Families in Falkirk help shape support available to them
Families and children in Falkirk are helping to shape the support available to them, from family aid during times of crisis to creating opportunities for care experienced young people.
The collaborative effort stems from the promise - Scotland’s commitment that all children and youth should grow up loved, safe, and respected. By growing up this way, the promise hopes to let young people realise their full potential.
Lived experience from local families is helping mould the services available to them, alongside knowledge and experience from staff and colleagues throughout the public and third sectors.
Families, children, and young people are working with Falkirk Council, partner organisations, and community groups to keep the promise.
Fiona Duncan, independent strategic advisor at The Promise Scotland, visited Falkirk earlier this month to hear from care experienced young people, families, frontline staff and senior leaders.
While visiting, Fiona heard about the various initiatives created through partnership working and supported by Scottish government Whole Family Wellbeing Funding. These include Get to Focus, a group focused on how the child protection system could better support families, Family Firm, who offer paid work experience and support for care experienced young people which allows them to build their confidence and skills, and Breathing Space, a trauma-informed space which aids families at points of crisis.
Also discussed was the work of the Falkirk Champs, a team of young people with experience of living in care, and Amigos, a group of unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people, who both provide care experienced young people with an opportunity to share their ideas and have a say in the support surrounding them.
Fiona is planning to visit all 32 local authority areas in Scotland to see how the promise is working and use local learning to inform national change. After her visits, she will produce a series of mini reports linked to Plan 24-30, Scotland’s shared framework for sticking to the promise by 2030.
Councillor Fiona Collie, Falkirk Council’s spokesperson for health and social care, said: “Keeping the promise is something we all have a part to play in. No one service or organisation can do it alone, which is why the relationships we have with our partners, communities and, importantly, children and families matter so much.
“Listening to and learning from people’s experiences is a key part of that. By bringing lived experience together with the knowledge and expertise of our services and partners, we build a fuller understanding of what children and families need and how we can respond.”
Fiona Duncan said: “I know that there are thousands of people out there working hard every day to keep the promise. But I also know that this can be against a difficult backdrop of slow structural and system change. Being able to hear from them, learn from them, and share that is so important.
“We are over halfway to when the promise must be kept, there is not a minute to waste in creating change, so it’s vital that good practice can be replicated, and barriers can be understood and overcome.”