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.
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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.
Michelle McCue blogs about the 2015 SIRCC conference and its focus on how residential child care is changing.
Vicki Welch blogs on the good and bad of integrating services.
Attend, encourage and enjoy to learn - a blog by Graham Connelly
Jennifer Davidson blogs about her mission to change the world for the better.
Leaving care too early. Kenny McGhee blogs on the problems facing care leavers in Scotland.
In this blog Liz Brabender discusses how CELCIS tackles drift and delay in permanency.
A blog by Linda O'Neill discussing what children had to say in the recent Rees Centre report
Ainsley Hainey blogs about the success of the Massive Open Online Course on Caring for Vulnerable Children.
Lizzie Morton blogs on how Corporate Parents are taking ownership of their new duties.
Kenny McGhee reflects on the Scottish Care Leavers Covenant, six months after the launch.
Kenny McGhee talks about his research into implementing Staying Put for care leavers.
Linda O'Neill tells the story behind the recent education statistics.
Kenny McGhee responds to the recent STV 'Who Cares' programme by exploring the need for genuine and caring relationships and removing barriers for looked after children and young people.
Why permanence matters for looked after children, and why we must share our passion to improve.
Jennifer Davidson blogs about what 2016 has meant for the children’s sector and what the year ahead will bring.
We are now moving towards a professionalism that is defined by passion and commitment expressed through the transparent and responsible use of relationships.
Norma Brown of Falkirk Council describes their Moneywise project and the difference it's making to the lives of care leavers in the area.
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.
What does relational based practice look like in reality, for a busy statutory team?
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.
Charlie Gracie tells of a new creative writing comp for looked after children
Course moderator Sarah Hume-Anthony gives a snapshot of the interactions on the CELCIS MOOC.
Dr Graham Connelly discusses the use of acronyms when talking about looked after children and children in care.
Active Implementation - what it is, what it is not, and how it could help bring about lasting change to children's services.
How the Student Support Review Group is trying to ensure care experienced students have a fair standard of living.
Introducing issue 12 of REACH, which explores stigma, language, perception and the representation of care and care experience.
Amanda Lawler explains why CELCIS really cares about training and learning.
Stephanie is a Modern Apprentice at CELCIS, and here she talks about landing her first ‘real’ job at only 16.
The importance for children in residential care to develop the ability to navigate friendships with each other.
The difficult issue of self-harm in residential care, exploring the experiences of young people and the support workers need to help.
Gordon Main talks about how commitment in the care system is not enough.
Jillian Ingram ponders how getting a train from A to B might just offer clues to how to meet children’s needs.
Gordon Main continues the conversation on commitment, discussing the emotional investment of foster carers.
Claire Burns introduces the evidence into practice theme of the new issue of our REACH publication.
This blog post explores the findings of a recent briefing from CELCIS about going to university from care.
Joe Rankin of the Nevis Group talks about whether young people should tell future employers that they're care experienced. With video of James Calder.
Dr Chrissie Gale, CELCIS international lead, argues that we need agencies to unite with one voice if we want to uphold children’s rights internationally.
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.
This article was first published by TES on the support teachers can offer unaccompanied and separated children.
Guest Joe Rankin of the Nevis Group discusses the need to stamp out stigma for those with care experience.
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.
Ahead of the Global Implementation Conference, Scotland’s National Clinical Director, Professor Jason Leitch CBE shares some thoughts on his implementation journey, Scotland’s increasing use of change methodologies, and why learning from others makes sense
Joanne McMeeking heads up the Improving Care Experiences team at CELCIS. Here she explains why we need to put physical restraint in residential child care under the spotlight.
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.
First published by Citizens Theatre, 30 January 2020.
How the Care Experienced Bursary is making a difference in the lives of care experienced young people.
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.
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
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.
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.
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, 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.
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.
Claire Burns, Director (Acting), CELCIS – Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection discusses how COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities in society.
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
We strongly support a flexible and evolving approach to foster care, which will ensure that all children get the safety,…
Our response is underpinned by research evidence, practice experience, and extensive insight and intelligence from people with…
In the final post in this series, Marc Blyth, Lead Learning Co-ordinator at Aberlour Children's Charity Sycamore Residential…
In the second in this series of blogs posts Marc Blyth, Lead Learning Co-Ordinator at children’s charity Aberlour Sycamore,…
Marc Blyth, Lead Learning Co-Ordinator at children’s charity Aberlour Sycamore, which provides residential child care across…
Aimed at building an understanding of how Scotland is doing in its progress towards keeping The Promise of the Independent Care…
Whose experiences are we relying on to explain what the reality of adoption feels like for adoptees?
In this blog post, Dr Polly Cowan, a Practice Manager at Scottish Adoption and Fostering, explains how the organisation’s Young…
In this blog post, Dr Christine Jones, an adoptive parent and researcher who worked to ensure the rights of care experienced…
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.
The Scottish Government has announced (3 December) that a national review of responses to group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation is to be undertaken in Scotland in 2026.
This Action Plan sets out the actions, milestones and timeframes for activity to implement Rights Respect and Recovery – Scotland’s Strategy to Improve Health by Preventing and Reducing Alcohol and Drug Use, Harms and Related Deaths. It will be refreshed on an on-going basis as new activity is scoped and new challenges emerge. It currently covers the time period up to 31 March 2021.
This document sets out the partnership arrangements needed to reduce the use
of and harms from alcohol and drugs. It aims to ensure that all bodies involved
are clear about the accountability arrangements and their responsibilities when
working together in the identification, pursuit and achievement of agreed, shared
outcomes.
An explanation of Child Criminal Exploitation, with information on its impact and how to recognise it, prevent it and respond to it.
A report on Child Criminal Exploitation across the UK.
This scoping review seeks to establish a baseline understanding of the nature, scale and extent of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) in Scotland.
This framework aims to consolidate core elements relevant to different stages of a young person’s journey through exploitation offering direction and guidance to practitioners who might work with children at various points in this journey.
Welcome to the autumn 2025 issue of the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care (SJRCC). It is a very full issue, with the usual mix of long-form original research papers, short articles, and historic and current book reviews.
The search is on to find the image that will be used for the CELCIS Christmas Card this year!
Scotland’s national fostering and adoption statistics for 2024-25 have been published (29 October) by the Care Inspectorate, the registered body for these services.
In this blog post for Care Experienced Week, Maryam, who was a CELCIS Consultant with lived experience of care involved in considering the Scottish Government's consultation earlier this year on creating a universal definition of care experience, shares her thoughts on the need to better understand the cultural nuances of people living in Scotland from the Global South.
The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has published (20 October) a new report, ‘The Children’s Plan: Vision for Care’, highlighting the work that the Children’s Commissioner has done so far for children’s social care and a vision for further reform.
Audit Scotland has today (8 October) published an audit of national public spending on work to deliver The Promise of Scotland’s Independent Care Review, and the progress made to date.
We welcome the opportunity to submit our views in response to the Scottish Government consultation on ‘Financial transparency and profit limitation in children's residential care’.
In October 2025, CELCIS hosted an online learning conversation exploring how residential child care in Scotland is evolving, drawing on insights from recent engagement with practitioners and articles from the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care. Speakers from Glasgow City Council, the Care Inspectorate, Aberlour Children’s Charity Sycamore Services, and CELCIS shared examples of nurturing practice, changes in inspection approaches aligned with The Promise, and the development of reflective, skilled staff teams. Together, these contributions highlighted how new models of care, regulatory shifts, and whole-system approaches are strengthening practice and improving experiences for children, young people, and the adults who support them.
Debbie Nolan, Practice Development Advisor at the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ), and Kate Mackinnon, Policy Associate at CELCIS, discuss what changes the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 was designed to bring about.
The Scottish Government has published the national Education Outcomes for Looked After Children for 2023-24 statistics report.
Our response is underpinned by research evidence, practice experience, and extensive insight and intelligence from lived experience and professional practice gathered through our long-standing, cross-organisational and interest-specific networks, as well as our group of consultants with lived experience of care.
The Scottish Government has published (29 July) new information about the number of children and young people being cared for in kinship care in Scotland which for the first time uses information from Scotland’s Census.
The Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill intends to minimise the use of restraint and seclusion of children and young people in schools.
The recently released Children’s Social Work Statistics for Scotland includes data about children in care and data on care leavers. Here, Kirsty Doull, CELCIS’s Care and Transitions Lead, discusses the need to look beyond the data relating to care leavers, to examine if Continuing Care and Aftercare support is working for Scotland’s young people.
Celebrating ten years of Virtual School Head Teachers in Scotland
In June 2025, we hosted a special, extended version of our online meeting, sharing the development of the work of the Virtual School Head Teachers in Scotland, and how they are contributing to supporting the education of care experienced learners. The meeting also followed the launch of the Virtual School Head Teacher Role Profile, a key national resource to support high quality practice.
The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill which aims to improve services and support for children and young people with care experience has been published today (18 June).
The Scottish Government has announced (3 December) that a national review of responses to group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation is to be undertaken in Scotland in 2026.
This Action Plan sets out the actions, milestones and timeframes for activity to implement Rights Respect and Recovery – Scotland’s Strategy to Improve Health by Preventing and Reducing Alcohol and Drug Use, Harms and Related Deaths. It will be refreshed on an on-going basis as new activity is scoped and new challenges emerge. It currently covers the time period up to 31 March 2021.
This document sets out the partnership arrangements needed to reduce the use
of and harms from alcohol and drugs. It aims to ensure that all bodies involved
are clear about the accountability arrangements and their responsibilities when
working together in the identification, pursuit and achievement of agreed, shared
outcomes.
An explanation of Child Criminal Exploitation, with information on its impact and how to recognise it, prevent it and respond to it.
A report on Child Criminal Exploitation across the UK.
This scoping review seeks to establish a baseline understanding of the nature, scale and extent of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) in Scotland.
This framework aims to consolidate core elements relevant to different stages of a young person’s journey through exploitation offering direction and guidance to practitioners who might work with children at various points in this journey.
Welcome to the autumn 2025 issue of the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care (SJRCC). It is a very full issue, with the usual mix of long-form original research papers, short articles, and historic and current book reviews.
The search is on to find the image that will be used for the CELCIS Christmas Card this year!
Scotland’s national fostering and adoption statistics for 2024-25 have been published (29 October) by the Care Inspectorate, the registered body for these services.
In this blog post for Care Experienced Week, Maryam, who was a CELCIS Consultant with lived experience of care involved in considering the Scottish Government's consultation earlier this year on creating a universal definition of care experience, shares her thoughts on the need to better understand the cultural nuances of people living in Scotland from the Global South.
The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has published (20 October) a new report, ‘The Children’s Plan: Vision for Care’, highlighting the work that the Children’s Commissioner has done so far for children’s social care and a vision for further reform.
Audit Scotland has today (8 October) published an audit of national public spending on work to deliver The Promise of Scotland’s Independent Care Review, and the progress made to date.
We welcome the opportunity to submit our views in response to the Scottish Government consultation on ‘Financial transparency and profit limitation in children's residential care’.
In October 2025, CELCIS hosted an online learning conversation exploring how residential child care in Scotland is evolving, drawing on insights from recent engagement with practitioners and articles from the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care. Speakers from Glasgow City Council, the Care Inspectorate, Aberlour Children’s Charity Sycamore Services, and CELCIS shared examples of nurturing practice, changes in inspection approaches aligned with The Promise, and the development of reflective, skilled staff teams. Together, these contributions highlighted how new models of care, regulatory shifts, and whole-system approaches are strengthening practice and improving experiences for children, young people, and the adults who support them.
Debbie Nolan, Practice Development Advisor at the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ), and Kate Mackinnon, Policy Associate at CELCIS, discuss what changes the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 was designed to bring about.
The Scottish Government has published the national Education Outcomes for Looked After Children for 2023-24 statistics report.
Our response is underpinned by research evidence, practice experience, and extensive insight and intelligence from lived experience and professional practice gathered through our long-standing, cross-organisational and interest-specific networks, as well as our group of consultants with lived experience of care.
The Scottish Government has published (29 July) new information about the number of children and young people being cared for in kinship care in Scotland which for the first time uses information from Scotland’s Census.
The Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill intends to minimise the use of restraint and seclusion of children and young people in schools.
The recently released Children’s Social Work Statistics for Scotland includes data about children in care and data on care leavers. Here, Kirsty Doull, CELCIS’s Care and Transitions Lead, discusses the need to look beyond the data relating to care leavers, to examine if Continuing Care and Aftercare support is working for Scotland’s young people.
Celebrating ten years of Virtual School Head Teachers in Scotland
In June 2025, we hosted a special, extended version of our online meeting, sharing the development of the work of the Virtual School Head Teachers in Scotland, and how they are contributing to supporting the education of care experienced learners. The meeting also followed the launch of the Virtual School Head Teacher Role Profile, a key national resource to support high quality practice.
The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill which aims to improve services and support for children and young people with care experience has been published today (18 June).
The Scottish Government has announced (3 December) that a national review of responses to group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation is to be undertaken in Scotland in 2026.
This Action Plan sets out the actions, milestones and timeframes for activity to implement Rights Respect and Recovery – Scotland’s Strategy to Improve Health by Preventing and Reducing Alcohol and Drug Use, Harms and Related Deaths. It will be refreshed on an on-going basis as new activity is scoped and new challenges emerge. It currently covers the time period up to 31 March 2021.
This document sets out the partnership arrangements needed to reduce the use
of and harms from alcohol and drugs. It aims to ensure that all bodies involved
are clear about the accountability arrangements and their responsibilities when
working together in the identification, pursuit and achievement of agreed, shared
outcomes.
An explanation of Child Criminal Exploitation, with information on its impact and how to recognise it, prevent it and respond to it.
A report on Child Criminal Exploitation across the UK.
This scoping review seeks to establish a baseline understanding of the nature, scale and extent of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) in Scotland.
This framework aims to consolidate core elements relevant to different stages of a young person’s journey through exploitation offering direction and guidance to practitioners who might work with children at various points in this journey.
Welcome to the autumn 2025 issue of the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care (SJRCC). It is a very full issue, with the usual mix of long-form original research papers, short articles, and historic and current book reviews.
The search is on to find the image that will be used for the CELCIS Christmas Card this year!
Scotland’s national fostering and adoption statistics for 2024-25 have been published (29 October) by the Care Inspectorate, the registered body for these services.
In this blog post for Care Experienced Week, Maryam, who was a CELCIS Consultant with lived experience of care involved in considering the Scottish Government's consultation earlier this year on creating a universal definition of care experience, shares her thoughts on the need to better understand the cultural nuances of people living in Scotland from the Global South.
The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has published (20 October) a new report, ‘The Children’s Plan: Vision for Care’, highlighting the work that the Children’s Commissioner has done so far for children’s social care and a vision for further reform.
Audit Scotland has today (8 October) published an audit of national public spending on work to deliver The Promise of Scotland’s Independent Care Review, and the progress made to date.
We welcome the opportunity to submit our views in response to the Scottish Government consultation on ‘Financial transparency and profit limitation in children's residential care’.
In October 2025, CELCIS hosted an online learning conversation exploring how residential child care in Scotland is evolving, drawing on insights from recent engagement with practitioners and articles from the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care. Speakers from Glasgow City Council, the Care Inspectorate, Aberlour Children’s Charity Sycamore Services, and CELCIS shared examples of nurturing practice, changes in inspection approaches aligned with The Promise, and the development of reflective, skilled staff teams. Together, these contributions highlighted how new models of care, regulatory shifts, and whole-system approaches are strengthening practice and improving experiences for children, young people, and the adults who support them.
Debbie Nolan, Practice Development Advisor at the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ), and Kate Mackinnon, Policy Associate at CELCIS, discuss what changes the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 was designed to bring about.
The Scottish Government has published the national Education Outcomes for Looked After Children for 2023-24 statistics report.
Our response is underpinned by research evidence, practice experience, and extensive insight and intelligence from lived experience and professional practice gathered through our long-standing, cross-organisational and interest-specific networks, as well as our group of consultants with lived experience of care.
The Scottish Government has published (29 July) new information about the number of children and young people being cared for in kinship care in Scotland which for the first time uses information from Scotland’s Census.
The Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill intends to minimise the use of restraint and seclusion of children and young people in schools.
The recently released Children’s Social Work Statistics for Scotland includes data about children in care and data on care leavers. Here, Kirsty Doull, CELCIS’s Care and Transitions Lead, discusses the need to look beyond the data relating to care leavers, to examine if Continuing Care and Aftercare support is working for Scotland’s young people.
Celebrating ten years of Virtual School Head Teachers in Scotland
In June 2025, we hosted a special, extended version of our online meeting, sharing the development of the work of the Virtual School Head Teachers in Scotland, and how they are contributing to supporting the education of care experienced learners. The meeting also followed the launch of the Virtual School Head Teacher Role Profile, a key national resource to support high quality practice.
The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill which aims to improve services and support for children and young people with care experience has been published today (18 June).
The Scottish Government has announced (3 December) that a national review of responses to group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation is to be undertaken in Scotland in 2026.
This Action Plan sets out the actions, milestones and timeframes for activity to implement Rights Respect and Recovery – Scotland’s Strategy to Improve Health by Preventing and Reducing Alcohol and Drug Use, Harms and Related Deaths. It will be refreshed on an on-going basis as new activity is scoped and new challenges emerge. It currently covers the time period up to 31 March 2021.
This document sets out the partnership arrangements needed to reduce the use
of and harms from alcohol and drugs. It aims to ensure that all bodies involved
are clear about the accountability arrangements and their responsibilities when
working together in the identification, pursuit and achievement of agreed, shared
outcomes.
An explanation of Child Criminal Exploitation, with information on its impact and how to recognise it, prevent it and respond to it.
A report on Child Criminal Exploitation across the UK.
This scoping review seeks to establish a baseline understanding of the nature, scale and extent of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) in Scotland.
This framework aims to consolidate core elements relevant to different stages of a young person’s journey through exploitation offering direction and guidance to practitioners who might work with children at various points in this journey.
Welcome to the autumn 2025 issue of the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care (SJRCC). It is a very full issue, with the usual mix of long-form original research papers, short articles, and historic and current book reviews.
The search is on to find the image that will be used for the CELCIS Christmas Card this year!
Scotland’s national fostering and adoption statistics for 2024-25 have been published (29 October) by the Care Inspectorate, the registered body for these services.
In this blog post for Care Experienced Week, Maryam, who was a CELCIS Consultant with lived experience of care involved in considering the Scottish Government's consultation earlier this year on creating a universal definition of care experience, shares her thoughts on the need to better understand the cultural nuances of people living in Scotland from the Global South.
The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, has published (20 October) a new report, ‘The Children’s Plan: Vision for Care’, highlighting the work that the Children’s Commissioner has done so far for children’s social care and a vision for further reform.
Audit Scotland has today (8 October) published an audit of national public spending on work to deliver The Promise of Scotland’s Independent Care Review, and the progress made to date.
We welcome the opportunity to submit our views in response to the Scottish Government consultation on ‘Financial transparency and profit limitation in children's residential care’.
In October 2025, CELCIS hosted an online learning conversation exploring how residential child care in Scotland is evolving, drawing on insights from recent engagement with practitioners and articles from the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care. Speakers from Glasgow City Council, the Care Inspectorate, Aberlour Children’s Charity Sycamore Services, and CELCIS shared examples of nurturing practice, changes in inspection approaches aligned with The Promise, and the development of reflective, skilled staff teams. Together, these contributions highlighted how new models of care, regulatory shifts, and whole-system approaches are strengthening practice and improving experiences for children, young people, and the adults who support them.
Debbie Nolan, Practice Development Advisor at the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ), and Kate Mackinnon, Policy Associate at CELCIS, discuss what changes the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 was designed to bring about.
The Scottish Government has published the national Education Outcomes for Looked After Children for 2023-24 statistics report.
Our response is underpinned by research evidence, practice experience, and extensive insight and intelligence from lived experience and professional practice gathered through our long-standing, cross-organisational and interest-specific networks, as well as our group of consultants with lived experience of care.
The Scottish Government has published (29 July) new information about the number of children and young people being cared for in kinship care in Scotland which for the first time uses information from Scotland’s Census.
The Restraint and Seclusion in Schools (Scotland) Bill intends to minimise the use of restraint and seclusion of children and young people in schools.
The recently released Children’s Social Work Statistics for Scotland includes data about children in care and data on care leavers. Here, Kirsty Doull, CELCIS’s Care and Transitions Lead, discusses the need to look beyond the data relating to care leavers, to examine if Continuing Care and Aftercare support is working for Scotland’s young people.
Celebrating ten years of Virtual School Head Teachers in Scotland
In June 2025, we hosted a special, extended version of our online meeting, sharing the development of the work of the Virtual School Head Teachers in Scotland, and how they are contributing to supporting the education of care experienced learners. The meeting also followed the launch of the Virtual School Head Teacher Role Profile, a key national resource to support high quality practice.
The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill which aims to improve services and support for children and young people with care experience has been published today (18 June).