A NEW report published last week found that unexpected events and systematic barriers have delayed a promise which impacts care experienced children, young people and adults in Dumfries and Galloway.
This year marks the midway point since Scotland made a promise to care experienced children and young people, that they would grow up loved, safe and respected.
Report Three, published by the Oversight Board for the promise, has found issues impacting the workforce and in whole family support, that has meant that the promise is not halfway to being kept.
However, the board – whose role it is to report on whether Scotland is keeping the promise – consider that the progress made, added to the restated commitment of those responsible, mean that it is still possible to deliver by 2030.
The report found that too many people cannot access the right family support when they need it. Short-term funding cycles have also been highlighted as an issue, with some in the workforce having to repeatedly secure funding, rather than using that focus to concentrate on the families they support.
When looking at the workplace, the board found that services are stretched and pressure is growing, the cost-of-living crisis has pushed more children, young people and families into poverty and the workforce needs targeted investment and a national strategy, rather than cuts.
There are continuing issues with social worker retention and recruitment, as well as foster carer numbers.
They also found positive changes happening in every local authority area, and national changes, including work from the community of practice for siblings, working to keep brothers and sisters together, and the new national minimum recommended allowance for foster carers and kinship carers.
David Anderson, chair of the Oversight Board, said: “All our board members know how important it is that the promise is kept, many of us have direct experience of care whilst every one of us strives to keep the promise in our working lives.
“What we need now is action, around spending decisions; bravery to do things differently; to count what matters rather than what is easy or politically palatable.
“We remain determined that the promise must be kept. It must kept. This is about Scotland’s children and young people, there is no task which is more important, and not a moment left to waste.”
You can read the report at www.oversightboard.scot
