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"In a small country where people are well connected, adaptable and aspirational, great changes are possible”

Providing a safe and therapeutic space for children and young people who have been victims or witnesses of harm, the Bairns' Hoose model has the potential to transform the care, justice and recovery systems.

Here, Henry Mathias explores the background to implementing the model, and discusses the challenges that lie ahead.

Just a few months ago, Scotland's first "Bairns' Hoose" (click for more) opened its doors, marking a significant step forward in our country's commitment to providing coordinated, comprehensive support under one roof for all children and young people in the protection and justice systems.

Informed by the Barnahus model, which originated in Scandinavia in the late 1990s and has since become commonplace across many European countries, it has taken years of hard work and determination to see this innovative, holistic approach become reality.

Implemented as a key action from The Promise, and underpinned by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), Scotland's Bairns' Hoose model centres on the creation of safe and welcoming places for children to go once a crime of abuse or violence has been reported, and brings therapeutic support, child protection, recovery and justice services together in one place through a "four rooms" concept.

With cross-party support, and a commitment from the Scottish Government to make a Bairns' Hoose available to all children who need it by 2025, the Care Inspectorate joined forces with Healthcare Improvement Scotland in 2019 to set about creating national standards to support a consistent, national implementation of the Barnahus model.

When we began this work, we already knew that Scotland's protection and justice systems hadn't always worked well for children and young people. Many families told us that after being a victim or witness, interaction with a multitude of statutory services - including the police, social workers, doctors, nurses and other professionals – made the experience even more difficult. In fact, many described the process as re-traumatising, as young people had to relive what had happened to them up to 14 times, often in different settings, with unfamiliar faces.

We also knew from our work bringing health and social care together to develop Scotland's Health and Social Care Standards, which came into effect in 2018, that an integrated model with one common framework was no easy task. We have built on the strengths of the joint police and social work Scottish Child Interview Model and brought in other professionals to be part of a new multi-disciplinary team. The collective focus of the team is the safety and wellbeing of the child victim.

It’s a considerable achievement that health and justice have come into the same space, which should mean that children and other family members experience a much more seamless and sympathetic all-round service. Being able to record video interviews to a consistently high standard in the Bairns’ Hoose should also mean that fewer children have to be cross-examined for court cases going forward. Scotland has adopted an ambitious and inclusive Barnahus model by including health and therapeutic support and ensuring siblings and other family members are eligible. In keeping with the holistic Kilbrandon principles, children under the age of criminal responsibility whose behaviour has caused harm can also access the Bairns’ Hoose, which adds a further layer of support.

To get it right and to make a difference, we needed children at the heart of the process. To make the standards outcome-focused, and embed individual, lived experience, children contributed to the drafting of the standards. We listened to and respected the voices of children, not by bringing them to an adult setting, but by funding participation groups that met in safe, protected spaces, which made it easier for them to express their opinions.

For Bairns’ Hoose implementation to be successful, the ongoing participation of children and organisations supporting them needs to continue.

This excerpt was taken from Issue 5 of Insight, the bi-annual publication for Children in Scotland members.

To read the full interview, you'll need a digital subscription, which costs just £10 per year and provides access to two issues. For more information, contact Alice Hinds: ahinds@childreninscotland.org.uk

Already a member? Click here to read Insight Issue 5

About the author

Henry Mathias is Head of Professional Standards and Practice at The Care Inspectorate

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Insight Issue 5

Find out what's inside the latest issue. Illustration by Ally McKay

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The Learning Guide: July-December 2023

Discover the latest learning opportunities

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Enquire

Find out more about Enquire, the national advice and information service for additional support for learning

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The website for young people offers advice and support on accessing their rights

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Making cyber security fun for children

As the issue of staying safe online impacts people in their personal and professional lives, Frances O’Neill, founder of Story Learning, discusses a project that is advocating for cyber resilience skills to be developed in the early years

Children are growing up in a digital world. According to a recent report by Ofcom, 97% of children in the UK have access to the internet with 86% of 5-7-year-olds using tablet devices to go online.

As a result of living in a hyper-connected digital environment, cyber-attacks on banks and businesses and the hacking of our personal information are ever-present dangers. We all need to be vigilant and improve our cyber resilience skills and the earlier we learn these skills, the better.

We don’t want children to be like some grown-ups who use the same password for everything; we want to embed good cyber resilience skills in our early years learners.

We are hardwired to remember stories, and this is why stories have been used as a way to teach people since the beginning of time.

Together with Education Scotland we have created a storybook 'The Bongles and The Crafty Crows' (click here to visit the website) with a rhyming story that encourages young children to recognise the importance of creating difficult to guess passcodes and passwords. The story follows the Bongles characters trying to keep their treasure secure from the crafty crows who are rather good at ‘shoulder surfing’ and cracking codes.

'The Bongles and The Crafty Crows' is the latest in a series of illustrated children's books, ebooks, and animated audiobooks that tell imaginative, funny, and eco-friendly stories about the Bongles characters. The Bongles are colourful bouncy creatures who reuse, repair, and upcycle objects that wash up onto the pristine shores of their paradise-like island.

The book, which is also available in Gaelic, raises awareness of the importance of secure passcodes and strong passwords made up of three random words. The animation, games and learning activities on the website reinforce this message (click here to view the website). The aim is to help children navigate their digital world safely and more securely.

Our vision is that good ‘cyber hygiene’ becomes embedded in early years learners and that the children encourage good practice at home, teaching their parents and carers about the importance of cyber resilience.

Sixty thousand books are being distributed to every Primary 1 pupil in Scotland. Education Scotland is running a series of webinars, and these are reaching thousands of children.

We developed the story with children, and they even came up with the name of the book. The story is filled with wonderful ideas from the children’s amazing creative imaginations, and it speaks directly to them.

Education Scotland set up a group of advisory teachers who tested the story with their five-year-old pupils, so children have been at the heart of this project from the outset. The advisory group of teachers also developed the learning activities; there are 14 different lesson plans for parents and carers to download and use at school or at home.

We believe this storybook for early years learners is a world first. With this book, Scotland wants to create a cyber resilient nation and we hope this innovative initiative inspires other governments to follow our lead.

We are digital citizens, members of a wider digital community, and it’s important to recognise that we are interlinked and responsible for not just our own but for other people’s digital safety and security.

The Bongles books have stories of cooperation and teamwork at their core, and these too are good skills to learn as we all rely on one another to have good cyber hygiene. A slipup from one person who is taken-in by a phishing scam and clicks on a bad link can compromise a whole organisation - we all need to improve our cyber resilience skills so that we can protect one another and live in a secure cyber world.

Click here to find out more about 'The Bongles and the Crafty Crows' 

About the author

Frances O'Neill is founder of Story Learning, creating stories with a purpose - to engage, inspire and inform

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The Bongles and The Crafty Crows

Discover more about these illustrated books that raise awareness of cyber security in the early years

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"Climate justice offers us a pathway to a world where all of us are free”

At just 25-years-old, Mikaela Loach has already achieved more than many people could manage in a whole lifetime. And yet, freshly graduated from university, she’s just getting started.

Alongside fellow Paid To Pollute campaigners, in the past few years, the young activist has taken the UK government to court over its public payments to fossil fuel companies, built a social media community of more than 180,000 like-minded people, launched a successful podcast, and penned a bestselling book, It’s Not That Radical, which explores the intersectional issues of capitalism, white privilege, poverty, and climate change.

If all that wasn’t enough, the articulate campaigner has also taken part in countless protests, including camping outside Westminster Abbey, alongside studying for a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh, which involved completing clinical placements throughout the pandemic.

Here, Mikaela, who has been named as one of the most influential women in the UK climate movement by the likes of Forbes, Global Citizen and BBC Woman’s Hour, speaks to Children in Scotland about her journey from teen activist to fighting for climate justice on a world stage – and how our young people can do the same by working together for collective change.

Alice Hinds: Many children and young people feel their opinions are not valued. Having got involved in activism at a young age, what helped you find your voice?

Mikaela Loach: I think it was just knowing that nothing has ever changed passively in this world. If we want things to change, we have to make them change.

As young people, we’re often told that we are naive or immature, and we don’t understand the world for wanting things to be different, wanting a world where everyone is safe and has dignified and free lives. But, actually, what is often characterised as naivety is our greatest strength. We can see that so much of this world doesn’t make any sense, and rather than allowing ourselves to be shut down by other people, we should instead say over and over again – ‘this world does not make sense and that we want something different. We want something safer and better. We deserve that and we can get that.’

 When it comes to climate crisis, young voices in particular are so important. We are one of the most impacted groups in this world, and we are going to be impacted disproportionately by this crisis. It’s so important that we do speak out, and realise that so many of the liberties and freedoms that we have now are because other people chose to be brave. Whether it was the civil rights movement, women’s rights and suffrage, or disability justice, people put their heads above the parapet and spoke out – and that’s how change happens.

AH: Within your best-selling book, It’s Not That Radical: Climate Action to Transform Our World, you talk about “active hope”– do you think there is a risk of young people, in particular, struggling with eco-anxiety and feeling hopeless about their future?

MK: I talk about active hope because I see hope as an active stance. Often, we’re told that things, the world, will just get better over time – but it’s not passive, it’s an active process, and we all have to be part of making the world better.

Eco-anxiety is rife in young people, we feel so anxious about our future. That anxiety comes from feeling that there’s nothing that we can do about it, as if the future has already been written and we have to just be OK with it. We can combat that by realising that we do have agency, we do have power, we can do things, and the future is not written – we are the ones writing the future, so we have to have the bravery to write something different.

AH: Alongside climate change, Scotland’s younger generations are facing a plethora of injustices that will impact their future. How do you remain optimistic in the face of so many challenges?

MK: It’s hard. All the oppressive issues in this world are connected to each other. There is no single issue struggle because we do not live single issue lives, as the great [American writer] Audre Lorde said. I understand that if all these issues are connected – and in my work I have an intersectional lens that sees these connections – then I’ll know that the work I’m doing to unravel one part of the oppression will unravel the whole tapestry. It reminds me that what we’re fighting for is not just one siloed liberation, it’s the liberation of all of us – and that’s exciting. Climate justice offers us a pathway to a world without misogyny, without homophobia, without racism, without classism, without transphobia. A world where all of us are free. We can do that, but we have to fight for that. Even just saying that has brought me some more hope.

AH: Do you believe politicians and world leaders have a responsibility to future generations when it comes to actively tackling climate change?

MK: Absolutely. Politicians and world leaders should always have a responsibility to future generations when they’re making any policy, but especially with the climate crisis because it is so urgent. For future generations, we need to have a policy of no new oil and gas and scaling down fossil fuels rather than scaling them up. Having no new oil and gas is key if we want to have future generations and if we want to have a world for us to live in.

This excerpt was taken from Issue 5 of Insight, the bi-annual publication for Children in Scotland members.

To read the full interview, you'll need a digital subscription, which costs just £10 per year and provides access to two issues. For more information, contact Alice Hinds: ahinds@childreninscotland.org.uk

Already a member? Click here to read Insight Issue 5

About the author

Mikaela Loach is a climate justice activist and best-selling author

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Insight Issue 5

Find out what's inside the latest issue. Illustration by Ally McKay

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The Learning Guide: July-December 2023

Discover the latest learning opportunities

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Join us in membership

Insight is just one of many benefits of membership of Children in Scotland

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Our staff

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Changing our World

Find out more about our children and young people's advisory group

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'I give a unique perspective, which enhances the accessibility of the organisation and the services it provides'

As Children in Scotland celebrates its 30th anniversary, Grant Douglas, IT Officer with Enquire shares some professional, and personal, highlights of his time at the organisation, and reflects on aims for the next five years.

How long have you worked with Children in Scotland/Enquire?

I am a Children in Scotland ‘adult’ having worked at Enquire since April 2004 – a total of 19 and a half years!

Have you got any personal or professional highlights from your time working with the organisation?

My funniest recollection is from Enquire’s first annual conference when I was asked, based on my own experience of both mainstream and segregated education settings, my top ten tips for inclusive education, and my colleagues and I thought it would be funny if I wore a wig to make me look like a DJ and played the Top of the Pops theme tune before I gave my tips. It certainly overcame any post-lunch ‘slump’!

The other highlight that always brings a smile to my face is my first day back to work after the Christmas and New Year break, when my colleagues had decorated my desk space to congratulate me on being awarded an MBE in the New Year’s honours list for inventing the S’up spoon (click here for more) – a spoon for shaky hands.

What is your proudest work-related moment?

At the start of the pandemic, when we all had to work from home, I was told that it wasn’t possible for staff to access the FileMaker databases that I created and which are crucial to operation of the Enquire additional support for learning helpline that advises parents, professionals and young people. I found a way to do it and that enabled the helpline to continue its vital work.

What personal learning or experiences have you brought to the role/the organisation that has enhanced how things are done?

As a person who has been disabled since birth, who has experienced both mainstream and segregated education, and worked for organisations that campaign for equality all my days, I feel that I can give a unique perspective, which enhances the accessibility of the organisation and the services it provides.

What are your professional aims for the next five years; what work is still to be done in the realm of ASL and related legislation?

Enquire has a vision statement of, ‘all children in Scotland are supported, included, and listened to throughout their education.’

Although great progress has been made in this area since I came into the organisation, I hope this becomes a reality in the next five years.

Grant Douglas is the IT Officer at Enquire, the national advice and information service for additional support for learning.
Click here to access the Enquire website

About the author

Grant Douglas is IT Officer at Enquire, the national advice and information service for additional support for learning

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Our services

We offer we offer a range of services that provide support, advice and representation for children and families

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Participation and Engagement work

Find out more about how we embed the inclusion and participation of children and young people in our work

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Annual Conference 2024

Book now for Children in Scotland's Annual Conference, 3031 May in Edinburgh

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Children's Sector Strategic and Policy Forum Elections 2023: a member's reflections

We are now accepting applications for election to the Children’s Sector Strategic and Policy Forum.

The Forum, which brings together sector leaders to discuss issues of strategic importance for the children’s sector, meets at least four times per year and takes a pro-active and evidence-based approach to improving children’s lives at a national level.

A member of the Forum for more than seven years, Christine Carlin, Board Trustee of Voluntary Health Scotland, shares her first-hand experience of the collaboration, influencing and knowledge-sharing that the Forum has facilitated between leaders working across the children's sector.

Why was it important for you to become a member of the Forum?

Working in smaller charities, where resources are tight, the Forum has offered me an invaluable gateway for keeping up to date about wider challenges being faced across our sector. The policy updates have been superb. The Forum offers opportunities to engage with Ministers and other speakers; to debate key issues with colleagues; to shape joint responses; and, at times, to influence Scottish Government thinking on future policy, legislation, or funding.

During the time you have been a member what have been some of the key areas you have worked on with the group?

We have covered a lot of ground over the years, and I’ve been privileged to contribute my tuppence-worth on many topics. Lots about our sector’s funding of course. But over longer periods of time, I was involved, with other group colleagues, in working with (and challenging) the Scottish Government on supporting young people with Additional Support Needs in Education; and, more recently, on Family Support, including the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund.

The Forum is made up of 30 members working across different areas of the children’s sector. Is it valuable to be able to discuss issues with such a wide range of expertise between the members? 

That range of expertise, and the opportunity for discussion and genuine debate, really is a strength of the Forum – plus the fact that we are working jointly for the benefit of the whole sector, not in opposition to each other’s organisations.

How is the Forum different from other groups you have participated in?

It is one of those groups (and yes, there are a few others) where I really look forward to the meetings. Every participant is going to learn something, and everyone has a real chance to contribute, no matter how small their own organisation. Plus, as Judith Turbyne (Children in Scotland's Chief Executive) sits on the National Leadership Group, we are updated on the latest thinking, and are able to feed in our joint thinking to the debate.

Have there been any other benefits to being a member of the Forum that you perhaps did not expect?

Not unexpected (we are a friendly bunch) but a huge bonus to have built some lovely friendships along the way!

______________________________________________

Children in Scotland members who are interested in applying for the Forum, should confirm that they meet the eligibility criteria, which can be found in the Children’s Sector Strategic and Policy Forum Election Process 2023 documents. Click here to view the document

The application process will remain open for three weeks until Wednesday 29 November. To apply for election, please contact Hannah Priest at hpriest@childreninscotland.org.uk confirming your eligibility along with a 200-word statement outlining your reason for standing and why you think your input will be of value to the Children’s Sector Strategic and Policy Forum.

If you have any questions about the election process, please contact Hannah Priest: hpriest@childreninscotland.org.uk.

 

About the Author

Christine Carlin is the Board Trustee of Voluntary Health Scotland.

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2023 Election Process

Find out more about the eligibility criteria for becoming a member of the forum in our information document

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Members' forums

Get connected, informed and inspired as part of our network dedicated to improving children’s lives

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It’s not about right or wrong, but about bringing people together

As Children in Scotland celebrates its 30th anniversary, Resolve Mediation Manager, Sandra Mitchell, explores the role of mediation, and how the service has adapted and achieved ongoing success over the years.

Resolve Mediation service has been delivering independent mediation within the Scottish education sector since 2004. We work with parents, carers, children, young people, education staff and practitioners to find a mutually agreeable resolution.

Our mediation approach is a collaborative way of assisting people to resolve and repair disputes, relationships and communication issues. It is not about who is ‘right’ or who is ‘wrong’.

We look at the present and the future rather than the past and bring together those who know the child or young person best.

Mediators do not judge or propose solutions. They facilitate a controlled and balanced conversation through questioning, encouraging people to listen to each other’s perspectives and explore issues, options and ways forward. The mediation atmosphere provides a safe place to have these cordial, constructive discussions. It is not combative. A skilled mediator supports and fosters good communication, trust and respect. These are all key to positive discussions leading to agreeable outcomes.

We would always recommend mediation is considered as early as possible in any dispute when people have stopped talking. We know the impacts that disputes and broken relationships can have on everyone’s wellbeing, stress levels and time however our skilled experienced mediators are on hand to provide a way to elevate these impacts in a respectful and trusting manner.

In many cases the mediation meeting is the opportunity to ‘reboot’ the relationship or communication. This in turn allows the issues to be addressed and we see this as an extremely successful and important outcome.

There are times that sharing and hearing information at the mediation meeting mean key people find solutions that had not been considered or even thought possible. It is also important to note that mediation agreements are not imposed upon people. They are mutually agreed outcomes, which have been proven to support and re-establish relationships between families and schools.

In early 2020, COVD-19’s very speedy spread suddenly shut down Resolve along with the rest of the world leaving us all dazed and quite unaware of what was to happen next.

In response to this we quickly realised we would need to move our service and move online to be able to continue to offer our service. This was a big challenge in many ways.

As a mediator for 25 years, I was always resistant to online or telephone mediation. I was passionate that the core component was the human aspect of being present with people who were in conflict and experiencing a wide range of emotions and behaviours.

However, any resistance to change – another very human response –was out of our control and we scrambled to set up procedures and processes so our service users could continue to resolve their disagreements, which had not gone away, and now had extra layers of pressures added due to the way we were having to live and communicate.

As the weeks went by and we all started to learn to live in lockdown, another new scary concept, we started to embrace and adapt to our new online delivery of mediation and to our delight and surprise it was not too painful.

In response to this we quickly realised we would need to move our service online to be able to continue to offer our service. This change allowed us and our mediation service to be more creative and invest in improving human connections thorough online mediation.

People who are in dispute, whatever it involves, carry a burden, unnecessary stress and upset which plagues them for months even years, eats up their time and puts unwanted pressures on their personal, professional life and relationships. To see the relief on their faces, and that they can finally move on with their life is priceless, especially when you know you have helped to achieve that albeit virtually or face to face.

Most concerns raised by parents, education staff were around using the technology, Teams, Zoom etc were quickly negated after trial runs and the support given by our mediation officer.

Our users started to tell us how they found it less time consuming- not having to travel, not having to have children looked after and that being in their own surroundings they felt more comfortable and confident to talk.

Nearly all feedback from our mediation users has told us that mostly they really valued that our service continued to connect them with the right people and support them to talk, listen and create solutions for their issues during extra stressful times and we ‘were still there for them’.

Reflecting on Resolve’s 20 year standing as the largest mediation provider in Scotland the pandemic brought us our biggest change and challenge and we are proud to say we did it and now have a fully hybrid mediation service.

Meet the team

Sandra Mitchell, Mediation Manager

Sandra leads the development, delivery and management of Resolve. She is committed to developing supportive relationships and good communication to ensure Resolve brings about positive change for practitioners, families and young people across Scotland.

“One of the best things about my job is actually being with people and seeing the pressures relieved after positive discussions,”

Alison Payne, Senior Mediation Officer

Alison manages the day-to-day service delivery and is the primary liaison and contact person for all referrals to Resolve

“It’s great to be an independent listener for people and be able to offer them help to look for ways to move forward from a stuck position.”

About the author

Resolve Mediation delivers independent mediations within the Scottish education sector

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Our services

We offer we offer a range of services that provide support, advice and representation for children and families

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Changing our World

Find out more about our children and young people's advisory group and its work and aims

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Children's Rights training

Bridging Policy and Practice - Bespoke children's rights training tailored to your organisation’s needs

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Participation and Engagement work

Find out more about how we embed the inclusion and participation of children and young people in our work

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The Learning Guide July-December 2023

Our latest guide includes a range of learning opportunities to meet your needs

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Annual Conference 2024

Book now for Children in Scotland's Annual Conference, 3031 May in Edinburgh

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Our membership offer

Be part of the largest national children's sector membership organisation in Scotland

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Listen to young people to help stop bullying

From 13-17 November, schools, organisations and youth groups across Scotland will be participating in Anti-Bullying Week 2023.

Lorraine Glass, Interim Director at Scotland’s Anti-Bullying Service respectme, explains how this year’s #ListenUp campaign encourages adults to actively listen to children and young people so that they can provide effective responses to bullying.

Bullying is an issue that leaves few of us untouched, whether we have seen it, done it, or had it done to us.

The impact of bullying can be profound and can have serious short and long term effects on the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of children and young people. Children need to be protected from bullying behaviour so that they can survive, develop and participate in a fulfilling life.

When we respond to bullying incidents, children and young people are watching and listening intently. Are we taking it seriously? Do we take time to listen, or are we too busy? Will we listen to and include what they want to happen in any action that is taken? Will we consider the full consequences of that action?

In helping us to co-design our latest anti-bullying campaign, young people shared their own experiences of not feeling heard when they reported bullying to an adult. They wanted to adults to actively listen, to take children and young people seriously, to know that bullying is a violation of children’s rights, and to place those rights at the heart of all effective responses to bullying.

As an adult, your response to a bullying situation is an opportunity to show the young people in your life that we are there to support them, and to tell them that bullying is never acceptable – it is not a “normal” part of growing-up and it is not something they need to put up with. On behalf of respectme and the members of the Youth Action Group, we are calling on adults involved in the lives of children and young people to ‘Listen Up!’ and take action for Anti-Bullying Week 2023 by pledging to our ‘5 Step Action Plan’.

Click here to access the pledge, toolkits and learning resources: www.respectme.org.uk/listenup.

About the author

Lorraine Glass is Interim Director at respectme, Scotland's Anti-Bullying Service

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Listen Up!

Find out more about the 'Listen Up!' campaign ahead of Anti-Bullying Week 2023

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Enquire

The national advice and information service for additional support for learning

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Reach

A website to help you understand children's rights to be supported and involved in decisions

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Celebration, recognition and connection for the befriending sector

1 Nov 2023

Today marks the start of Befriending Week, a seven-day national campaign offering the opportunity for celebration, recognition, and connection for the befriending sector. Angus MacLean, Quality Officer at Befriending Networks, which co-ordinates the campaign, explains how befriending organisations are providing invaluable support to children and young people across Scotland.  

Befriending Networks provides support, resources and training to 53 member organisations across Scotland with a focus on children and young people, as well as a larger network of nearly 400 befriending services across the UK. Befriending offers supportive, reliable relationships through volunteers, and provides invaluable support for children and young people, helping to reduce social isolation and loneliness and facilitate positive social connections across communities.

Our recently published Befriending Statistics Report (click here to read the report) estimates that in the past year, 2,268 volunteer befrienders provided 115,884 hours of support to children and young people across Scotland. This supported 7,245 children and young people to reach their potential and contributed an estimated total of £1,877,313 to the economy, supporting 7,245 children and young people to reach their potential.  

We run quarterly free network meetings, providing a platform for members to share best practice, support each other and receive national and local policy updates. As well as facilitating these network opportunities, we also publish a monthly Children and Young People Newsletter (click here to sign up to the newsletter), highlighting good practice, sector news, and funding and campaigning opportunities. This helps our members and supporters to stay up to date with the latest from across the sector.

Staff and volunteers can benefit from the wide range of training opportunities and toolkits delivered by Befriending Networks and we also offer the only award in the UK specifically tailored to befriending services. The Quality in Befriending Award (click here to find out more) promotes good practice in the sector and is valued by referrers, commissioners, befrienders and funders.  

We are proud to provide a voice for befriending across platforms such as Cross-Party groups and the Children in Scotland Voices Forum. We gather and analyse the feedback we receive through surveys, meetings and events and use this to deliver an up-to-date account of the successes and challenges faced by organisations operating across the befriending sector. In doing so, it is our aim to influence policy and increase funding and recognition for befriending services. 

From today, we begin a national campaign raising awareness and celebrating befriending. Befriending Week is a chance for organisations, volunteers, service users and funders to share their successes, raise awareness of their challenges, and increase funding and volunteer recruitment. This year’s Befriending Week theme is Befriending is Support.  

Click here to find out more about how to get involved with Befriending Week 2023: www.befriending.co.uk/resources/befriending-week 

About the author

Angus Maclean is the Quality Officer at Befriending Networks

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Befriending Statistics Report

Read the findings from Befriending Networks' Befriending Statistics Report, published in October 2023.

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Befriending Networks' Training

Befriending Networks provide a range of training opportunities for its members working in the befriending sector.

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Participation and Engagement work

Find out more about how we embed the inclusion and participation of children and young people in our work

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Imagining ‘elsewhere’: art therapy helping set children free from the anxiety of chronic illness

3 Oct 2023

When the Teapot Trust was awarded a charity garden at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show earlier this year, the team didn’t expect to collect a gold medal.

Carrie Cowley shares the process of designing the Elsewhere Garden, which was led by the creative ideas of the young people working with the Teapot Trust, and the future plans to replant it permanently at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow.

Around one in four children across the UK lives with a chronic health condition. These children often struggle to come to terms with their diagnosis and adhere to a regime of treatment. They may carry trauma from medical interventions and invasive tests. They often feel misunderstood because their illness is “invisible”, and others don’t recognise they are in pain. Ultimately, their illness frequently has a detrimental impact on their mental health.

At Teapot Trust our vision is to provide free and accessible art therapy to all children and young people with chronic illnesses and long-term conditions. Our qualified art therapists support children to share their experiences through art, which takes away the burden of having to verbalise often complex emotions. It can help children and young people to accept their diagnosis, develop coping strategies to manage their treatment protocol and help them to feel less isolated. It can be transformational.

That’s why we were thrilled to be awarded a charity garden at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May by grant-making charity Project Giving Back. It offered an opportunity to reach more children, young people and families in need, whilst spreading awareness of the prevalence of chronic conditions in the young and highlighting our work on a national scale.

The Teapot Trust Elsewhere Garden was designed by respected garden-design duo Semple Begg. They initially sat in on a Young Voices workshop with young people who had experienced Teapot Trust art therapy and were blown away by their ideas. The garden became an imagining of a child’s mind, set free from the burden of chronic illness, that took them ’elsewhere’. Where the inner world of a child’s anxiety is expressed as an outer wonderland using plants to paint a picture of what ‘elsewhere’ might look like. There was fun, fear and things that couldn’t be entirely explained… like dancing grasses.

We were delighted when the garden went on to win a gold medal. Our Chief Executive Sarah Randell said: “winning gold is a fantastic acknowledgement of the brilliance of Semple Begg’s design in conveying the freedom gifted by art therapy. The most important point is that we’ve never lost sight of the reason we created the Elsewhere Garden – to reach more children so that their lives can be transformed through the healing power of art therapy. For us, that’s gold.”

The garden is being permanently relocated on a larger scale this Autumn to the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. The hospital is located near areas where there are profound health inequalities, where chronic illness rates are higher, and continues our work to broaden access to art therapy.

The Elsewhere Garden will be used as an area for outdoor art therapy combining the power of nature and art, as well as providing a respite space for young patients, their families, and staff to enjoy. We are also fundraising to build a sustainable, weatherproof studio within the garden, a dedicated space to enable us to provide year-round art therapy away from the clinical environment.

The Teapot Trust Elsewhere Garden is being replanted at the hospital this October, with an official opening planned for Spring 2024 when the garden is in bloom. The garden and studio will provide a lasting legacy for Teapot Trust art therapy in Glasgow.

Since 2010, Teapot Trust has supported more than 13,000 children and young people, working with hospitals, patient support groups and GPs. Art therapy is usually delivered one-to-one or in small peer support groups.

Click here to find out more about Teapot Trust’s work:
www.teapot-trust.org

About the author

Carrie Cowley has responsibility for Digital Communications at Teapot Trust

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Building blocks for change

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The Learning Guide July-December 2023

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Access All Arts Fund

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Amplifying the experiences of young people seeking legal representation in Scotland

Earlier this month, Clan Childlaw launched the Alright? animation, which calls attention to the challenges young people face when seeking legal representation.

Claire Lightowler, Project Manager of the Rights in Justice project at Clan Childlaw, details how young people took the lead in creating the impactful animation.

Clan Childlaw is delighted to present the Alright? animation (click here to view) which shows a child’s struggle to find his place within a complex web of rights, laws and support systems. The main character, Malcolm, identifies what could improve things.

The animation was informed by a scoping study (click here to find out more) produced between April and September 2022 which explored the legal needs of children and young people in conflict with the law.

During this work, young people shared their experiences of legal representation and their ideas about what could be improved, with sessions facilitated by Youth Justice Voices (click here for more about Youth Justice Voices). They also shared ideas about the best way of communicating the findings. We agreed that Clan Childlaw should produce a young person’s version of Clan Childlaw’s report (click here to read the report) and explore the possibility of creating a more visual and impactful output.

I approached Braw Talent (click here to visit their website) in November 2022 to talk about options and possibilities, because of their reputation for working with young people to amplify their voices through film making, animations and visual arts.

In liaison with Braw Talent and the project lead for Youth Justice Voices, we agreed that the purpose of the animation was to raise awareness of young people’s experiences and to convey why good legal representation matters. We also aimed to produce something which would encourage the viewer to reflect on their own practice and/or begin thinking about how they might support change in other ways.

The next step was for Braw Talent to work with young people about the story they wanted to tell. Braw Talent worked with Youth Justice Voices, who knew the young people best, to design a process of working with young people which would best work for the young people.

We paid young people for their time where this was possible, though this was not an option for those who were in the Young Offender Institution. Throughout the process young people at times wanted to be involved and at other times didn’t, with new young people joining in and some no longer able to be involved. Tragically, one of the young people involved passed away, and the animation is dedicated to Bella and her determination for change. It took about six months longer than we originally expected it to.

The young people’s ideas were then turned into a script, using recordings of the sessions so that exact words and phrases were used. The draft script was read out loud to the young people, who commented, refining the language, adding jokes and making sure nuances were correctly expressed.

The draft script this was also shared with lawyers at Clan Childlaw to check whether it felt real to them too. They wondered whether the lawyer should be female given the gender of most lawyers working in the Children’s Hearing System and they suggested the use of laptops to take notes, rather than having piles of papers, to reflect what is more likely to happen. The young people had the final say on the content, the look and the feel of the animation, and any reflections from professionals were shared with Braw Talent to explore with young people on the understanding that it was their decision.

Members of Youth Justice Voices, and those who support them, provided the voices for the animation. Everyone had an opportunity to participate in recording the “blah blah blahs” in the opening scene, meaning that literally everyone had a voice.

Once the animation was completed, popcorn-fuelled showings were organised for the young people. They shared how powerfully the animation captured their experiences, they had all been in Malcolm’s shoes. However, they want to know that their voices are being heard and will lead to change.

There are different ways you might use this resource:
· to support conversations with children and young people about rights, remedies when rights are not upheld and the role of lawyers
· at events with professionals to raise awareness of what needs to change
· as a teaching resource in schools, colleges and universities
· in induction processes and in training to explain what good practice looks like
· to support wider system and cultural change activities - particularly for the legal profession, in care and justice settings and to #KeepThePromise.

Please let Clan Childlaw know how you use the resource and the difference it makes to your work. Click here to visit their website: https://www.clanchildlaw.org/alrightanimation/ or email them at info@clanchildlaw.org.

About the author

Claire Lightowler is Project Manager of the Rights in Justice project at Clan Childlaw

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Animation shares legal experiences

A powerful new animation project explores the views of children with experience of the legal system

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Our projects

Find out more about our project work to help achieve our vision that all children in Scotland have an equal chance to flourish

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Building blocks for change

Book now for Children in Scotland's Early Years Conference 2023 - 6 November, Glasgow

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The Learning Guide July-December 2023

Our latest guide includes a range of learning opportunities to meet your needs

Click here to access

Vision and Values

Our values set out Children in Scotland's beliefs and qualities

Click here for more

Enquire

Find out more about Enquire, the national advice and information service for additional support for learning

Visit the website

Reach

The website for young people offers advice and support on accessing their rights

Visit the website