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10 deserving winter appeals to support today

2 Dec 2024

With Christmas fast approaching and so many winter appeals now seeking your support, Julie Thomson, Communications & Marketing Manager at Children in Scotland has pulled together just a small selection of the current campaigns from deserving children’s sector charities. Please use our social media threads to let us know about your campaign and how we can support you.

As the Christmas lights go up, and the Black Friday deals hit our screens and inboxes, it’s easy to forget that not everyone gets to enjoy a winter of magic and sparkle. For many families, the financial pressure of the season is unimaginable, as they balance Christmas expectations and the need for basic necessities. We continue to be in awe of our member and sector network, who are working hard to relieve this pressure on families and give children, in Scotland and beyond, a festive season to remember.  Here’s just a few of the great campaigns that have come our way this week.

One Parent Families Scotland: Give a child #ABrighterChristmas

One Parent Families Scotland (OPFS) is a fantastic charity that supports single parents and campaigns for solutions to the disadvantages and barriers that they and their children face. Christmas time can be particularly hard for single-income families, and OPFS’s Christmas appeal aims to make sure families keep warm and children don't go hungry or without presents.

Learn more: Give a child a brighter Christmas

Cyrenians: Festive organic fruit and veg bag

Image of a colourful fruit and vegetables selection, with a christmas wreath and baubles above

It’s the time of year when many of us are Christmas meal planning, and if you’re anything like me, it’s all about the trimmings. Why not make your next fruit and veg order go further by picking up a bag from Cyrenians, whose work tackles the causes and consequences of homelessness in Scotland.

Learn more: Cyrenians Festive Fruit and Veg Bag

Fife Gingerbread: Heat and Eat Appeal

We recently put a spotlight on Fife Gingerbread's winter appeal (click here for more). Fife Gingerbread are another of our wonderful members who are supporting families to build safe, warm and healthy homes this winter. Their annual Heat and Eat campaign supports families in crisis, providing critical support for everything from the cost of energy bills to ingredients for healthy meals – and due to the cost of living crisis, the charity says donations have never been more vital.

Learn more: Heat and Eat Appeal

Dundee Bairns: Help us to help Dundee Bairns this Christmas

This winter, Dundee Bairns is highlighting the stark reality that one in three children in Dundee live below the poverty line – and they need your help to provide the basics to families this festive season. The charity is on a mission to raise £15,000 to provide food vouchers and essential home supplies to families in need across Dundee.

While cash is always king when it comes to charity appeals, there are other ways you can support Dundee Bairns’ work – including the donation of household items, like food, cleaning products, toiletries and bedding.

Learn more: Dundee Bairns

Edinburgh Children's Hospital Charity: Home for Christmas?

Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC) do fantastic work year-round to support seriously ill children visiting hospital in Edinburgh and beyond. Christmas time is no exception, as they strive to create some magic moments, comfort and distraction for those who find themselves unwell in the festive period.

Learn more: ECHC Charity

Scottish Book Trust: Christmas appeal

A drawing of Eric Cardle's Very Hungry caterpillar with the words 'Sophie is very hungry for stories, but doesn't have any books at home'

The parents and carers among us will be familiar with the work of the Scottish Book Trust and the lovely resources they provide throughout the year to support children and young people’s reading. The Trust is passionate about the positive impact of books on lifelong learning and being a key driver of breaking the poverty cycle.

Their Christmas appeal seeks to raise funds for specialised kits to support families to share stories, songs and rhymes with their children, tactile books for children with additional support needs, and gift books for families who need them most through food banks and community hubs.

Learn more: Scottish Book Trust

Save the Children: Middle East appeal

Save the Children’s Middle East appeal focuses on supporting children in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as other areas affected by the current conflict there, including the West Bank and Syria. Donations to their appeal will be used to purchase school kits, family hygiene packs, food and emergency first aid provisions.

Learn more: Middle East appeal

ALLMEP

ALLMEP is a coalition of over 160 organizations—and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis—building cooperation, justice, equality, self-determination, shared society, mutual understanding, and peace among their communities. They seek support for their advocacy work and peace-building programmes via their website.

Learn more: ALLMEP

Sense Scotland: Christmas shop

'Christmas Winterland' cover of Christmas card depicts a winter town scene with a church, park and people skating on a frozen pond.

There are many ways to support this incredible charity this winter, but we have particularly been enjoying the lovely selection of gifts available to purchase on their website. From candles to Christmas cards, purchases will support Sense Scotland’s work with children and young people with communication support needs associated with complex and sensory disabilities.

Learn more: Sense Scotland Christmas Shop

Children in Scotland

And finally, if you can this Christmas, please consider a gift to Children in Scotland. Our wide-ranging work supports, informs and amplifies voices in the children’s sector, allowing children across the country to flourish and meet their potential. We need your support to continue to tackle important topics like child poverty, mental health, additional support for learning, and other children’s rights issues. We would be incredibly grateful for any donations this winter on our Give As You Live page.

Donate now

About the Author

Julie Thomson is Communications & Marketing Manager at Children in Scotland.

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Making Sense of Scotland – a creative approach to engaging young people with their heritage

28 Nov 2024

Did you know that Scottish residents can visit selected Historic Scotland properties for free on the first Sunday of each month up until March 2025? The Historic Sundays initiative is particularly aimed at encouraging those who have never visited a site before, whether due to perceived cost or feeling heritage may not be for them, with the opportunity to visit a historic site for free and experience all of the wellbeing benefits that engaging with the historic environment provides.

Here, Craig Fletcher, Head of Learning and Inclusion at Historic Environment Scotland, shares why it's so important to engage our children and young people with Scotland's historic heritage.

Scotland’s historic environment is all around us. It connects the physical evidence of human activity such as buildings, landscapes and artefacts with the events and stories associated with them and the records that reveal how it has changed over time.

Wherever you live in Scotland, you have access to the local historic environment. This could be a church or castle, standing stones, a changing high street, objects in your local museum, photographs in your local gallery or archives in your local library, your home or even your school.

Viewed as a rich national learning resource, it can be used to support a wide range of initiatives for children and young people including education, developing skills for life and work and wellbeing. As a source of inspiration, it is an inspiring and varied medium for project work and supporting creativity. Many historic sites sit within rich natural environments providing opportunities for exploration, discovery, outdoor and play based learning.

It provides access to our shared culture and heritage. For example:

  • Visiting a historic site lets young people experience the places where events in history really happened.
  • Having a go at a traditional skill provides hands-on experience of how buildings were built and are conserved.
  • Investigating archives can help in understanding how places and people have changed over time.

But it’s about much more than history. Places, objects, stories and records can provide creative inspiration, unique experiences and multi-sensory environments to support all types of subjects, themes, programmes and outcomes. Getting our children and young people inspired by Scotland’s past helps them learn more about themselves. It’s about making sense of the world and making sense of Scotland.

Outdoor learning – investigating a historic site (Kinneil House)
Outdoor learning – investigating a historic site (Kinneil House)

As the lead organisation for Scotland's historic environment, we are dedicated to promoting inclusive access and engagement. This includes collaborating with education, youth work, and other organisations that support children and young people. This includes:

Engaging a broader and more diverse group of young people supports Historic Environment Scotland’s (HES) strategic goal of 'Heritage for All' and enhances the social and cultural value of Scotland's historic environment.

Our new Making Sense of Scotland (click here for more) framework for outreach and learning outlines how we aim to make Scotland's historic environment a treasured resource for learners of all ages and abilities and build positive relationships with our future visitors, workers, and decision-makers.

HES offers additional direct support to young people and families through admission discounts. Young Scot card holders can get £1 entry to all of our ticketed sites, year-round, at historyawaits.scot

Additionally, Scottish residents have the opportunity to access Historic Scotland winter ticketed properties for free on the first Sunday of each month up until March 2025 – visit historicsundays.scot for tickets.

To find out more about what resources are available, how to book a learning visit, or just to find some inspiration, head to historicenvironment.scot/learn

About the Author

Craig Fletcher is Head of Learning and Inclusion at Historic Environment Scotland

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Open Kindergarten project - the importance of holistic, person-centred support for parents and carers

Member blog

27 Nov 2024

Earlier this month, the third phase of the Open Kindergarten project was launched in Scotland. In this new phase of the project, the Open Kindergarten model – which offers parents and carers the opportunity to develop parenting skills, confidence and knowledge – will be tested in different settings in central Scotland. As the new phase begins, Amy Woodhouse, Chief Executive of Parenting across Scotland, discusses how the project has evolved over the past six years and shares her hopes as the project partners begin work on the next stage.  

I’ve been involved in quite a few projects over the years that had great potential but couldn’t continue after their initial funding period ended. I’m sure I’m not alone in that experience. It can be a frustrating and demoralising business to feel like you need to keep reinventing the wheel.

How nice therefore to be able to share with Children in Scotland members that our new Open Kindergarten project has just entered its third phase of funding and its sixth year of activity in Scotland!

In essence Open Kindergarten is a model of parenting support where groups of parents, carers and their young children meet regularly in family centres and are supported by highly-qualified early years staff who work alongside specialists to develop parents’ skills, confidence and knowledge. The origins of Open Kindergartens go back much further than six years of course. Widespread in Nordic countries, they’ve been in operation for 50 years or more and are very well known and understood there.

Scotland’s journey with Open Kindergartens began in 2015 when Clare Simpson, then Manager of Parenting across Scotland, visited Sweden, Norway and Denmark to explore those countries approaches to supporting families in the early years. A key feature of the study visit was understanding how they used the Open Kindergarten approach.

In 2018 Children in Scotland, Parenting across Scotland and the University of Stirling were able to secure funding for a feasibility study to explore whether the Open Kindergarten model could be adapted to Scotland to improve outcomes for children in the early years. It concluded that Open Kindergartens had lots of potential and would be worth exploring further.

Between 2019 and 2020 the project partnership began piloting Open Kindergartens in Midlothian and Edinburgh, bringing in Midlothian Sure Start and Granton Early Years Centre as delivery partners. Fifty-one families took part in Open Kindergarten sessions. The evaluation identified the key components that defined the Open Kindergarten approach in Scotland:

  • It is person-centred, relaxed and informal.
  • It is parent-led.
  • The open-door policy means that you can drop in without a referral.
  • It is free.
  • The practitioner’s approach focuses on warmth, authenticity and receptiveness.

The report concluded that Open Kindergartens filled a gap in early years services and had a positive impact for both parents and children. Parents were very positive about their experiences – for some it was their only source of support.

“I feel like when I come here, I can just feel relaxed and be normal and she can just play away and I can talk to other mums about how I feel, what’s went on, and it’s like we share different things, different techniques, and it’s like, okay, I’ll give that a try. Yes, and it’s good to have other support other than my partner, which is nice.” — Parent

After the pilot project finished, Midlothian Sure Start mainstreamed the Open Kindergarten approach within their services, offering Open Kindergarten sessions to parents across multiple sites in the area. Five years after they started delivering, they are still convinced that the approach offers something distinct and valuable to families.

Now the partners are back together with funding from the Scottish Government’s Whole Family Wellbeing Fund. We’re going to be testing the Open Kindergarten model further to see how it works in different settings, times and venues. We want to be able to get the model to a stage where it is defined enough to be rolled out across Scotland. Parenting across Scotland will be leading the project this time and Children in Scotland will be focused on developing the elearning resource, to support wider uptake. Midlothian Sure Start will be working with delivery partners to extend the model across East Lothian, West Lothian and Edinburgh. The Open University will evaluate this expansion.

We’re excited for this new phase and regularly reminded of how important holistic, non stigmatising parent-led support is. It should be something that is freely available to every family and embedded within local service infrastructures – not subject to the whims of short-term funding. We are proud to help Open Kindergartens become part of the mainstream support system.

Please click here to find out more about the Open Kindergarten project

 

About the Author

Amy Woodhouse is Chief Executive of Parenting across Scotland, a project partner of the Open Kindergarten project

Click here for more

Celebrating Connection and Community

Victoria Galloway is Learning and Development Manager at Befriending Networks.

Click here for more

We must delay making alcohol-free childhoods a reality

Amy Smith, Senior Coordinator (Policy) at Alcohol Focus Scotland

Click here for more

Making brave choices to keep the promise

Paul Henderson is Project Worker at Harmeny

Click here for more

Keeping children safe

Simon Massey, Head of Engagement & Learning at Children in Scotland

Click here for more

Today a 'quiet' childcare revolution is taking place

Douglas Guest is Development Manager - The Promise at Circle

Click here for more

We can all be allies

Alexis Wright (top) and Lorna New (bottom) are Wellbeing Coordinators with the Guardianship Scotland

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Developing our next Manifesto: “Together, we have a powerful voice”

19 Nov 2024

As we develop our next Children in Scotland Manifesto, our Head of Policy, Projects and Participation, David Mackay, discusses the importance of harnessing our collective voices to create a fairer Scotland where all children and young people can flourish.

It’s almost four years to the day since we published the last Children in Scotland Manifesto ahead of the 2021 Scottish Parliament elections. At the time, we were in the midst of the second national lockdown enforced to protect public health during the coronavirus pandemic – a pandemic that shined a light on some of the starkest inequalities in our society.

Our 2021-2026 Children in Scotland Manifesto aimed to bring hope in those hard times, outlining both the short- and long-term policy and legislative changes that would help us achieve our vision of Scotland where all children have an equal chance to flourish. We consulted with our members, partners and children and young people to create a manifesto that reflected their policy priorities and assured them that Scotland’s children’s sector was united in our efforts to create lasting change.

Since 2021, we’ve achieved important milestones in creating a better Scotland for children, young people and families. Perhaps most notably is the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots Law, enshrining children’s rights in all devolved legislation.

We have also seen key steps taken by the Scottish Government to Keep The Promise to Scotland’s care experienced children and young people as well as a renewed commitment from Scottish Ministers to reduce child poverty and the introduction of the Scottish Child Payment.

We know, however, there is still much to do to match rhetoric with reality.

Our members bring a wealth of experience in supporting Scotland’s children, young people and families. They do this by providing life-changing frontline public services, support and advocacy, policy expertise and legal knowledge. As we develop our next Children in Scotland Manifesto, we want to take this opportunity to hear directly from our members about what issues matter most to them and what they believe needs to change to improve outcomes for children and young people.

We know our members work in a variety of fields with unique strategic aims and ambitions. Our intention with the Children in Scotland Manifesto is to identify where these aims align and harness the power of our collective voice so we can create a fairer Scotland where all children and young people have the chance to thrive.

At this early stage in our Manifesto development, we’re inviting children’s sector organisations to share their views. This autumn, we are hosting two online Voices Forum discussion sessions with our members, and we currently have a live online survey supporting Children in Scotland members and our wider partners to contribute ideas.

This activity is part of wider conversations with children and young people, our staff and board and other key partners. We are also reviewing recent evidence from across the children’s sector.

In the new year, we’ll start to analyse these contributions and begin to write up the Manifesto. This won’t be an easy task, so we’ll be back in touch with our members as the Manifesto takes shape to ensure it reflects their views and experiences. We want to create a Children in Scotland Manifesto for 2026 – 31 that is clear and direct in our expectations of the Scottish Government. At Children in Scotland, our members are our greatest asset and it’s vital that they see themselves in our Manifesto.

We encourage all our members and sector partners to join us as we set out our stall for the next parliamentary term, to build on the progress we’ve achieved so far and continue to work towards a Scotland where all children have an equal chance to flourish. Together, we have a very powerful voice.

Share your views in through our online survey:

You can submit your views to our online survey by clicking here. The survey will remain open until 23 December 2024

Join our Voices Forum:

If you would like to attend the Voices Forum session on 28 November, 10am – 12pm, please email our Policy, Projects and Participation Officer, David Yule, on dyule@childreninscotland.org.uk

About the author

David Mackay is Children in Scotland's Head of Policy, Projects and Participation

Meet our team

Have your say on our next Manifesto

Complete our short survey to help shape our priorities for the 2026-2031 Manifesto

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Join our Voices Forum

Our members are invited to share priorities at our next Voices Forum on 28 November, 10am

Register to attend

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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Wellbeing in the workplace – can training help promote self-care?

7 Nov 2024

In both our professional and personal lives, we spend a lot of time thinking about and caring for others – so much so, it can be hard to prioritise our own wellbeing.

Here at Children in Scotland, we believe that in order to care for others, we must start by taking care of ourselves and, to practice what we preach, we recently held an all staff training day that focused on ways to improve self-care.

Led by expert therapist Jan Montgomery – who is set to host another of her popular 'person-centred planning' sessions with us in January – the training looked at ways to encourage positive mental health in the workplace, using hands-on activities and group exercises.

From the benefits of journaling to drawing your own labyrinth map, here’s what Children in Scotland staff took away from Jan’s workshop.

1. The importance of 'me time'

“I already knew lots of things that are good for creating positive mental health, but I don’t always prioritise 'me time'. After Jan’s session, I realised I had to make more time every day to do something I love and I know is good for me. Things like walking on the beach with the dog, not spending hours scrolling on my phone at bedtime, and enjoying the beauty in everyday things. Oh, and accepting compliments and being thankful for them!” – Jemma

2. Building boundaries

“Jan’s delivery approach is thought-provoking and interactive, but also incredibly sensitive. Jan has helped me to reflect on the importance of creating not only professional boundaries, but boundaries in my personal life as well that support my mental health. I loved how solution-focused and positive Jan’s approach is. The training session helped me reframe my thinking through her many brilliant practical ideas and activities.” – Lizz

3. Finding time for small activities every day

“Jan has such a calming presence. Sometimes, finding the time for self-care feels like yet another thing to add to my to-do list, but Jan provided so many simple yet effective suggestions that I can now try every day – from journaling to drawing my own labyrinth.” – Alice

4. Caring for each other

“It feels as if the workshop offered different things to different people throughout the day. For me, it is so important for us to be able to come together as an organisation and think about how we can care for ourselves and therefore better care for others.” – Judith

5. Simple pleasures

“It might sound silly but I really appreciated receiving positive ‘endorsement’ from Jan that simple pleasures like a good walk, getting some time in the sun or bathing in birdsong aren’t only enjoyable but of critical importance to my wellbeing. Jan gently encourages us to discover our best, happiest selves.” – Angus

Join Jan Montgomery on her upcoming training session, Person-centred planning: helping children determine their own futures (click here for more), which explores brain development, functions and emotional regulation, and how these link to goal attainment, and shares practical tools to support young people with their goals, as well as your own professional development.

Learn with us online and in-person

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Making Space for Voices: Join our Annual Conference in Glasgow on 28 and 29 May 2025

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Check out our blog for more commentary, membership news and more!

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Reach

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

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Celebrating Connection and Community: Befriending Week 2024

Member blog

31 Oct 2024

Taking place from 1-7 November, Befriending Week is an annual campaign celebrating the importance of befriending. Here, Victoria Galloway, Learning and Development Manager at Befriending Networks, highlights why, with so many of the network’s members often working alone, Befriending Week offers an important opportunity to celebrate achievements, renew confidence and advocate for the meaningful work of befriending organisations.

As Learning and Development Manager at Befriending Networks for over six years, I have witnessed our team evolve and work diligently to support the delivery of befriending initiatives globally. Currently, our network includes 323 members, 85 of which are small projects with an annual turnover of less than £100,000. With 26% of our members being small organisations, we strive to provide a variety of support that can be accessed without financial concerns.

Established in 1994, Befriending Networks has over thirty years of experience in supporting and connecting communities. Our vision is of a society where quality befriending support is available to everyone who needs it and the importance of meaningful connection is recognised.

We offer free resources, sample policies and procedures, and exclusive free events for members to help all our constituents, regardless of their financial situation. In my role, I develop training courses, events, and materials to support staff development, good governance, and best practices within befriending (click here for more). I also conduct free consultancy sessions for projects (click here for more), enabling them to explore their needs and receive tailored advice or signposting to our services and external opportunities that may be beneficial.

Befriending Week 2024

Each year, we coordinate Befriending Week (click here for more). Taking place 1-7 November this year, the annual campaign highlights the importance of befriending and positively influencing volunteer recruitment for our member organisations.

When I joined Befriending Networks in 2018, my first Befriending Week was spent listening intently to those in the sector. This experience deepened my understanding of the variety of services available, the incredible impact of dedicated volunteers and teams, and the heartfelt testimonials from service users in the UK and beyond. It ignited my passion for community work, and each year, I hope our annual campaign can inspire others in the same way.

Befriending Week is a chance to celebrate community efforts, and the profound difference one person can make by fostering meaningful connections. During the week, we invite those in the befriending sector to reflect on their achievements over the previous year, thank volunteers and staff for their dedication, celebrate their service users, and share their meaningful connections with their stakeholders, government and the public.

The week presents organisations with an opportunity to advocate for their work, their positive impact, and their place in society. Befriending Networks supplies certificates, bunting, party packs and a range of resources that anyone can use for their celebrations (click here to access Befriending Week resources).

We will also host our Annual Conference and AGM on Thursday 7 November. It is open to the entire network and offers an opportunity for collaboration. Keynote speakers will share relevant research and practical examples to support community projects. With years of experience organising this event, I enjoyed our fresh approach in 2024. A steering group of our members has helped us identify their needs and expectations, shaping the framework and themes for the day.

Given the funding cuts impacting the Third Sector, the future of befriending feels uncertain for many. Therefore, our focus for the day will be on the Future of Befriending. We will provide keynotes on Leadership Skills, Innovation and Collaboration, and Volunteer Recruitment, with the hope that every attendee gains useful information and renewed confidence in their current efforts.

Helping befriending organisations to stay informed

Our team of nine supports over 300 befriending organisations through various methods, including 40 popular networking sessions held annually since 2020. For many members, often working alone, these sessions provide comfort and an opportunity to share challenges. They also help us address specific support needs directly, shaping our resources and training initiatives.

Befriending Networks offers a training programme with twenty courses, including eight specialized ones requested by the network. Unfortunately, we’ve created resources for service closure, which is increasingly necessary. Staying informed about the network's challenges allows us to offer relevant support, highlighting the importance of collaboration in our work.

Click here for more about Befriending Networks

About the Author

Victoria Galloway is Learning and Development Manager at Befriending Networks.

Click here for more

We must delay making alcohol-free childhoods a reality

Amy Smith, Senior Coordinator (Policy) at Alcohol Focus Scotland

Click here for more

Making brave choices to keep the promise

Paul Henderson is Project Worker at Harmeny

Click here for more

Keeping children safe

Simon Massey, Head of Engagement & Learning at Children in Scotland

Click here for more

Today a 'quiet' childcare revolution is taking place

Douglas Guest is Development Manager - The Promise at Circle

Click here for more

We can all be allies

Alexis Wright (top) and Lorna New (bottom) are Wellbeing Coordinators with the Guardianship Scotland

Click here for more

Preventing gambling harms for Scotland's young people

Fran Howard is Programme Manager at Fast Forward

Click here for more

Girls’ rights are human rights

24 Oct 2024

Designed to protect and advance human rights, United Nations conventions such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) are a vital part of helping countries around the world build a more equal, inclusive and free society for all.

However, while championing and celebrating such landmark legislations, it's also important to examine the areas where they can still be improved. 

Here, Katie Horsburgh, Policy and Practice Officer: Children and Young People at Zero Tolerance, explores why a gender-neutral approach in legislation means girls are falling between the cracks and not having their rights fully realised.

At the heart of Scotland’s landmark decision to incorporate the UNCRC (click here for more) into Scots law is the belief that all children deserve to have their human rights realised and respected.

However, despite the Government’s commendable investment in children’s rights as a whole, research and evidence shows that girls are still not accessing their rights equally.

Girls can face significant challenges in realising their rights – especially when they are affected by further structural inequalities such as racism, poverty, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia – and if we want to make Scotland the best place in the world for all children togrow up, we must avoid a gender-neutral approach, instead addressing girls’ specific needs and experiences, while tackling the discriminations they face on a daily basis.

UNCRC becoming law in Scotland is a really exciting moment, but as a gender-neutral convention, it inadvertently prioritises the rights of boys and the issues that predominantly affect them. By talking about children as a homogenous group, girls continue to get left behind.

Similarly, the CEDAW convention – part of the proposed Human Rights Bill – only mentions girls in related to education, despite violence and harassment affecting women of all ages. Girls experience extremely high levels of domestic abuse, sexual assault, rape, and stalking, and according to Scottish Government figures, one in three 13 to 17-year-olds have experienced some form of sexual violence. So why have girls’ needs been left out of this legislation?

By not doing enough to address the rights of girls and young women specifically, we are leaving them to fall between the cracks in legislation that should be designed to ensure they grow up safe and supported – something which Zero Tolerance explored in detail throughour recent report, 'Girls’ rights are human rights' (click here for more).

Documenting research and exploring different pools of evidence from many fantastic organisations working directly with girls and young women, the report outlines thesubstantial barriers that prevent girls from realising their rights, and argues that emerging and evolving legislation, policy and practice are doing little to address the negative and often harmful experiences of girls.

Given the fact that human rights are a helpful measure of equality or inequality, providing a framework for improvement and a way to focus our efforts, it makes sense that we should create a link between the two.

We need to further explore ways to understand girls’ rights as human rights.

At Zero Tolerance, our focus is on tackling the root cause of gender equality, eradicating men’s violence against women and girls. To do this, we need to create the right environments and cultures that will allow children and young people to grow and develop equally, and thatstarts with gender-sensitive approaches and considerations.

Our message for anyone working on children’s rights in Scotland – and on women’s rights, too – is to explicitly name girls’ specific requirements when doing human rights work. By doing this, we can create a Scotland where all girls can thrive. 

This excerpt was taken from Issue 6 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 6

Zero Tolerance

Learn more about the charity working to end men's violence against women

Click here for more

Our membership offer

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

Click here for more

Learn with us online and in-person

Browse our range of training and events

Click to find out more

Annual Conference 2025

Making Space for Voices: Join our Annual Conference in Glasgow on 28 and 29 May 2025

Find out more

Read more like this

Check out our blog for more commentary, membership news and more!

Click here to read

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

Children’s 12 calls for AI implementation in Scotland

17 Oct 2024

Last year, we spoke to Gregory Metcalfe from the Children’s Parliament in our member magazine, Insight, about a project placing children’s views at the forefront of AI implementation in Scotland (click here to read an interview excerpt).

One year on, Gregory updates us on the project, now into its final stage, and explains how children are calling for action to be taken on how AI impacts their lives now and in the future. 

The ‘Exploring Children’s Rights and AI’ project – run in partnership between Children’s Parliament, the Scottish AI Alliance, and The Alan Turing Institute – was set up to uncover the relationship between AI and children’s rights through exploratory, rights-based workshops with 100 children in four schools across Scotland.

Taking a child rights approach, we supported all children and adults involved to see in practice the importance and value of understanding children's rights, seeing them enacted, and being supported by adults who respect and value their views and experiences. I was invited to contribute this blog post now because we have just reached a key milestone – the launch of our stage 2 report (click here to view).

Watch a short film on stage 2 of the project

"AI will be in all our lives, so we need to know what it means and how it works before we grow up." —Member of Children’s Parliament (MCP), age 9, Shetland

Our new report provides an in-depth account of the past year of work on the project, with a focus on the series of workshops we carried out with children, adult professionals working with AI, and artists. These workshops allowed the children to explore four key themes relating to AI and their rights (which they themselves had identified as significant areas of interest in stage 1 of the project). They also provided our ‘AI partners’ (a mix of private, third and public sector organisations working on projects involving AI) with a chance to find out what children thought and felt about the work they were doing and to take steps to incorporate these views into their own projects.

From these workshops, the children developed 12 calls to action (click here to view) – the changes that they believe decision-makers need to enact for children’s human rights to be upheld in the development and use of AI in Scotland.

Watch the children explain these calls to action in their own words 

The calls to action reflect the breadth and depth of the work that the children have done on this topic, as well as how capable they are of engaging with this complex ethical field. In these calls, the children expressed concerns over whether AI systems would consider children’s diverse needs and experiences, they had clear demands for children’s data privacy to be taken seriously, and felt there was need for more child-friendly information on how AI systems are being used in the services that children access.

A key takeaway for the Children’s Parliament team was the significant role that learning about their rights, alongside learning about AI, played as the children felt empowered to interrogate the ways in which AI was being used, identifying for themselves where the development and use of AI might have unintended consequences for children and their rights. Likewise, they were also able to envision many ways in which AI could be used to support children’s rights in the future, from increasing access to healthcare to supporting their teachers to create fun and engaging lessons.

These calls to action represent a conclusion to two years of work with all 100 children involved in the project and some fantastic work from our 12 ‘Investigators’ (the three children from each school who acted as representatives for their peers) in particular. Across all of the sessions carried out – in person workshops in schools, Investigator video calls, public-facing events, activity packs sent out to classes – Children’s Parliament gathered a huge amount of evidence on what children thought and felt about the issues we were examining and how they related to children’s rights.  The team sifted through all of this recorded evidence – most of it in the form of verbatim quotes from the children – pulling out key themes and editing it down to a long-list of around 30 statements reflecting what children had told us in their own words. It was then our Investigators task to whittle this list down to our final 12 and, most importantly, to decide upon the actions that they wanted decision-makers to take to address the issues they had identified.

Now that the calls to action have been published and shared directly with key stakeholders from the Scottish Government and various relevant organisations by the children themselves at a special event in June, it is in the hands of adult duty-bearers to take up the call and enact the changes that children have asked for.

In support of the children’s calls to action on education, Children’s Parliament and the Scottish AI Alliance have now started work on a new phase of the project focused on developing learning resources for children and adults around AI and children’s rights based on the creative and inclusive approaches used on the project so far.

Click here to find out more about Exploring Children’s Rights and AI

About the Author

Gregory Metcalfe is Project Lead, National Programmes, at Children's Parliament

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"Children and young people are amazing at helping us face challenges – they are so insightful"

16 Oct 2024

Aiming to champion and safeguard the human rights of Scotland’s next generation, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland plays a vital role in ensuring all young Scots get the chance to grow up in an environment filled with happiness, love and understanding.

Appointed to the position in 2023, Nicola Killean brings a wealth of experience to the role of Commissioner, having worked with children of all ages throughout her career, and over the course of her term, young people’s voices will continue to inform her work.

In this Q&A, Nicola shares what she hopes to achieve as Commissioner – and why children and young people “give her the fuel” to push for change.

Children in Scotland: You have a wealth of experience working directly with children and young people for many years now – what achievements from your career so far will you use to help inform your work as Commissioner?

Nicola Killean: I’ve been lucky throughout my career to work with children and young people across a really wide age range, engaging with babies and toddlers right through to young adults and school leavers.

Having this opportunity at Sistema Scotland, and through the Big Noise programme (click here for more), gave me an amazing perspective around the importance of ensuring children feel included. My previous experience helps keep my focus as Commissioner broad, but I recognise the importance of always doing targeted work, too, particularly engaging with children whose rights are most at risk.

When I started the job in August 2023, one of my top priorities – and duty – was to continue listening to children and young people, using their insights to shape the work we’ll do over the coming years because, after all, I work for them and their rights.

It’s only by really listening to children and young people articulate the truth about what they’re experiencing every day, and what they’re experiencing within our different systems,that we are able to understand where we have made progress, where we should celebrate, and where the work still has to be done.

Children and young people are amazing at helping us face challenges head on – they are so insightful, and so full of suggestions about ways we can make things better, so the more we can tap into that knowledge, connecting the dots and ensuring decision making is influenced by their insight, the better.

A woman with long blonde hair smiles into the camera, wearing a bright yellow shirt. Behind her is a blurred mural of trees and animals

CiS: What made you want to take up the role of Commissioner?

NK: I was drawn to this role by a combination of being a real champion for children and young people, and a drive to make sure their rights are protected, respected, and fulfilled. And while shouting from the rooftops about how capable and amazing they are, we can also continue to focus on raising the bar to improve their lives.

I always say that children and young people give us the fuel to continue to do our work, to fight for things to be better. So, the more that we can be with them, listen to them, and draw on their insight, the stronger we will be.

The key skill that I’m going to try and draw on is a tenacity to find ways to navigate complex challenges, while still understanding how difficult it can be for practitioners and organisations to find meaningful ways to work.

CiS: When it came to developing your strategic plan for the next four years, your team listened to thousands of children and young people both online and in person to hear their views. What did they identify as the biggest challenges and issues to tackle?

NK: Creating a new strategic plan was a great opportunity for me because it gave me a really clear mandate to reflect on what children and young people want us to work on, how they want us to work, and how they want their Commissioner to fulfil their role.

Consistently, children and young people told us they were concerned about some key themes, including education, poverty, climate change, discrimination, and mental health. We know that more action is needed to support these issues – and there are lots more emerging new issues that children and young people are facing that many of us didn’t need to face when we were growing up, too.

What has really struck me is the pressure felt by many children and young people, which comes from a combination of things. Some of it comes from the education system, while some of it is from social media and the weight of expectation. There’s this huge pressure placed on them, so we need to pay a lot of attention to that, and ensure that the systems we create to support them don’t add to that feeling of pressure.

There’s a lot of work to do, but it’s also an optimistic time. We are able to look at how far we have come within Scotland, really celebrate our successes, and then brace ourselves for what we need to do next to continue the progress and make things even better.

CiS: What are the best lessons children and young people have taught you over the course of your career?

NK: There are so many things I love about working with children and young people. I love how honest they are, and their capability to understand complex ideas and topics. I also love that they are able to articulate what they think and feel, and if you really invest the time to listen, you can learn so much.

Long-term, relationship-based practice can be transformational for children and young people. I learned very early on in my job that earning the trust and respect of children and young people is so vital – as adults, we almost feel an entitlement that they will respect us, but we have to earn it, and prove we are worthy of their trust.

For some children that can take hours or weeks, and for others it can take years. But when you are able to put relationship-based practice in place, it’s absolutely priceless.

This excerpt was taken from Issue 6 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

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About the Author

Nicola Killean is the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland

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A Scotland for all: Supporting families facing multiple disadvantage

Challenge Poverty Week 2024 | blog

9 Oct 2024

Circle works at the heart of communities across central Scotland supporting families facing multiple disadvantage. On Challenge Poverty Week, Fundraising Officer, Rachel O’Brien discusses the “myriad of complex challenges” faced by those living in poverty in central Scotland, and explains how the charity is bringing families together in safe, judgement-free and accessible spaces with the hope of tackling issues related to poverty and inequality.

Circle works with families facing multiple disadvantage as a result of poverty, structural inequality, mental health challenges, drug and alcohol use, trauma, abuse and loss.

At the heart of our approach are the relationships, based on trust, openness and honesty that we build with families. Our model is rooted in a belief that families are best placed to provide their own solutions to the challenges they face.

A Scotland for all

This Challenge Poverty Week, we are joining The Poverty Alliance in calling for a Scotland where we all have enough to live a decent and dignified life, a Scotland where we live without hunger, a Scotland where we can all get to where we need to, and a Scotland where we all have safe, secure and sustainable homes. Many, if not all, of the children and families we support are deeply affected by poverty, inequality and deprivation. We firmly believe in a Scotland where all children and families should have the support they need to live happy and healthy lives.

Recent local child poverty statistics (End Child Poverty, 2024) highlight that 20.4% of children in Edinburgh are living in poverty. This, coupled with the harsh reality that children and families affected by substance use frequently experience a myriad of complex challenges including poor mental health, poor housing conditions, food insecurity, health inequalities and social isolation often exacerbated by poverty, is unacceptable.

We work to challenge poverty, stigma and discrimination associated with substance use and advocate alongside families to ensure safe housing conditions, improved food security and accessibility of support and transportation.

The link between poverty and substance use

At Circle, we believe that we should all be able to live a dignified life. Poverty stops people from accessing opportunities and through our work, we seek to highlight the misunderstandings surrounding poverty and the consequences on children and families.

Recent drug-related death statistics indicate a clear link between poverty, substance use and drug-related deaths across communities in Scotland. In 2020, after adjusting for age, people in the most deprived areas were 18 times as likely to have a drug-related death as those in the least deprived areas (68.2 per 100,000 population compared with 3.7) (National Records of Scotland, 2020). The Scottish Government echoes these statistics and indicates that drug use issues are seventeen times higher in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived, whilst 54% of drug-related hospital admissions were patients living in the 20% most deprived areas.

How we tackle poverty - Harbour Project Family Inclusion Service

Our Family Inclusion service brings families together and aims to tackle issues related to poverty and inequality. We provide whole family group-based activities throughout the year as well as opportunities to access peer support and regular groups. Our Harbour Project recently received funding from the National Lottery to develop ‘Makers Groups’ across the City of Edinburgh.

Makers Groups are open and supported social sessions for children and families affected by substance use. The groups provide a safe, judgement-free and easily accessible space for children and families to build relationships, nurture attachment, reduce social isolation, and participate in activities that are focused on ‘making’. The activities are led and shaped by children and families, and there is always space for choice, creativity and outdoor play. Activities can include arts and crafts, gardening, planting, outdoor play, cinema nights, and cooking.

The purpose of the Makers Groups and wider Family Inclusion Service is to tackle inequality and marginalisation by providing free activities for whole families to participate in together within their local communities. Families who are affected by poverty, housing and food insecurity are supported to access free activities and peer support throughout the year.

Families have responded positively to our support:

“As there was no cost involved it helped a lot with the cost of living.”

“It helped make a difference mentally and physically. It gave a reason to get up and go, meeting new people and have a constant support. It helped me stay sober and has been my lifeline.”

“We had something to look forward to, and we’re very grateful to enjoy a day without worrying about money. It was also great to meet other mums who are all in the same boat.”

Children and families are at the heart of everything we do. We all want to live in a society where we have access to adequate income, housing, food, transport and community. We are active in advocating for the rights of children and families alongside those we support. We will always remain steadfast in our commitment to challenging poverty, stigma and discrimination.

Click here to find out more about the work of Circle Scotland

About the Author

Rachel O'Brien is Fundraising Officer at Circle Scotland

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Challenge Poverty Week

Learn more about Challenge Poverty Week 2024, led by The Poverty Alliance.

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