Corporate Parenting seeks to help those with Care Experience. Corporate Parenting duties exist to be a "good parent" to looked after children and care leavers, to better their life chances and help them to realise their potential.
Falkirk's Corporate Parents, Falkirk Family and Friends, aims to improve the traditionally poorer outcomes for care experienced people and helping all children in the Council area with The Promise and comply with the legal duties of being a Corporate Parent.
The Promise Implementation Team
The Promise Implementation Team works across the Falkirk Community Partnership with a remit covering The Promise, Whole Family Wellbeing, Participation and Engagement, and Family Support. Scotland made a promise that all our children and young people would grow up loved, safe and respected, and realise their full potential. The team's aim is to embed a unified and humanised way of working that will be felt in day-to-day practice.
Corporate Parenting and the Law
A Corporate Parent is an organisation that has special responsibilities towards Care Experienced children and young people. There are six duties as defined by law as laid out in Part 9 (Corporate Parenting) (Section 58) of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014:
Be alert: Be aware of matters that could negatively affect the wellbeing of children and young people
Assess needs: Evaluate the needs of children and young people for services and support
Promote interests: Advocate for the interests of children and young people
Provide opportunities: Offer opportunities for children and young people to participate in activities that promote their wellbeing
Take action: Take action to help children and young people access opportunities, services, and support
The Corporate Parenting duties apply to all looked after children (aged from birth to when they ceased to be looked after) and care leavers, who were looked after on or after their 16th birthday, up until the age of 26. This includes children looked after at home, in foster care, residential and secure care, formal Kinship Care and children with disabilities who are looked after on a series of short breaks. The Corporate Parenting duties apply equally to all categories of looked after children.
Why do we need Corporate Parents?
Children and young people are likely to be taken into the care system through experiences of abuse, trauma and neglect often collectively referred to as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). ACEs include parental substance misuse, physical or emotional abuse, neglect, parental mental illness, or a parent in prison. Children with Care Experience tend to have poorer outcomes in life as a result of their early life trauma.
Corporate Parenting was introduced to tackle the persistently poorer outcomes for people with Care Experience and do the things that any loving and nurturing parent would do to help their children progress in life and realise their potential.
Legal Definitions of Looked After Child and Care Leaver
57 Application of Part: children and young people
(1) This Part applies to— Looked After
(a) every child who is looked after by a local authority, and
(b) every young person who—
(i) is under the age of 26, and
(ii) was (on the person's 16th birthday or at any subsequent time) but is no longer looked after by a local authority.
(2) This Part also applies to a young person who— Care Leavers
(a) is at least the age of 16 but under the age of 26, and
(b) is not of the description in subsection (1)(b)(ii) but is of such other description of person formerly but no longer looked after by a local authority as the Scottish Ministers may specify by order.
A child or young person is considered to be "looked after" if they fall into one of the categories set out in Section 17 (6) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, as amended by Schedule 2 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007. These categories are:
Subject to a supervision requirement set by a Children's Hearing (including those on a compulsory supervision order and living at home with birth parents-'looked after at home')
Accommodated by a local authority under Section 25 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (otherwise known as a ‘voluntary agreement’)
Subject to a permanence order granted by a court
Subject to an order, authorisation or warrant made by relevant authorities under chapters 2,3 or 4 of Part 2 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995
Who are Falkirk Family and Friends
The group is made up of local Corporate Parents and are supported by Falkirk's Promise Implementation Team. Together it is formed by:
- Police Scotland
- Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
- Skills Development Scotland
- Falkirk Champs
- NHS Forth Valley
- Children’s Hearings Scotland
- Falkirk Council Officers
- Get to Focus Group (a group of local families who have had lived experience of Social Work interventions in their lives)
- Third Sector
- Forth Valley College
- Scottish Prison Service
- Childrens Hearings Scotland
- Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration
Falkirk's Care Experience definition
The term care-experienced in Falkirk refers to anyone who has been or is currently in care or from a looked-after background at any stage in their life, including adopted children who were previously looked-after. This care may have been provided in one of many different settings such as in residential care, foster care, kinship care, or through being looked-after at home with social work support.
- Downloads
-
Corporate Parent Plan
DOCX file, 1.9 MB
