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Meeting of the Parliament 02 November 2011

02 Nov 2011 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Looked-after Children

Beamish, Claudia Lab South Scotland Watch on SPTV

I thank the member for that helpful intervention. I completely accept that point, but when we consider the range of services that the Midlothian group and perhaps others are trying to bring forward to support the families and children involved, there still seems to be a long way to go. Although the group has some funding, it still has to raise money to put in place support—often lifeline support.

A breakdown in kinship care will be at least the second breakdown in a child’s life. Kinship carers deserve all the help that they can get to prevent that from happening. I ask the Scottish Government to consider guaranteeing that, out of the change fund commitment to carers, there will be adequate funding support for services from local authorities and specialist voluntary organisations for kinship carers. That is preventative spend where it really counts: at the sharp end.

I turn to the plight of looked-after teenagers in residential care. In 2009, there were more than 1,500 looked-after children in residential care of some kind. With a few little ups and downs, the figure has changed little since 1997. A sizeable proportion of those children are teenagers, and I want to focus our attention on them. Although some will have to be in residential care and some will want to remain in residential care because of the familiar setting, there are others who are desperate to move into young adulthood from within a family. I have experience of working with teenagers in a unit for those excluded from school and I know that there are looked-after children who are waiting for a family that will never come.

At the teenager stage, the answer might not be adoption, but there is a range of possibilities, which the minister has already highlighted. My understanding is that the intractable problem of finding a family has not changed over the years. I have seen in reality, as a teacher in a unit, what NSPCC Scotland highlights as growing evidence that poor attachment

“increases the likelihood that a child or young person will have low self-esteem ... be hostile and aggressive ... and may deal with the anger by self harm, offending behaviour or risk taking behaviour.”

I remember to this day that even if a family can be found, a teenager may well constantly test and tempt rejection before they are rejected. I still remember the words of one boy, who asked me, “How could they ever love me?” It is not an easy challenge for teenagers and families, or for those in the agencies who do their best to support and work with them.

I welcome the Government’s motion. These teenagers deserve our support. I ask the Scottish Government to facilitate speedier decisions at that stage, bearing in mind the complexity of the decisions, and to look at preventative spending to support families who are in a difficult situation because they have taken on a teenager who faces challenges.

The minister is right to say that we are corporate parents. We must not undertake preventative spending—I know that none of us will—in the hope of saving the taxpayer money from the future services and interventions that these children and teenagers might need later in life; we must do it simply because we have an obligation to do it.

15:22

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Meeting of the Parliament 02 November 2011

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