Official Report search · Parliament Workbench

Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 16 May 2012

16 May 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

National Parenting Strategy

Adamson, Clare SNP Central Scotland Watch on SPTV

I am glad to speak in this important debate on a national parenting strategy for Scotland.

I congratulate my colleague Jim Eadie on sponsoring yesterday evening’s event in Parliament that showcased Children 1st’s national services. The excellent presentations detailed the work of three key support services that are funded and supported by the Scottish Government. The first was safeguarding in sport, which works with sports’ governing bodies and with clubs, parents and—above all—children to ensure that young people who participate in sport are protected and supported, and that proper practices are in place.

Parentline Scotland was the second service that was highlighted. It is the free helpline and e-mail service that Children 1st runs for anyone who is concerned about a child. It is provided by trained volunteers and call takers and is open seven days a week, 365 days a year.

We then heard about the work that Children 1st is doing on national kinship care and about the advice and support that it provides to families and carers who are in that position. Mr Bibby mentioned that little support is akin to no support at all, but I remind him that no support at all was available before 2009, when the Scottish Government introduced the looked-after children regulations, which for the first time allowed the payment of allowances for kinship carers.

Children 1st treated us to a couple of role-play calls to their support services. It was immediately obvious that signposting to other support agencies and local programmes is a key element in their successful outcomes. It brought home to me the importance of cross-agency, cross-society integrated partnerships to the success of a national parenting strategy.

The minister’s motion expresses Scotland’s ambition to have all our children safe, secure and adequately and appropriately supported in reaching their full potential. As the work of Children 1st has demonstrated, the approach must be holistic and involve all aspects of a child’s life—education, social interaction or sporting activity. The role of the voluntary sector is key to that success.

A national parenting strategy must ensure that all partners—education, social work, health, and the voluntary sector—work seamlessly within a framework of services and service planning that addresses a continuum of need, from prevention and early intervention to acute services. Although we recognise that key services will be delivered locally, this is a national strategy that should deliver national improvements and outcomes for our children.

Parents and carers must be an integral part of that support service. I believe that parenting and caring are undervalued roles in our society. Mark McDonald mentioned paternity leave, which is perhaps an indication of that—we have such little time with young children, as parents. Parents and carers must be part of the solution, and they must be integrated into it and not be defined as the problem. Our integrated services must work with parents in improving outcomes for our young people.

Much of today’s debate will focus on the early years. However, we must not forget that there are children in the system who need our additional support. I commend Made4U in ML2, which is in my area—Central Scotland—and is working with young people to build resilience in the parents of the future.

14:32

Search Hansard contributions

Meeting of the Parliament 16 May 2012

In the same item of business