Introduction
Getting it right for every child (also known as "Getting it right" or GIRFEC) is a new, national approach to supporting and working with all children and young people in Scotland. It affects all services for children and adult services where children are involved. It is based on research, evidence and best practice and designed to ensure all parents, carers and professionals work effectively together to give children and young people the best start we can and improve their life opportunities.
Getting it right places children's and young people's needs first, ensures that they are listened to and understand decisions which affect them and that they get more co-ordinated help where this is required for their well-being, health and development. It requires that all services for children and young people - social work, health, education, police, housing and voluntary organisations - adapt and streamline their systems and practices to improve how they work together to support children and young people, including strengthening information sharing.
The approach helps those facing the greatest social or health inequalities. It also encourages earlier intervention by professionals to avoid crisis situations at a later date so that children and young people get the help they need when they need it.
What we want to achieve:- Better outcomes for all children
- A common, coordinated framework across all agencies that supports the delivery of appropriate, proportionate and timely help to all children as they need it
- Streamlined systems and processes, efficient and effective delivery of services focussed on the needs of the child
- A common understanding and shared language across all agencies
- A child-centred approach
- Changes in culture, systems and practice across services for children
- More joined up policy development with GIRFEC in the delivery mechanism of all policies for children (and policies for adults where children are involved)
|
To get an idea of what this may look like in practice for children and young people, see the Making Things Better Case Examples, based on real-life scenarios from some of our Pathfinder and Learning Partner areas.
Supporting local implementation
Getting it right requires change across all services on three fronts:
- Culture change
- Systems change
- Practice change
Getting it right planning and implementation activity is taking place across Scotland. We are working with almost a third of local authorities and many other agencies, organisations and local authorities are also making good progess.
The Evaluation Report describes the experiences and early findings of Getting it right development and implementation in Highland. Published in November 2009, it indicates how a Getting it right for every child approach can improve outcomes for children and young people in Scotland.
More information can be found in the Guide to Getting it right for every child.
Further information to support local implementation will be made available early in 2010.