3 minute read
Corporate Parenting in Practice
Rosie McKean, Training & Education Coordinator
It’s time for an update from the world of Corporate Parenting! If you didn’t know, a Corporate Parent is a public organisation that has legal responsibilities to support Care Experienced people. Some examples of Corporate Parents include your local council, the NHS, colleges, universities and national bodies like Children’s Hearings Scotland. Recently, the Scottish Government asked Corporate Parents to report what they’ve done over the past 3 years to support Care Experienced people. Here’s what they found out:
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Scottish Ministers
The Scottish Government published and approved the Independent Care Review findings and recommendations, known as The Promise. The government also committed to actions such as keeping brothers and sisters together, and making it easier for Care Experienced people to access supports such as free dental care, the job start payment, housing payments and childcare.
Local Authorities
The government found that the types of support accessible to Care Experienced people were different across local authorities. Moving forward, it’s important that local authorities ensure that Care Experienced people get the best support, no matter where in Scotland they live. Although, we still saw some unique supports being designed, like in the Scottish Borders, Care Experienced people worked with a local IT firm to build a Wi-Fi system for local authority children’s homes. This gave young people their own digital hub letting them access the internet.
Universities
Universities have made good progress in increasing their awareness and understanding as well as responding to the needs of Care Experienced students. The University of Strathclyde, for example, has been prioritising Care Experienced students for international opportunities, such as educational trips to Madrid, Barcelona and Los Angeles. The government thinks it’s important that universities continue to think about their specific responsibilities towards Care Experienced students, being careful not to group these with the needs of young carers and estranged students.
Colleges
Several colleges told the government that they had improved the ways in which Care Experienced people can access college. At Borders College, the Borders Young Talent Project provides mentoring support for pupils at local schools who might face extra obstacles moving from school to college. However. the government noticed that colleges rarely discussed how they were supporting Care Experienced students to travel to and from college, access housing, or transition from college.
NHS Health Boards
The government was disappointed with the few responses from NHS Health Boards, but they also recognised that COVID had a big impact on health services. There were some positive areas, however. NHS Ayrshire and Arran spoke with young people about their experiences of healthcare services. The results of this helped to improve access to dental care for Care Experienced people. To improve, the government would like Health Boards to focus on providing supports that meet the specific needs young people with care experience, rather than all children and young people.
You can also check out our easy-read report to learn more about the Scottish Government’s findings:
National Bodies
The government found great improvement from national bodies, who have done more to listen to Care Experienced people and understand what help and support they would like. Police Scotland, for example, tested an idea to reduce the criminalisation of Care Experienced people in residential care. Processes were put in place to respond differently to children’s behaviour, particularly when not at home, leading to a 62% reduction in minor crime. However, some national bodies who don’t interact with Care Experienced people every day found it harder to tell the government how they were meeting their Corporate Parenting responsibilities.
