Funding is key to fulfilling Promise to children
IN 2020 the Scottish Government published a document called The Promise, followed in 2021 by The Plan, products of a three-year review of social care provision for children which now forms the principal driver of child care policy in Scotland. It took little account of the extensive research evidence on how best to support children and families, instead basing its conclusions largely on the subjective contributions of careexperienced individuals.
This may explain why its implementation proposals appear somewhat random and peripheral, paying scant attention to the real and fundamental problems that harm too many Scottish children and their families and compromise their life chances. We have wasted too many years and too much money tinkering round the edges. The Government must invest in the things that can make a real and sustainable change.
Childhood adversity has lifelong impact. Most children entering public care have experienced poverty, neglect and ineffective parenting. Radical change in our approach to these major concerns is essential, or we will again be rearranging the furniture while heading towards the iceberg.
We need to tackle poverty both in money terms and in addressing problems more prevalent in poor families and communities. Inadequacies in family support, rather than inadequacies of income, are what bring children into care. Drug and alcohol addiction and precarious mental health feature strongly in the families who become involved with social work services. It is disingenuous for a Government to lament the poor outcomes for vulnerable children while admitting to “taking its eye off the ball” on drug deaths. Ineffectiveness of support for parents with drug, alcohol and mental health problems fuels the ever increasing numbers of children referred to social work and child protection systems.
Significant investment in public services is also vital. Social work services for children have suffered for years from chronic underfunding. This has resulted in caseloads that preclude the delivery of the kind of care service that would support parents, strengthen families and provide children with positive nurturing, imaginative learning and healthy development.
IT is not lack of evidence or commitment, but lack of funding and support for our public social services that is at the root of the problems The Promise aspires to tackle. Local authorities must be adequately resourced, and the positive contribution they and their staff make to the life chances of many children, despite the constraints many are working under, recognised and valued.
Ignoring evidence gathered through many years of robust and informed research is also unwise. The experience of individuals should be analysed against this backdrop, not be viewed as a substitute for it. Superficial alterations to procedures, particularly those that place greater burdens on an already hard-pressed workforce, and projects that focus on one element of a large and complex picture, will not bring about change of the scale and scope needed to make a real difference. Unless we have a Government that recognises and responds to the real challenges facing children and their families, this will be yet another empty promise.