Hansard

I, too, declare an interest. I am a councillor and for four years—until May this year—I was on Renfrewshire Council’s adoption panel.

During my time on the panel I came across many cases that could have been processed more quickly. The social work department in Renfrewshire has worked hard to improve that. There has been considerable investment in ensuring that all paperwork is ready on time and that it contains all the relevant and necessary reports. The panel has, therefore, been far better prepared and has had a better understanding of the cases that come before it. One thing that has contributed to the improvement in efficiency is that adoption panel members in Renfrewshire are invited to training days at which they are given the chance to talk to social workers and carers. That allows panel members to express their worries about the processes. I would like more development of that in other local authorities in Scotland.

One of the most frustrating aspects of being on the adoption panel was the length of the process, which was due to legal challenges and promises that are made by birth parents. The struggle that is faced by local authorities is in the need to get the balance right. Under article 8 of the European convention on human rights, parents and children have a right to family life, but it is up to the state to ensure that children are not subjected to abuse or neglect; that is where the balance is needed. We have seen cases in which the state has failed children, including Baby P and similar cases. I would love it if every child was returned to their parent because doing so was in the child’s best interests and it was safe to do so, but we know that that is not the case for many children.

I highlight an excellent campaign that was run by Renfrewshire Council in 2010 that found many new carers and continues to do so this year. I highlight, too, the council’s work to collaborate with neighbouring local authorities to take forward joint recruitment of adoptive carers. In Renfrewshire, 13 children were placed for adoption in the first six months of this year, which is a significantly higher number than in previous years. That may be due to the number of children there requiring adoption and fostering being higher than national average. The cause of that higher level can clearly be seen by looking at the higher rates of social deprivation, substance abuse and domestic violence that stain some communities in Renfrewshire.

Recent reports in the media show that some children have to wait two years to be given a permanent home with adoptive parents. As important as it is for children to find that stability in their lives, there are other means for children to be given stability, such as kinship care and long-term fostering. If it is in the best interests of the child, there must be greater emphasis on placing the young child with his or her birth family. There must also be greater emphasis on improving the process to complete the assessments and checks for birth families, including grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Research by Citizens Advice Scotland shows that many local authorities are not paying kinship carers the same as they pay foster carers. If we are to improve the stability of a child’s life, there must be equity in the payment to kinship carers to encourage them to become full-time carers.

Many members know that I have recently started, along with Richard Lyle and Mary Scanlon, a cross-party group on families that are affected by imprisonment, which led me to attend the Families Outside conference yesterday. At the conference, I was approached by many delegates who are concerned about the number of children who end up in the care system when their mother or father enters prison. One of the main issues that comes across when speaking to people is that little concern is shown for the child’s welfare when the parent is arrested. While we talk about how to improve the process of finding permanent care for children, it is important that we remember that many looked-after children enter the system after a parent’s imprisonment. I invite the minister to come along to the cross-party group to speak to the organisations involved and to family members of prisoners, and to listen to their thoughts on how early intervention will benefit vulnerable children who are affected by parents’ imprisonment, and by drugs, alcohol and poverty.

I believe that prospective adoptive parents face many barriers, for example, legal barriers, the rights of the birth parents and the background of birth parents and of adoptive parents, which includes factors such as religion, race, sexuality and relationship status. There must be greater focus on how to reduce those barriers, because in doing so we can reduce the time that it takes for adoption and long-term fostering to commence.

In the forthcoming year, the Scottish Government will introduce a bill on the rights of children and young people and will also bring a greater focus on early intervention. I feel strongly that this debate should play a vital role in the bill before it comes to Parliament and when it does so.

Over the last week, Barnardo’s Scotland has been very vocal on the issues that we are discussing. I fully support the restart of its national adoption service and I also back its calls for the Scottish Government to

“give assurances that it will not just focus efforts on those children best placed to move into permanency, but will look to support those that are most vulnerable and at risk to ensure that every looked after child has a stable, loving home”.

I also back four other recommendations that I hope the Government takes on board.

I welcome the SCRA report and hope that members can work together to improve the life chances and stability of our looked-after children.

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