WAC ensemble member Chloe talks about Whatever Happened to the Jaggy Nettles?
First published by Citizens Theatre, 30 January 2020.
The Care Experienced Student Bursary – helping to change lives in East Renfrewshire
How the Care Experienced Bursary is making a difference in the lives of care experienced young people.
Realising children’s rights to justice and care
Bairnshoose Policy and Practice Lead Anna O'Reilly reflects on how far we've come towards securing a Scottish Bairnshoose, and what must still be done to give children the rights they deserve.
Maintaining Momentum - upping the pace of change for Children’s Hearings in Scotland
Elaine Adams, Learning and Development Lead at Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership, writes about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Children’s Hearings in Scotland and what this might mean for hearings in the future
COVID 19: When adapting our work, we all learn from listening to children and young people
Jacqui Dunbar is the Project Lead at Our Hearings, Our Voice, an independent board for children and young people who have experience of the Children’s Hearings System in Scotland and want to help improve it. She works directly with 11 children and young people, 9 who are members of the board and 2 who are advisors for Our Hearings, Our Voice.
COVID-19 – An opportunity to connect with time
Elaine Hamilton, Service Manager at Nether Johnstone House describes how lockdown due to the current emergency health crisis has changed the thinking, outlooks, and actions of both the young people and the team that surround them.
Reimagining the way we nurture and stay connected during COVID-19.
Food and other essential items are something that we have always had available for our young people in the Youth Team, Aberdeen but we were aware that when COVID – 19 hit that we would need to be more creative about how we made sure food was available for young people in a safe and structured way.
Under the spotlight of COVID-19: Real change is possible
Claire Burns, Director of CELCIS (Acting), takes a moment to consider how much we have learned that we didn’t know before the COVID-19; how this emergency has thrown a spotlight on so much of what we already knew and what this means as we work to make change happen to realise The Promise.
Data matters: the role of Minimum Datasets in improving child protection processes
Jo Cochrane is the Children’s Services Development and Assurance Team Manager at Dumfries and Galloway Council, since retired. Since 2018, CELCIS has been working alongside local public sector partnerships in Dumfries and Galloway, Falkirk, and East and Midlothian, to develop a Minimum Dataset for use across all 30 of Scotland’s Child Protection Committees.
If you think poverty doesn’t affect you, you are part of the problem
Claire Burns, Director (Acting), CELCIS – Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection discusses how COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities in society.
Beyond Reimagining
Claire Burns, Deputy Executive Director, CELCIS, sets out what it will take to make change happen as she writes on Care Day 2020, reaffirming our commitment to support all families and the findings of the Independent Care Review.
Listening to what families need and want is how we will all thrive
CELCIS's Claire Burns writes for Holyrood Magazine's latest special feature on Kirsty, the Holyrood Baby, who is now four years old.
Finding the ‘invisible’ adopters
Pride month 2020 was a bit different from previous years. The restrictions in place in various ways around the world to address the ongoing coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic meant that many of the usual parties, parades, and protests were cancelled, postponed, or moved online. One constant however was the opportunity to reflect on how far the LGBT+ community has come – and importantly, how far there is still to go.
Securing better futures
October 8, 2020 marks a very important moment for children and young people who experience secure care. That’s because it’s the day that the Secure Care Pathway and Standards will be launched in Scotland’s five secure care centres, celebrating the hard work, creativity and passion that children put into helping to develop these. Paul Sullivan, Sector Engagement Lead at CELCIS, explains what this mean for the future of secure care in Scotland.
We need to talk about FASD
This Adoption Week Scotland, Barbara Ogston, FASD Advisor in the FASD Hub Scotland, managed by Adoption UK, who is an adoptive parent, discusses the impact of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) within the care community, and why it’s vital that children and families receive the support they need.
Digital access is a lifeline
Care experienced student of social care Chris Marshall explains why digital is an essential connection in life. People don’t realise how hard it can be for a young person to be able to get a good bit of technology but for a care experienced person this can be even harder.
Ensuring there is choice in financial help
For Challenge Poverty Week 2020, this blog post from Mhairi Reid on behalf of the Life Changes Trust and their Advisory Group, takes a look at how the Young People with Care Experience Programme responded to the new challenge of COVID-19.
Therapeutic Parenting in adoption
For Adoption Week Scotland this year, Fiona Aitken, Director of Adoption UK Scotland, looks at why therapeutic parenting is so important for children who have been adopted.
Listening to the voices of care experienced LGBT people in Scotland
As the LGBT Youth Scotland Care Commission concludes its work with a new awareness film, Commission member Charlie Mackenzie, discusses what the group has achieved in its two years and the personal impact the Commission has had.
The national Children’s Hearings advocacy service
The introduction of the advocacy service is an important additional support. It’s already the case that hearings must consider views of children and young people as far as possible and they are able to do this in a number of ways – through the child, their parents and families, through social workers and other professionals.
We can and must do more to provide food security for all
On World Food Day 2020, Paul Sullivan, Sector Engagement Lead at CELCIS, reflects on some of the existing food insecurities affecting families across Scotland and what the community-led responses during the public health emergency this year tell us.
Children 'get animated' in lockdown
Nikki Hepburn, Art teacher at Harmeny Education Trust, is a residential school providing care and education to children aged 5-14 who have experienced early years trauma, describes an animation project, funded by Creative Scotland, which created an innovative and accessible way for young people with complex social, emotional and behavioural needs to tell their own stories.