About us

Giving all children in Scotland an equal chance to flourish is at the heart of everything we do.

By bringing together a network of people working with and for children, alongside children and young people themselves, we offer a broad, balanced and independent voice. We create solutions, provide support and develop positive change across all areas affecting children in Scotland.

We do this by listening, gathering evidence, and applying and sharing our learning, while always working to uphold children’s rights. Our range of knowledge and expertise means we can provide trusted support on issues as diverse as the people we work with and the varied lives of children and families in Scotland.

Our Manifesto for 2021-26

Click here to read our Manifesto which outlines our policy calls and the changes we would like to see made to ensure children and young people’s rights are upheld.

Our priorities

Our priorities are the key areas we focus on.

Championing the participation and inclusion of children and young people
Working to ensure that support for children, young people and their families is appropriate, available and accessible
Challenging inequalities
Leading and developing the children’s sector workforce
Continuing as a sustainable organisation.

How we work

One of our strengths is the unique position we occupy within the children’s sector. This is a product of the varied work we do and the relationships we have – with our members, the wider children’s sector, local and national government and, most importantly, children and young people.

Grounded in Children’s Rights

Our work has a very strong child’s rights focus. It is underpinned by the United Nations Convention for the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (click here for more) and we are part of Together Scotland (click here for more), an alliance of Scottish children's charities that works to improve the awareness, understanding and implementation of the UNCRC. We have developed our own set of Participation & Engagement guidelines that we use in all of our work.

Another key area that guides our work is our values. These were developed in 2014, reviewed as part of our ‘brand consultation’ process in 2016 and updated again in Spring 2022. These values inform all of our activity including planning, delivery of services, recruitment and fundraising.
Click here to read our Vision and Values

To ensure that all the different activity we are involved in joins up properly, we have developed our Strategic plan (click here for more)  and, very closely aligned, our Manifesto for the 2021-26 parliament (click here for more).

Both of these documents were developed with our values in mind; in partnership with staff, our Board and our members; with the aim to support the children’s sector; and to help us achieve our vision.

We also work towards recognised awards and accreditations. Recent examples include the EFQM Committed to Excellence (click here for more) and the LGBT Charter of Rights (click here for more).