local authorities

For Scotland's children: better integrated children's services (Part 2)

This is the second part of the report of an action team of experts from local government, the NHS and the voluntary sector to look at how better to integrate children’s services.

Their action plan contains a range of ways in which local authorities, the NHS and the voluntary sector can work together to create a single children’s services system, backed up by a number of good practice examples.

For Scotland's children: better integrated children's services (Part 1)

This is the first part of the report of an action team of experts from local government, the NHS and the voluntary sector to look at how better to integrate children’s services.

Their action plan contains a range of ways in which local authorities, the NHS and the voluntary sector can work together to create a single children’s services system, backed up by a number of good practice examples.

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.

Take up the challenge: the role of local services in increasing take up of benefits and tax credits to reduce child poverty

Ministers asked the Take Up Taskforce to develop ways to help local services to support parents to access all their relevant benefit entitlements, in order to help tackle child poverty.

Many poor families are not taking up all of the financial support to which they are entitled and there are particularly low rates of take up by families where at least one parent is working. Lack of awareness of available in-work financial entitlements can present a barrier to parents entering and sustaining work.

National standards for Scotland's youth justice services

This report by the Improving the Effectiveness of the Youth Justice System Working Group describes the characteristics of effective local management of youth justice services and outlines a set of standards to improve delivery.

The group was asked to develop a strategic framework of national objectives and standards for Scotland’s Youth Justice services, to help achieve the national target of reducing the number of persistent offenders by 10% by 2006.

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.

The Fostering of Children (Scotland) Regulations 1996

These regulations set out the requirements by law for the approval of foster carers by local authorities; the placement of foster children; arrangements with voluntary organisations and the retention and confidentiality of case records for foster carers and children.

The appointment, composition and function of fostering panels is also laid out and the Schedules include information required from prospective foster carers and the requirements of placement agreements.

Inspection of child protection services : the Rikki Neave report

In April 1997 the Social Services Inspectorate undertook an inspection of the child protection services in Cambridgeshire's Social Services Department. This inspection took place at the request of the Parliamentary Under Secretary in the Department of Health following the non-accidental death of Rikki Neave, a child on Cambridgeshire's child protection register. The 1997 inspection identified serious deficiencies in the standard of child protection services in Cambridgeshire.