Fiona Duncan: In adversity, there is opportunity and we must seize it for Scotland’s children

Fiona Duncan is Chair of The Promise, responsible for ensuring the Independent Care Review is implemented.  

As Scotland charts our recovery from the global pandemic, there is an opportunity to show we are a country that cares.

On February 5 last year in the Scottish parliament, the conclusions of the Independent Care Review were accepted in full, receiving cross-party support.

That day, a promise was made that all our children would have a childhood that enables them to grow up loved, safe and respected, so they realise their full potential.

That, wherever safe to do so, families would get the support they need to stay together and to thrive. And children who could not live with their family would stay with their brothers and sisters and belong to a loving home, staying there for as long as needed.

This March, Plan 21-24 was published by The Promise Scotland, the body tasked with making sure the promise is kept. It sets out what has to happen over the coming three years – sequenced, collaborative implementation across multiple sectors and agencies towards a single, shared long-term vision. On Friday, The Promise Scotland published the first Change Programme, outlining activities over the coming year.

So many of those with direct responsibility feel burnt-out by the realities of Covid, yet are still hopeful this is the moment for transformational change.

There is no excuse for any part of Scotland’s “care system” to do nothing or to wait. This is new territory for Scotland. And navigating it has never been more important.

The stories and statistics demonstrate that, although no one was immune to the effects of Covid-19, many of the children and families who weren’t previously well-served by public services were among the hardest hit, feeling even more acutely the effects of poverty, abuse and neglect, the impact of poor housing, the challenges of loneliness and addiction. And suffering the greatest loss of life. The pandemic did not create poverty and trauma, but it did intensify it.

These families, as well as many others were previously coping but, due to changes in circumstances outwith their control, may now need help. So, too, might the thousands of new parents, as Covid-19 chronically restricted their access to social and professional support networks.

A profound risk of these consequences is that more children enter Scotland’s “care system” when, with support, families could stay together and thrive. They cannot be fearful of asking for help and it must be there for them.

The long-term impact of the past year on our children and young people is, as yet, unknown. Not being able to get out to play with friends or see family, instead worrying about loved ones whilst trying to keep up with schoolwork, sometimes without the kit needed to learn and in accommodation not conducive to learning, has been devastating.

There have been too many lost opportunities to take part in activities like sport, music, art, sleepovers, with volunteering and work placements vanishing.

But here’s a difficult truth: those circumstances are not far from the everyday, pre-pandemic reality of children and young people who experience the very worst of Scotland’s “care system”.

That must power the urgency to turn ambition and hope into action, every day until the promise is kept and Scotland is the friend and parent it promised to be. People say adversity can lead to opportunity – this is it Scotland – this is the opportunity to #KeepThePromise.