Meeting of the Parliament 22 November 2016
This has been a good debate and it is good that it takes place in a special week. The four preceding speeches have all been excellent and considered, which is a measure of how important the debate is.
The minister mentioned two former ministers, Hugh Henry and Robert Brown, to whom we owe a lot. That reminded me of just how long the issue has been taxing the education committees of Parliament. The motion and amendment that are before us today rightly make clear the consensual nature of our approach. However, as the minister said, that should not encourage complacency. It remains abundantly clear that a child’s life chances are dictated largely by the early years of his or her life. As such, it is crucial that we establish the permanency and consistency that members have spoken about today.
When the Education and Culture Committee in the previous session of Parliament studied the issue, it was clear that the statistics could hardly be more blunt. Looked-after children have the odds stacked against them from the start, and they have poor academic attainment and less chance of progressing to positive destinations in education and work. The committee was looking at a deep-rooted problem that has not, as yet, been fully tackled. All of us in Parliament have a duty to ensure that changes are forthcoming, because it simply is not good enough that more than one in 10 young people who leave care in Scotland will experience some form of homelessness within two years.
Jeremy Balfour made it clear that the Conservatives acknowledge the Scottish Government’s work and compliment it on the progress that has been made. We welcome further moves from the Scottish Government to speed up the adoption process and to allow more placements, for the exact reasons that Jeremy Balfour set out.
The 2011 report by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration shows that it takes, on average, two years from the first involvement with state services to secure an adoption and that, in some extreme cases, it can take up to 10 years. The minister is right to say that there has been good progress, but—as his intervention on Jeremy Balfour indicated—there are issues in specific cases that could provide some learning experiences for not just the Scottish Government but all of us, as we go forward.
It is important that the adoption process becomes as simple as possible within the limits that are set by the need for checking and assessing the compatibility of children with parents. Perhaps we can learn from other Governments in that respect. In order to achieve permanence in adoption placements, we require a sufficient stock of adopters on the adoption register. At present, 800 foster families are required in order to meet the pressures on the system. Robin Duncan, who is the manager of Scotland’s adoption register, highlighted the work that has to be done to ensure that there are enough adoptive families in Scotland for all the children who need placements. He also noted that we struggle sometimes to find families for children who are—as Jenny Gilruth said—just that little bit older and may have more complicated needs and greater learning difficulties.
Many adoption agencies are carrying out recruitment campaigns to attract new adopters, and they should be warmly congratulated on their efforts to raise the profile of adoption. I hope that adoption week and this debate will further that process. We believe that that work could be helped by the creation of an adoption tsar, which would be a voluntary post, supported by a small logistics, campaign and office budget. The tsar would be appointed by Scottish ministers and tasked with co-ordinating and encouraging efforts to raise the profile of adoption in Scotland. We look forward to moves in that direction.
Permanence is vital for looked-after children. Since 2010, more children have been in placements lasting more than five years, which is very welcome. However, the length of care time for shorter-term placements has remained more or less the same, with 22 per cent of adoption placements being of less than six months’ duration. That can have a significant impact on the emotional and intellectual development of a child, particularly when it comes to narrowing the attainment gap. As we all know from trying to narrow that gap, it is clear that looked-after children underperform academically. As I said, the Education and Culture Committee in the previous session of Parliament spent a great deal of time under the stewardship of its convener, Stewart Maxwell, looking at exactly why that is and what we have to drill down into. The committee and its convener had some good suggestions to make in that regard.
Although the figures for looked-after children are showing some signs of improvement, they remain significantly worse than the average for all school leavers. That is of considerable concern, because youngsters want to move on to college or university or into the world of work. I urge the minister to concentrate some effort on looking at what we have to do to help that process. It creates a difficult situation if we allow youngsters to go out into the world without the support that they need after they have come through a difficult time in their life.
This debate, which is on an issue that has been a focus for a long time in Parliament, is hugely significant. We all want progress in supporting our youngsters and ensuring that they have the best start in life. In that, it is crucial that youngsters have around them a supportive family that engenders trust in how they see their future. We welcome every effort by the Scottish Government to hasten that process and we are happy to support the motion and the amendment.
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