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Section 2: Getting it right for every child: the approach

Getting it right for every child promotes action to improve the well-being of all children and young people. Eight areas of well-being have been identified as areas in which children and young people need to progress in order to do well now and in the future.

Getting it right for every child reflects an approach to working with children and young people that is underpinned by shared principles and values. It recognises children's rights and builds on the strategic pillars of Scottish Government policy for children and young people and the Concordat.

To help children and young people achieve their well-being, Getting it right for every child is supported by 10 core components. These can be applied in any setting and circumstance where people are working with children and young people.

The well-being of children and young people and their well-becoming are at the heart of Getting it right for every child and can be illustrated by the following diagram:

There are eight indicators of well-being: healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included and, above all, safe. The Well-being Indicators are the basic requirements for all children and young people to grow and develop and reach their full potential. Children and young people will progress differently, depending on their circumstances but every child and young person has the right to expect appropriate support from adults to allow them to develop as fully as possible across each of the Well-being Indicators. The well-being wheel also shows the connections between children and young people's well-being now, and their well-becoming in the future. The Scottish Government and its local government partners in the Concordat have an ambition that all Scotland's young people will be successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens. This depends very much on how well they have been supported to develop their well-being. All agencies in touch with children and young people must play their part in making sure that young people are healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible, included and, above all, safe.

The Getting it right for every child approach

The Getting it right for every child approach is about how practitioners across all services for children and adults meet the needs of children and young people, working together where necessary to ensure they reach their full potential. It promotes a shared approach and accountability that:

• builds solutions with and around children, young people and families
• enables children and young people to get the help they need when they need it
• supports a positive shift in culture, systems and practice
• involves working together to make things better

The approach has been developed to reflect the principles of The Children's Charter¹ and is in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child², ³. It builds on For Scotland's Children⁴ and other reports about children and young people's well-being. It is supported by a number of strategic pillars being put in place to help all children and young people, including The Early Years Framework⁵; Curriculum for Excellence^{6, 7, 8, 9}; and Better Health, Better Care¹⁰. It is also reflected in the policies and strategies designed to support children and young people in specific circumstances such as those who are or may be:

• experiencing mental health problems, self-harming or at risk of suicide
• affected by disabilities or minority issues
• in need of additional support for learning
• looked after, cared for in kinship care, or privately fostered
• in need of sexual health advice
• in need of protection or who present a risk to others
• affected by substance misuse
• affected by domestic abuse
• exposed to trafficking
• young runaways
• in need of compulsory measures
• offending or engaged in anti-social behaviour
• young carers
• asylum seekers or unaccompanied asylum seekers
• in receipt of benefits or housing support
• homeless or living in poverty
• at points of transition

The core components of Getting it right for every child

Getting it right for every child is founded on 10 core components which can be applied in any setting and in any circumstance. They are at the heart of the Getting it right for every child approach in practice and provide a benchmark from which practitioners may apply the approach to their areas of work.

1. A focus on improving outcomes for children, young people and their families based on a shared understanding of well-being

2. A common approach to gaining consent and to sharing information where appropriate

3. An integral role for children, young people and families in assessment, planning and intervention

4. A co-ordinated and unified approach to identifying concerns, assessing needs, agreeing actions and outcomes, based on the Well-being Indicators

5. Streamlined planning, assessment and decision-making processes that lead to the right help at the right time

6. Consistent high standards of co-operation, joint working and communication where more than one agency needs to be involved, locally and across Scotland

7. A Lead Professional to co-ordinate and monitor multi-agency activity where necessary

8. Maximising the skilled workforce within universal services to address needs and risks at the earliest possible time

9. A confident and competent workforce across all services for children, young people and their families

10. The capacity to share demographic, assessment, and planning information electronically within and across agency boundaries through the national eCare programme where appropriate

Together the Well-being Indicators and the core components make up the Getting it right for every child approach to meeting the needs of children and young people.

The approach is underpinned by common values and principles and by shared models, tools and practices that are designed to support work with children and young people. These are all described in sections 3 and 4.

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