Hansard

It gives me great pleasure to speak in the debate. This is an area in which I have some experience and I hope to use that to contribute to a positive, cross-chamber discussion. However, the contributions so far have been excellent and much of what I say will echo what other members have said. I will follow in the footsteps of Jenny Gilruth and talk about my experience before becoming an MSP. We are told that, eventually, we will forget that, but we will see.

I spent eight years working with children and young people as a social worker, much of that on the front line of child protection. Often I had to manage situations in which children had to be looked after away from home, usually with family members, but sometimes with temporary foster carers. Trust me when I say that there are few things more emotionally challenging than assessing whether a child should remain at home. Many times, children who are removed are able to return to their parents quickly, which is, of course, what everyone wants. However, other times, the concerns and dangers are too great for that to happen and many children remain looked after and accommodated. As others have said, that means that their care and support are reviewed regularly by the local authority.

It has been well documented, in this discussion and others, that the outcomes for children who are looked after and accommodated are not always what we would want. Looked-after children can often fare worse in a number of settings, including education, health and the criminal justice system. That is why I and, I think, everyone in the chamber will fully welcome the First Minister’s recent announcement of a root-and-branch review of the care system to deliver better outcomes for those whom we are looking after as a nation.

One way in which outcomes can be improved is by deciding on permanency at an earlier stage, which of course includes adoption, as well as permanence orders, which were introduced in the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007. Research has demonstrated clearly that when sound, informed and speedy decisions are made about where a child should live, the child is more likely to be settled and happy, and their outcomes and life chances are improved. That is why I would agree with the part of Monica Lennon’s amendment in which she describes adoption and permanency as having a “transformative benefit”, which I thought was an excellent phrase.

Unfortunately, as has been said, the process to permanency can often take a long time. There are usually good reasons for that, for example, as Jeremy Balfour mentioned, the birth parents being given every chance to get things right, and other prospective family members, such as grandparents, being assessed. That is one of the biggest challenges that social workers and others who are involved in the permanency arrangements face. Many times, parents respond well initially and then, unfortunately, it goes the other way at a later date. Anyone I have ever known in social work would want to give the parents every opportunity to ensure that they get things right. Inevitably, parents have to be given time to do that. That is one of the reasons why permanency can take longer.

Issues can also arise with the assessment of prospective carers. That has been mentioned in the debate, too. There are the mountains of paperwork—referred to in social work as form Fs and form Es, which some members may be familiar with. Deep consideration is often given to whether children should be placed with their siblings and, if not, what contact arrangements might be best. Again, that can be a very complicated process, because one child might have one set of needs and another might have a different set of needs. Their permanent environments need to be taken into account, too. There is much to be taken into account.

Most important, the views of the child must be taken into account. Often, when a child is adopted, they may be too young to contribute fully or, at least, verbally. However, when a child is older, and a permanence order is sought, their views should be at the centre of any decision. I am sure that that is almost always the case.

I am sure that every member in the chamber recognises the challenges that I have outlined and understands that moving to permanency and adoption is far from a simple and straightforward process. That is why I fully welcome adoption week Scotland and the Scottish Government’s commitment to the area, as demonstrated in the minister’s motion for this debate. It is important that we use that focus to make progress in the area, and work must be done to speed up as much as possible the process of prospective adoptive parents and foster carers going through the checks that are required for them to be approved or rejected. The motion and the amendment recognise that and the steps that we are taking as a Parliament and a country.

We should recognise the excellent steps that have been taken. As a couple of other speakers have mentioned, in 2015-16 more than 300 children were adopted from care in Scotland. On top of that, Scotland’s adoption register has moved online, which has given social workers and adopters a more immediate and direct involvement in the process and is bringing down delays. Yesterday, I had the privilege of speaking to a former children and family colleague who is now in the family placement and adoption team. I took the opportunity to speak to her as I knew that I would be speaking in this debate. She and her colleagues are excited about the register moving online and they believe that it is another significant move forward in their area of work.

I welcome the increased funding from the Scottish Government for wider permanence, with a commitment of £580,000 to support improvements to the process of helping looked-after children to find a permanent home. As I mentioned, the Government’s commitment to making progress in the area was made clear when the First Minister outlined in the programme for government that it is one of the priorities for the current session of Parliament.

As we have heard, the First Minister has also confirmed that the Scottish Government will implement in full the getting it right for looked-after children strategy by continuing the national roll-out of the PACE programme with the aim of having it in the majority of local authorities by the spring. The change to adopter-led matching from next autumn will also see vast improvements to the system, again leading to children being placed with a family much more quickly than was possible previously.

Improving outcomes is also dependent on the right support being in place to help children to deal with their circumstances emotionally. Many therapists now seek to involve the permanent carers in that work—and advise starting it while the child is in temporary care—as much of the focus is on “Building the Bonds of Attachment”, to quote the title of a relatively famous book. Many of us take that for granted for ourselves and our children but, often, our looked-after children have not experienced it. That is yet another example of how the progress that this Government and this Parliament have made will directly benefit this group of young people.

Having witnessed at first hand how happy a child and their adoptive parents can be when they start their family life together, I am so pleased that this Government is making the area a key focus of its early agenda. I look forward to working with the Scottish Government to ensure that we get the best possible solution for Scotland’s children and adoptive parents.