Testing Change Ideas to Improve Permanence Timescales for Looked After Children : Experiences of the Two Week Planning Meeting

This report presents qualitative research undertaken in one of the Scottish local authorities involved in the Permanence and Care Excellence (PACE) programme. PACE was a national Quality Improvement programme underway from 2014-2020. Through this programme, CELCIS supported 27 of the 32 Scottish local authority partnerships to apply a Quality Improvement framework to their processes and practices in order to reduce timescales in providing a recommendation on where babies, children and young people should live permanently. Using qualitative methods to gather and analyse the views and experiences of the people involved, this research focused on the decisions, activities, and reporting that one local authority partnership undertook when testing a change idea within the PACE programme: Introducing a formal Looked After Child Review meeting at two weeks (‘two week planning meeting’). Alongside this, the report examines the impact of that test on professionals and processes within the local authority area

We Are Citizens! An Evaluation of the We are Citizens! Ensemble Care Experienced Theatre Company Project

In 2018 the Citizens Theatre, in partnership with CELCIS, was awarded funding from the Life Changes Trust’s Creative and Active Lives initiative, to establish Scotland’s first professional theatre company for young actors with care experience. The vision was to establish, develop and nurture a unique Theatre Company for the many diverse voices of young people enabling them to be listened to, heard, and celebrated for their artistic talents. The We Are Citizens! Ensemble developed from a series of taster workshops for care experienced young people at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, and in February 2020 they produced their first show

Tackling Bullying in Scotland's Schools : a View from the Sidelines

This policy brief considers the proposals to reduce bullying in Scotland's schools. A number of interventions have been introduced in Scotland’s schools that that place an emphasis on peer-initiated interventions. However these interventions often fail to consider the mental health and wellbeing of the pupils involved. The role of the so-called pupil 'bystander' is fundamentally misunderstood as these pupils often have multiple roles within ‘school yard’ culture. The lack of independently evaluated evidence on the success of direct pupil-initiated interventions to reduce the level of bullying in schools should be of concern to policymakers. A key recommendation is that schools, education authorities and policymakers pause, review the evidence and have an informed discussion about the most effective interventions to deliver safer schools in Scotland

Prejudice-based Bullying in Scottish Schools : A Research Report

This research examines prejudice-based bullying from the perspectives of Scottish secondary school pupils and teachers. It uses the lens of the protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act 2010 to assess how this behaviour is being experienced and addressed. This report is a result of research undertaken across Scotland with pupils, teachers, and local authority (LA) staff through surveys, focus groups and interviews. The work included a desk-based review of LA anti-bullying policies, and research on prejudice-based bullying

Continuing Care : An Exploration of Implementation

The aim of the study is to provide a clear picture of how continuing care is implemented and interpreted across Scotland, and what is it that enables and challenges the necessary improvements needed at national and local level to support children and young people to successfully transition to adulthood. Overall, it is clear from the research that while Continuing Care is not, at present, implemented consistently between, or within, local authorities, there is a clear desire from practitioners to have Continuing Care as the ‘default’ scenario for young people, and to support young people to understand their rights for their care to continue into young adulthood.The findings have significant importance for the Scottish Government, local authorities, care providers, and all who are involved in supporting young people

Voluntary Accommodation of Infants, Children, and Young People in Scotland (Section 25) : an initial exploration

In Scotland, Section 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 enables parents, supported by social workers, to voluntarily place their child to secure their safety, into the care of a local authority away from the parental home. This report presents findings in relation to the purpose, frequency, and variation in the use of Section 25 orders in Scotland. It presents results from a literature review, data from three local authorities to illustrate what is known about the use of Section 25 orders, and highlights areas that would benefit from additional investigation

The Youngest Victims: Children and Youth Affected by War

In 1989, the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child declared, “[state parties] shall take all feasible measures to ensure protection and care of children who are affected by an armed conflict.” In addition to attempting to secure the welfare of children in armed conflict, the Convention went on to ban the recruitment and deployment of children during armed conflict. Despite the vast majority of sovereign nations signing and ratifying this agreement, this treaty, unfortunately, has not prevented children and youth from witnessing, becoming victims of, or participating in political, ethnic, religious, and cultural violence across the past three decades. This chapter offers an “ecological perspective” on the psychosocial consequences of exposure to the trauma of war-related violence and social disruption