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| Scotland's
Children Children (Scotland) Act 1995 Implementation Newsletter No 3 |
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| Scotland's
Children Children (Scotland) Act 1995 Implementation Newsletter No 3 |
| Implementation News Round-up |
| Children's Services Plans: a Tool for Strategic Planning |
| Collaboration, consultation and outcomes are the keys to children’s services plans, according to Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, Minister of State, speaking at an Edinburgh conference organised in August by Children in Scotland. |
| Under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, local authorities have the duty to prepare, publish and review plans for the provision of services for children, with a further duty to consult a range of bodies when drawing up and reviewing the plans. |
| ‘Each authority will have its own aims and objectives for providing and developing services for children in their areas,’ said Lord James. ‘Children’s services plans will provide the strategic focus for translating those into coherent policy and resource priorities for the local authorities. They will set out for three years ahead directions for development which are founded on a clear understanding of needs, are achievable and are realistic.’ |
| Lord James pointed out that planning is not an end in itself. ‘Plans are part of the process towards achieving change, outputs and outcomes for the benefit of children,’ he said. |
| A note of caution was also sounded: ‘Children’s services plans are a far cry from a "wish list" and equally from concentration on high volume/low cost services which are designed "simply to stretch the money further". |
| ‘An optimum balance has to be struck - this is the centre of strategic planning.’ |
| Unmarried fathers agreement |
| In Issue No. 2 of the Implementation Newsletter (August 1996), the new agreement allowing unmarried fathers to obtain parental responsibilities and rights was examined. |
| The forms which parents will need to make the agreements, together with explanatory notes and guidance, are currently being printed and will be widely available at the end of October from places such as Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Citizens Advice Bureaux, the Scottish Child Law Centre, ante-natal clinics, social work departments and community centres. |
| Act to benefit homeless |
| Local authorities have been called upon to adopt progressive policies and develop services to ensure that young homeless people benefit from the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, in a recent report published by Shelter Scotland. |
| The report, Homelessness and the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 says that the Act offers the potential for improved provision in relation to homeless 16 and 17 year olds and care leavers. Shelter’s Action Plan for implementing the Act spells out how local authorities can use the Act, in particular through including relevant policies and services in children’s services plans. |
| Homelessness and the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (£4.95) and the Action Plan (free of charge) are available from Shelter Scotland, 8 Hampton Terrace, Edinburgh EH12 5JD. Tel: 0131 313 1550 |
| Act goes further than UN Convention, says child law expert |
| The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 offers a new opportunity for effective participation for young people, according to Deirdre Watson, Director of the Scottish Child Law Centre, speaking at a major international conference organised by the Centre for Residential Child Care in Glasgow in September. |
| ‘In parts, the new Act goes even further than the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,’ said Ms Watson. |
| ‘If backed up by appropriate mechanisms within secondary legislation, the Act’s provisions ought to ensure that not only are the child’s views actively sought in a realistic manner, they are also given due weight by those concerned.’ |
| Consultation progress |
| Phase two of the consultation process on Parts II and III continues. With the issue of the following papers: |
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