SECTION NEWS & EVENTS
Care Experienced parents call for change Who Cares? Scotland release new report on the experiences of parents.
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e believe every parent should have the right to high-quality support when they need it. We recognise the power of positive, supportive professionals and know this is already experienced by so many Care Experienced parents. However, we need to ensure this happens for everyone! Through our new report ‘Believe in Us’: Care Experienced parent findings from our Annual Participation Programme, we consulted nearly 50 Care Experienced parents to find out how well they were supported by services during their parenting journey. We had known through years of our independent advocacy and groupwork that Care Experienced parents faced significant challenges, and this new report awarded us the opportunity to fully explore these issues – and importantly receive ideas for positive changes moving forward.
The Care Experienced community need people to believe in them, who are willing and able to recognise and respond to their needs, so they can be the best parents that they can be to their children.
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What did we find out?
Many parents told us that they felt the impact of stigma and discrimination due to their care experience. We know that, because of how care experience is depicted in our society and our media, that this can impact how people – including professionals - react and treat Care Experienced people. This manifested itself in various assumptions made by service providers, such as assuming social work would be involved, or automatic referrals, and that Care Experienced parents would automatically require more support.
80% of participants felt support available during the first 3 years of parenthood was not good quality. We know that any practice which assumes a parent may be a risk to their child or require social work intervention solely because they are Care Experienced is discriminatory. Ultimately, universal support services need a judgement-free process to identify Care Experienced parents and provide suitable professional support to ensure positive parenting journeys.
