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Councils as 'corporate parents'
04/10/2007
The Scottish Government is to distribute £2.5 million between the country's 32 councils to enable them to enhance their role as 'corporate parents' to children in care.
When a child is taken into care, the council takes on the parental responsibility of supporting that child to fulfil its potential in a way set out in the strategy document published earlier this year - Scotland's Looked After Children and Young People: We Can and Must Do Better.
It makes recommendations for councils, teachers, social workers and health workers, including:
- reminding councils of their role and responsibility as corporate parents
- improving training for teachers and other professionals to ensure that they have the skills to deal with these pupils
- providing key workers with guidance on their role in supporting individual young people
- ensuring that councils continue to provide young people with support beyond their eighteenth birthday, including financial support for those going on to further and higher education
At the launch today of Inverclyde Council's Children's Champion Scheme, Minister for Children and Early Years Adam Ingram said:
"We all have a responsibility to children in care. Children who are looked after are counting on us to protect their welfare and offer them support, as a parent should. We all know that, just with our own children, providing a roof over their heads, a good education and food on the table is not enough. All children need to know someone is fighting their corner, listening to their needs and doing what they can to support them.
"When children are placed in their care, councils know the responsibility that brings and they are putting in place strategies which look at the corporate parenting responsibilities of the whole council.
"In some ways it's like having the best bits of being a 'pushy parent': ensuring each individual child is having their own needs addressed and truly being looked after. Authorities and agencies can never fully replace a parent, but they can turn around the experiences of children from challenging backgrounds by asking 'What would I want for my own child?'"
"Corporate parenting highlights the collective responsibility of councils for all children in their care and depends on ownership and leadership at a senior level. I look forward to hearing more about how councils develop their strategies and use the funding to improve the role they play as a corporate parent to looked after children in their areas."
The Children's Champion Scheme is a pilot initiative being undertaken by Inverclyde Council as part of their work to improve the educational attainment of looked after children in the Inverclyde area. Each member of the local authority's corporate management team will champion the welfare and needs of a small number of children to try to improve the care and support they receive and a children and young people's forum will be established.
Inverclyde Council's Chief Executive John Mundell said:
"This unique initiative is about looking forward. It is about overcoming the stigma looked after children face, raising expectations and inclusion, advocating for their needs and promoting their strengths and talents.
"As Corporate Parents, we need to have the same hopes and aspirations for children in public care as we do for our own children. We need to translate those aspirations into outcomes. That's why I'm delighted Inverclyde Council is launching a Children's Champion Scheme.
"Inverclyde is moving forward and looking to a brighter future thanks to a strong regeneration agenda. All of our local young people - including our looked after children - have an important part to play in the area's future and we will do all we can to equip them with the skills and confidence they need to be a part of a successful Inverclyde."
COSLA Education, Children and Young People spokesperson Councillor Isabel Hutton said:
"We welcome this new funding. Being a corporate parent is a challenging role for a local authority. Councils must ensure that looked after children are the centre of our attention and that all our services work together to meet their needs. I know that councils are up for the challenge and are focusing on improving the achievements and aspirations of our looked after children."
The £2.5million funding will be allocated along the lines of the GAE allocation for Community and Residential Care and will be for 2007/08.
The breakdown is:
- Aberdeen City £80,000
- Aberdeenshire £60,000
- Angus £42,000
- Argyll & Bute £31,000
- Clackmannanshire £28,000
- Dumfries & Galloway £52,000
- Dundee City £92,000
- East Ayrshire £64,000
- East Dunbartonshire £29,000
- East Lothian £36,000
- East Renfrewshire £26,000
- Edinburgh £187,000
- Eilean Siar £7,000
- Falkirk £70,000
- Fife £165,000
- Glasgow City £489,000
- Highland £83,000
- Inverclyde £53,000
- Midlothian £40,000
- Moray £26,000
- North Ayrshire £85,000
- North Lanarkshire £198,000
- Orkney Islands £4,000
- Perth & Kinross £44,000
- Renfrewshire £93,000
- Scottish Borders £33,000
- Shetland Islands £6,000
- South Ayrshire £46,000
- South Lanarkshire £150,000
- Stirling £32,000
- West Dunbartonshire £64,000
- West Lothian £85,000
- Scotland £ 2,500,000
'Corporate parent' means the formal and local partnerships needed between all local authority departments and services, and associated agencies, who are responsible for working together to meet the needs of looked after children and young people.