Plan identifies five priority areas to support Scotland’s children and families

It’s about building a country that cares, made up of services that work to meet needs of children and families where and when needed, says Fiona Duncan

As Scotland looks towards its next election on May 6, it was encouraging to see reflected in manifestos, the continued crossparty support for Scotland to #Keepthepromise to children and families, committed to in February 2020, when the Independent Care Review published its conclusions.

However, meaningful change is not delivered by manifestos nor, very often, within the small window of time afforded by political cycles of campaigning, elections, shuffles and reshuffles. This was clear to me as Chair of the Care Review and remains so as Chair of The Promise Scotland, the body responsible for driving the change demanded by the conclusions of the Care Review.

The Care Review purposely built a political, and beyond, coalescence around a vision for precisely this reason. Keeping the promise belongs to no one political party or single organisation – it is a nationwide project which can only be achieved through cooperation and over time.

The Care Review’s final reports made clear that by 2030 Scotland must have kept its promise and this would take three, threeyear periods of change, guided by successive plans with each building on the progress made by the one before it to make sure transformational change happens across all the 80 plus conclusions. Focusing on what must be done from April 1, 2021 until March 31, 2022, Plan 21-24, published in April, is the first of those plans. It is ambitious. It is bold. It is underway.

And it only exists because of the care experienced people who campaigned for the Independent Care Review and then selflessly shared intimate and often painful experiences of the ‘care system’ in the hope of change.

Change that would mean that children, young people and families were listened to, respected, involved and heard in every decision that affects them. Change that would support families to stay together and prioritise the safe loving relationships that are important to children and young people. Change that would make love the value that drives everything and that everything operates around. That change is here. And this is Scotland’s plan to deliver it.

Plan 21-24 identifies five priority areas for Scotland to focus on for the next three years; a good childhood, whole family support, supporting the workforce, planning and building capacity. Each priority area contains actions that will be achieved by 2024.

These actions cover a wide range of important areas such as; family therapy, support for children of young children, schools and exclusion, the importance of safe, loving relationships, youth justice, advocacy, independent living, values and the workforce, investment, information-sharing, data, legislation, children’s hearing system and inspection and regulation.

But do not be mistaken – Plan 21-24 isn’t about building a new ‘system’. Rather, it is about building a country that cares, made up of services that work to meet the needs of children and families where and when they are needed. The system, the scaffolding around services, policy, budgets and legislation are secondary, and must shift to facilitate what children and families need and reflect what they have said matters at every level.

The Promise Scotland is working towards a promise kept by 2030, and its own obsolescence. It will drive the change needed and provide support, honesty and accountability. But it is Scotland that will deliver change. It is Scotland that will #Keepthepromise. Fiona Duncan is Chair of the Promise, the body responsible for ensuring the findings of the Independent Care Review are implemented, and CEO of Corra