child care

The Protection of Children Act 1999 :a practical guide to the Act for all organisations working with children

This Practical Guidance provides a breakdown of the statutory requirements, rights and duties of child care organisations set out by the Protection of Children Act 1999.

This Act is the first step towards the establishment of a framework of a coherent cross-sector scheme for identifying those people considered to be unsuitable to work with children through the Protection of Children Act List. The legislation is intended to ensure that when such people have been identified, they are prevented from gaining access to children through their work.

Integrated strategy for the early years

This paper focuses on the services provided to young children (from pre-birth to 5) and their families.

It sets out a framework which draws together existing policies from across the Scottish Executive in this area – whether that is promoting childcare, health visitor support, preschool education or broader support for parenting skills.

It seeks to promote greater coherence between these executive policies to give better support to joined-up delivery on the ground.

Key Capabilities in Child Care and Protection

The Key Capabilities (KC) in Child Care and Protection are designed to allow students within social work degree programmes to map their specific learning in this area whilst achieving the more generic Standards in Social Work Education (SiSWE). The KCs further allow social work students to evidence their learning in child care and protection by their progress being assessed at the mid and end points of the programme.

Assessment and support for kinship carers of looked after children

Scottish Government interim guidance to local authorities on assessing the capacity of a child's relatives as potential kinship carers for a looked after child and the support they will require.

The assessment process should help kinship carers to feel more involved and consulted and able to identify the kinds of supports they believe they need to look after the child safely and in a way that promotes the child's best interests.

Growing up in Scotland: year 2: results from the second year of a study following the lives of Scotland's children

Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) is a major longitudinal study launched in 2005 with the aim of tracking a group of children and their families from the early years, through childhood and beyond. Funded by the Scottish Government its main aim is to provide information to support policy-making, but it is also intended to be a broader resource that can be drawn on by academics, voluntary sector organisations and other interested parties.

Win a million! [an interactive game show introduction to the law and social work] Updated to December 2008.

An interactive game designed to help students test their knowledge about law and social work. It will help users: acquire and consolidate knowledge of specific legal rules; develop a critical perspective on those rules; describe the location of specific legal rules. It is designed as a fun game similar in structure to the TV show 'Who wants to be a Millionaire'. NOTE: This game is based on the law and practice in England and Wales.

Getting it right for every child: children and young people's experiences of advocacy support and participation in the Children's Hearings System

This research project was commissioned by the Scottish Executive to find out how advocacy for children in the Children’s Hearings System compares with arrangements in other UK systems of child welfare and youth justice and those internationally, and what children and young people and the professionals who work with them think about advocacy arrangements in the Children’s Hearings System and how these can be improved.

Insight 6 : Meeting the Needs of Children from Birth to Three : Research Evidence and Implications for Out-of-Home Provision

In 2001 the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) commissioned Professor Colwyn Trevarthen and a team of colleagues to review the research evidence on the development of children from birth to three years old, and to consider the implications of that evidence for the provision of care outwith the home.