlight the need for more consistency, coordination and better access to the range of support and services parents need during pregnancy and early infancy, and identify opportunities to improve planning and service delivery in Scotland during this critical period for children and their families.
New findings from the Challenging Justice Inequalities with Children in Conflict with the Law project have revealed the experiences of children under 18 in Scotland who encounter justice systems as a result of offending behaviour.
As a new installation on the care system in Scotland tours the nation, Nicola McCartney, lead artist on the National Theatre of Scotland’s Caring Scotland project, reflects on the importance of listening to and learning from people with care experience if The Promise of Scotland's Independent Care Review is to become a reality.
CELCIS has responded to the Education and Gaelic Committee's call for evidence on reforming the care system for looked after children in Scotland, which is part of the Committee’s for pre-budget scrutiny for 2027-2028.
What might the use of AI might mean in systems that are specifically required to respond to the needs and rights of children, young people and their families?
Children, young people and families who may need the support of children's social care navigate many legal, judicial and quasi-judicial systems that are in place to respond to these needs. Organisations working with these systems are currently considering what advances in artificial intelligence could mean for how things are done and whether AI could help improve support, services and proceedings for everyone involved in these.
In this webinar we explored AI with SCRA and Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, the challenges and risks involved, and what governance might be required in order for artificial intelligence to be used safely in the context of hearings and family law.
CELCIS has responded to the Scottish Parliament’s Public Service Reform Committee’s call for views on public service reform, which is part of the Committee’s pre-budget scrutiny for 2027-28.
The Scottish Government has published (28 July) statistics on the number of children in residential child care in Scotland, based on data from Scotland’s national Census in 2022.
The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) has published official statistics setting out the numbers of children involved in the Children’s Hearing System in Scotland between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
The Scottish Government has published (23 June) the latest annual official statistics on achievement, exclusions, and attainment for ‘looked after’ children in Scotland, and leaver destinations of school leavers who had been ‘looked after’.
A coalition of children’s charities and anti-poverty organisations, including CELCIS, have called for the creation of a Parliamentary Cross-Committee dedicated to tackling child poverty in Scotland, in a letter sent to conveners of three Committees of the Scottish Parliament.
CELCIS has written to the UK Government’s Secretary of State for the Home Department, The Rt. Hon. Shabana Mahmood MP to express concerns about proposals set out in the ‘Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns’ consultation to change the provision of support for adult ‘care leavers’.
AI is now integrated into the digital technologies most of us use every day. How AI tools are used and what this technology is asked to do is rightly under scrutiny. And no more so than in the context of child protection. What does the use of AI now mean for keeping children safe from harm and preventing sexual abuse?
To provide an insight on this for people with a professional and personal interest in the care and protection of children, on 27 May, we brought together an opportunity for expertise and new information to be shared.
As a member of the Scottish Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) Steering Group, CELCIS is committed to supporting FGDM coordinators, managers and practitioners in Scotland as more local authorities adopt this approach in their work with children, young people and adults.
Scotland’s Child Protection Statistics, the official figures collected by all 32 local authorities in Scotland, show how many children are involved in Scotland’s child protection processes. In this blog post, Dr Alex McTier, Evidence and Evaluation Specialist at CELCIS who led the development of the Minimum Dataset for Child Protection Committees, examines what the latest statistics show, advising caution in seeing an apparently static picture and encouraging us to continue improving the data collected about children’s lives.
Child Criminal Exploitation affects some of our most vulnerable children. As awareness grows, so too does recognition that traditional responses have too often punished children instead of protecting them. In this blog post, Lesley Gordon, Director of Criminal Exploitation UK at Action for Children, reflects on what needs to change, why it matters, and how emerging approaches are helping systems respond more effectively.
In this blog post for Foster Care Fortnight, Ang talks about fostering children with her husband Steve for the past 15 years, and describes what’s she’s learned along the way and her passion for helping children to thrive.
to come
In this session we explored the key findings from CELCIS's mapping of the support available in Scotland during pregnancy and a baby's first few months, and the key recommendations from Nesta's Getting it right for every baby research. Bringing together practitioners, managers, local authority children’s planning partnerships, children's services workforce, and strategic leaders from across Scotland, the session considered the national and local changes needed to ensure families receive consistent, timely, joined-up support from pregnancy through the early years.
Our second learning conversation focuses on workforce wellbeing and trauma-informed approaches in residential child care in Scotland and takes place online on Wednesday 28 October.
This research report from CELCIS aims to provide the most comprehensive picture to date of the support available to families in Scotland from pregnancy to age three.
Findings of new research published today (8 October) by CELCIS, the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, for the Scottish Government, highlight the need for more consistency, coordination and better access to the range of support and services parents need during pregnancy and early infancy, and identify opportunities to improve planning and service delivery in Scotland during this critical period for children and their families.
New findings from the Challenging Justice Inequalities with Children in Conflict with the Law project have revealed the experiences of children under 18 in Scotland who encounter justice systems as a result of offending behaviour.
As a new installation on the care system in Scotland tours the nation, Nicola McCartney, lead artist on the National Theatre of Scotland’s Caring Scotland project, reflects on the importance of listening to and learning from people with care experience if The Promise of Scotland's Independent Care Review is to become a reality.
CELCIS has responded to the Education and Gaelic Committee's call for evidence on reforming the care system for looked after children in Scotland, which is part of the Committee’s for pre-budget scrutiny for 2027-2028.
What might the use of AI might mean in systems that are specifically required to respond to the needs and rights of children, young people and their families?
Children, young people and families who may need the support of children's social care navigate many legal, judicial and quasi-judicial systems that are in place to respond to these needs. Organisations working with these systems are currently considering what advances in artificial intelligence could mean for how things are done and whether AI could help improve support, services and proceedings for everyone involved in these.
In this webinar we explored AI with SCRA and Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, the challenges and risks involved, and what governance might be required in order for artificial intelligence to be used safely in the context of hearings and family law.
CELCIS has responded to the Scottish Parliament’s Public Service Reform Committee’s call for views on public service reform, which is part of the Committee’s pre-budget scrutiny for 2027-28.
The Scottish Government has published (28 July) statistics on the number of children in residential child care in Scotland, based on data from Scotland’s national Census in 2022.
The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) has published official statistics setting out the numbers of children involved in the Children’s Hearing System in Scotland between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
The Scottish Government has published (23 June) the latest annual official statistics on achievement, exclusions, and attainment for ‘looked after’ children in Scotland, and leaver destinations of school leavers who had been ‘looked after’.
A coalition of children’s charities and anti-poverty organisations, including CELCIS, have called for the creation of a Parliamentary Cross-Committee dedicated to tackling child poverty in Scotland, in a letter sent to conveners of three Committees of the Scottish Parliament.
CELCIS has written to the UK Government’s Secretary of State for the Home Department, The Rt. Hon. Shabana Mahmood MP to express concerns about proposals set out in the ‘Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns’ consultation to change the provision of support for adult ‘care leavers’.
AI is now integrated into the digital technologies most of us use every day. How AI tools are used and what this technology is asked to do is rightly under scrutiny. And no more so than in the context of child protection. What does the use of AI now mean for keeping children safe from harm and preventing sexual abuse?
To provide an insight on this for people with a professional and personal interest in the care and protection of children, on 27 May, we brought together an opportunity for expertise and new information to be shared.
As a member of the Scottish Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) Steering Group, CELCIS is committed to supporting FGDM coordinators, managers and practitioners in Scotland as more local authorities adopt this approach in their work with children, young people and adults.
Scotland’s Child Protection Statistics, the official figures collected by all 32 local authorities in Scotland, show how many children are involved in Scotland’s child protection processes. In this blog post, Dr Alex McTier, Evidence and Evaluation Specialist at CELCIS who led the development of the Minimum Dataset for Child Protection Committees, examines what the latest statistics show, advising caution in seeing an apparently static picture and encouraging us to continue improving the data collected about children’s lives.
Child Criminal Exploitation affects some of our most vulnerable children. As awareness grows, so too does recognition that traditional responses have too often punished children instead of protecting them. In this blog post, Lesley Gordon, Director of Criminal Exploitation UK at Action for Children, reflects on what needs to change, why it matters, and how emerging approaches are helping systems respond more effectively.
In this blog post for Foster Care Fortnight, Ang talks about fostering children with her husband Steve for the past 15 years, and describes what’s she’s learned along the way and her passion for helping children to thrive.
to come
In this session we explored the key findings from CELCIS's mapping of the support available in Scotland during pregnancy and a baby's first few months, and the key recommendations from Nesta's Getting it right for every baby research. Bringing together practitioners, managers, local authority children’s planning partnerships, children's services workforce, and strategic leaders from across Scotland, the session considered the national and local changes needed to ensure families receive consistent, timely, joined-up support from pregnancy through the early years.
Our second learning conversation focuses on workforce wellbeing and trauma-informed approaches in residential child care in Scotland and takes place online on Wednesday 28 October.
This research report from CELCIS aims to provide the most comprehensive picture to date of the support available to families in Scotland from pregnancy to age three.
Findings of new research published today (8 October) by CELCIS, the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, for the Scottish Government, highlight the need for more consistency, coordination and better access to the range of support and services parents need during pregnancy and early infancy, and identify opportunities to improve planning and service delivery in Scotland during this critical period for children and their families.
New findings from the Challenging Justice Inequalities with Children in Conflict with the Law project have revealed the experiences of children under 18 in Scotland who encounter justice systems as a result of offending behaviour.
As a new installation on the care system in Scotland tours the nation, Nicola McCartney, lead artist on the National Theatre of Scotland’s Caring Scotland project, reflects on the importance of listening to and learning from people with care experience if The Promise of Scotland's Independent Care Review is to become a reality.
CELCIS has responded to the Education and Gaelic Committee's call for evidence on reforming the care system for looked after children in Scotland, which is part of the Committee’s for pre-budget scrutiny for 2027-2028.
What might the use of AI might mean in systems that are specifically required to respond to the needs and rights of children, young people and their families?
Children, young people and families who may need the support of children's social care navigate many legal, judicial and quasi-judicial systems that are in place to respond to these needs. Organisations working with these systems are currently considering what advances in artificial intelligence could mean for how things are done and whether AI could help improve support, services and proceedings for everyone involved in these.
In this webinar we explored AI with SCRA and Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, the challenges and risks involved, and what governance might be required in order for artificial intelligence to be used safely in the context of hearings and family law.
CELCIS has responded to the Scottish Parliament’s Public Service Reform Committee’s call for views on public service reform, which is part of the Committee’s pre-budget scrutiny for 2027-28.
The Scottish Government has published (28 July) statistics on the number of children in residential child care in Scotland, based on data from Scotland’s national Census in 2022.
The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) has published official statistics setting out the numbers of children involved in the Children’s Hearing System in Scotland between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.
The Scottish Government has published (23 June) the latest annual official statistics on achievement, exclusions, and attainment for ‘looked after’ children in Scotland, and leaver destinations of school leavers who had been ‘looked after’.
A coalition of children’s charities and anti-poverty organisations, including CELCIS, have called for the creation of a Parliamentary Cross-Committee dedicated to tackling child poverty in Scotland, in a letter sent to conveners of three Committees of the Scottish Parliament.
CELCIS has written to the UK Government’s Secretary of State for the Home Department, The Rt. Hon. Shabana Mahmood MP to express concerns about proposals set out in the ‘Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns’ consultation to change the provision of support for adult ‘care leavers’.
AI is now integrated into the digital technologies most of us use every day. How AI tools are used and what this technology is asked to do is rightly under scrutiny. And no more so than in the context of child protection. What does the use of AI now mean for keeping children safe from harm and preventing sexual abuse?
To provide an insight on this for people with a professional and personal interest in the care and protection of children, on 27 May, we brought together an opportunity for expertise and new information to be shared.
As a member of the Scottish Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) Steering Group, CELCIS is committed to supporting FGDM coordinators, managers and practitioners in Scotland as more local authorities adopt this approach in their work with children, young people and adults.
Scotland’s Child Protection Statistics, the official figures collected by all 32 local authorities in Scotland, show how many children are involved in Scotland’s child protection processes. In this blog post, Dr Alex McTier, Evidence and Evaluation Specialist at CELCIS who led the development of the Minimum Dataset for Child Protection Committees, examines what the latest statistics show, advising caution in seeing an apparently static picture and encouraging us to continue improving the data collected about children’s lives.
Child Criminal Exploitation affects some of our most vulnerable children. As awareness grows, so too does recognition that traditional responses have too often punished children instead of protecting them. In this blog post, Lesley Gordon, Director of Criminal Exploitation UK at Action for Children, reflects on what needs to change, why it matters, and how emerging approaches are helping systems respond more effectively.
In this blog post for Foster Care Fortnight, Ang talks about fostering children with her husband Steve for the past 15 years, and describes what’s she’s learned along the way and her passion for helping children to thrive.