Last week saw the third anniversary of the publication of the Independent Care Review’s conclusions. We love to promote Scotland’s approach to participation and children’s rights, in 2020 the Scottish Care Review was published with a Promise to all young people. It was comprehensive, and involved co-production with 5,500 experienced children and adults, families and the paid and unpaid workforce. It was the start of a cultural and practical change to services that children will receive in future in Scotland.
“We grow up loved, safe, and respected so that we realise our full potential.” Scotland’s Ambition for children and young people
Five foundations
The five foundations of The Promise are:
- Voice: Children must be listened to and meaningfully and appropriately involved in decision-making about their care, with all those involved properly listening and responding to what children want and need. There must be a compassionate, caring, decision-making culture focused on children and those they trust.
- Family: Where children are safe in their families and feel loved they must stay – and families must be given support together to nurture that love and overcome the difficulties which get in the way.
- Care: Where living with their family is not possible, children must stay with their brothers and sisters where safe to do so and belong to a loving home, staying there for as long as needed.
- People: The children that Scotland cares for must be actively supported to develop relationships with people in the workforce and wider community, who in turn must be supported to listen and be compassionate in their decision-making and care.
- Scaffolding: Children, families and the workforce must be supported by a system that is there when it is needed. The scaffolding of help, support and accountability must be ready and responsive when it is required.
Empowerment
Mind Of My Own’s goal is to empower all young people the opportunity to have their voices heard. According to Scotland’s Care Review ‘The Promise’:
“Services must be easy to access and must always try harder and be more creative in their listening” (The Promise, pg. 32).
All of our apps are co-produced with children and young people. Mind Of My Own ensures that all young people regardless of age, ability or nationality are supported to express their views, wishes and feelings.
“The voice of every person with care experience must be heard in their care journeys, with real weight given to their wishes in line with the UNCRC.” (The Promise, pg. 32)
Mind Of My Own was founded on upholding the UNCRC and the core principle that all young people have a right to have a say about the decisions about their own life.
“Scotland must make particular effort to understand and act upon quieter voices, including infants and nonverbal children and those with learning disabilities. No group should ever be considered ‘hard to reach’”. (The Promise, pg. 32)
The Express digital participation tool was specifically co-produced with young people with additional needs to ensure that their views can be uniquely captured in a way that suits them best. Express has been used with children as young as 2 years of age and in conjunction with Makaton. Both of our apps also feature ReciteMe technology which allows young people to tailor both apps to their unique needs.
“Scotland has a responsibility to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children with some Local Authorities in Scotland receiving a significant number. The Care Review has heard from them and their carers about the particular difficulties they face in navigating a complex system. Children who arrive in Scotland have often faced significant difficulties and trauma in leaving their home and in the journey to Scotland.” (The Promise, pg. 65 )
We know that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are often the most vulnerable and few have their views meaningfully heard. Our apps can be translated into over 120 different languages and also have text-to-speech functionality so that young people can speak up in the language they are most comfortable using.
“A significantly greater effort will be required to ensure the meaningful participation of people with lived experience in decisions about their own journey and to inform relational policy and practice. Lived experience must directly and consistently inform continuous quality improvement with a rich qualitative as well as quantitative evidence base.” (The Promise, pg. 37)
We also know how important qualitative information is for young people and how important it is for it to be evidenced in young people’s case records. Our statements are saved as PDFs and allow young people’s views to be evidenced easily and clearly.
Find out more about our Scottish community and how we’re helping them to #KeepThePromise at hello@mindofmyown.org.uk
