Children’s Services Reform
- Area of Work: Children and Young People
- Type: News Item
- Published: 21st September 2023
Scottish Government want to hear your views to further inform the decisions surrounding the National Care Service.
The Scottish Government has committed to the establishment of a National Care Service (NCS) by 2026. The vision of the NCS is to enable everyone to have access to consistently high-quality social care support across Scotland, whenever they might need it.
A decision has yet to be made regarding the inclusion of children’s services (which includes children’s social work, social care support and community health services), in the NCS. Before a decision can be taken on this issue, it is vital we understand whether transferring children’s services into the NCS would lead to an improvement on existing models of delivery.
To further inform the decision on whether to include children’s services in the NCS, the Children’s Services Reform Unit within Scottish Government want to sense check current views, needs and experiences of children, young people and families to support previous engagement that has already been conducted.
Who to include in the engagement activity
The team are committed to getting a wide range of views from children and young people are trying to reach insight into the views of children and young people who have experienced or are part of, for example:
- social care input
- community health input e.g. mental health support
- care experienced including residential, foster, kinship, secure care
- social work input
- are part of the LGBT+ community
Having this representation will ensure we fully understand the range of issues impacting children and young people who have accessed certain children’s services.
Building on previous engagement with children and young people
This is an opportunity to build on the valuable work already carried out with children and young people who have accessed care and support from certain children’s services. The surveys included below aim to prevent asking children and young people the same questions they may have been asked previously.
Scottish Government aim to conclude and report back on this engagement by the end of October 2023.
Surveys have been designed for different communities to complete. Please click on the links below to the most relevant survey:
- Engagement and co-design questions for the LGBT+ community
- Engagement and co-design questions for children and young people affected by domestic abuse and homelessness
- Engagement and co-design questions for children and young people in residential, secure, kinship, foster or adoption care.
Should you feel you do not fall into one of these groups but would like to contribute, or if you wish to discuss anything in more detail, please contact the team at Scottish Government by emailing: childrensservicesreform@gov.scot
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