Newly published research shows what matters to children in care and care leavers’ wellbeing in Scotland, and how best to support them. Alexandra Bergin, Service Manager, Children & Families and Justice Social Work, at Stirling Council reflects on the experiences of taking part for everyone involved there.

No doubt like all the local authorities involved in the Brights Spots surveys, Stirling staff were excited to take part and put a huge amount of time and effort into coordinating information sessions, identifying Trusted Adults, disseminating surveys, and supporting children and young people to participate in the safest way possible. Perhaps like some other local authorities, we were hoping to be recognised for all this hard work with a pat on the back and some assurance that we should keep up the good work! Instead, when we received the findings in 2024, while there were clearly areas of good practice, what came through was strong themes from care leavers in particular about isolation, feeling unsafe, housing concerns, mental health issues, limited trusted relationships and poorer post-school destinations.

While there was an initial temptation look for some excuses or explanations, it was apparent that there were some systemic issues that were making it harder for our young people to thrive. We knew that we couldn't eradicate poverty or erase traumatic histories, but we could learn from the respondents who were doing well, and we could work together as Corporate Parents alongside young people to dismantle some of the barriers they were describing.

Strengthening our Continuing Care and Aftercare work

When the Bright Spots surveys went out, Stirling was only just embedding a Continuing Care and Aftercare team, which had been created following consultation and service design work with young people and our Promise Lead Officer about their experiences as Care Leavers. Professionals had anecdotal information that young people were struggling without a dedicated team, but this review provided the evidence that the service was needed, primarily because young people reported feeling generic teams did not have the specific knowledge and would often have to prioritise child protection issues above them. A further review of the effectiveness of the team between August and December 2025 has showed a positive impact with smoother transitions, closer relationships with workers and improved preparedness for the trials of adulthood. Although the benefits of this change could not be reflected for the older cohort within Bright Spots programme, younger people have since reported greater satisfaction.

Listening to our young people

To further build on this focus on relationships and the sense of being heard that stemmed from that review and the Bright Spots experience, we could also see that while the young people who engaged with Stirling's Champions' Board (a space where young people can come and connect with each other and to their corporate parents) generally felt a sense of connectedness and believed their voices were listened to, we also knew that not all care leavers thought ‘Champs’ was for them, nor wanted to become part of a group. So, we employed another participation worker who has focused on young people involved in the justice system and those who were harder to reach. At the same time, we were successful in gaining a £50,000 grant from the National Leadership Network, with the aim of creating bespoke learning and leadership opportunities for Care Experienced young people who had missed out on schooling and found it hard to see themselves in traditional education or employment.

We have used this money to counter some of the challenges arising from poverty and exclusion by building life skills through providing cooking lessons cookery, sports coaching and peer mentoring, whilst running serious consultations on service design. Food has always been an important part of these sessions, allowing us to ensure young people are fed and have nutritious food to take away, but also that they feel nurtured and can make connections over a meal. Some of the participants have co-produced a new programme for preparing to leave home and life as a care leaver, which is currently being rolled out across Stirling.

Understanding the diversity of the challenges our young people are facing

When we organised the Brights Spots survey, we were conscious that a significant proportion of the young people in the care leaver cohort were new Scots who had arrived through the National Transfer Scheme. They were already displaced and often facing legal uncertainty, and in common with other Scottish local authorities outside the big cities, in 2024 in Stirling we were (and are) still learning about some of the unique challenges these young people had to face.

Since that time, we have been able to build a sense of belonging by ensuring every young person has an automatic place in a local school and that they have access to a good level of community supports through peers, professionals and voluntary groups. Some of our young people, who have experienced significant upheaval in their own countries, have told us that they are astonished that their voices are being listened to by senior leaders in the Council and agencies such as the Police Scotland.

We are very proud that the majority of our young people who came to the UK to seek safety but did not necessarily envisage ending up in our area, have chosen to make Stirling their home due to the meaningful connections they have made. Some factors which we believe has helped them, and all our young care leavers, has been the growth of our 24 Hours Housing Support service, alongside the strengthening of our Youth Housing Liaison Group, which supports care leavers to prepare for and succeed in their own tenancies.

Learning the lessons of Bright Spots

A year after the publication of the Bright Spots findings, we held a reflection event for Corporate Parents and young people to come together to look back on the progress made and identify future priorities. There was a widespread belief that Stirling further developed opportunities for love, nurture, community, and growth across our services. The issues that had been raised have also informed strategic planning and development through both the current Promise Plan and the Children's Services Plan 2026 - 2029.

The learning for us from our involvement in the programme is, continuing to ensure that children's and young people's voices are at the heart of everything we do, even when it is hard to hear and understanding we have to dig deeper to make sure every voice is heard.

Access the Brights Spots Scotland reports

The views expressed in this blog post are those of the author/s and may not represent the views or opinions of CELCIS or our funders.

Commenting on the blog posts

Sharing comments and perspectives prompted by the posts on this blog are welcome. CELCIS operates a moderation process so your comment will not go live straight away.