Supporting Families, Nurturing Children, Transforming Lives Together

There is a famous saying “you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family”. The depiction of a “normal” family bombards us everywhere; from adverts, social media and the movies that are in the cinema. This “norm” is not the standard for everyone – there is also another thought, that there is no such thing as being “normal”.

Families are unique, their genetic make-up, dynamics and the relationships within them, although we are simply unable to underestimate the importance of family when trying to establish our place in the world. Otherwise, there would be very limited interest in gathering information for family trees, ancestral DNA and adopted children searching for their birth parents. Ancestry alone has 3.4 million subscribers (08.07.23).

There is, however, an acceptance that family dynamics and relationships can leave children and young people vulnerable, confused and at times unsafe. Therefore, it is imperative that support is provided to children in families to thrive – this may be within the family home or in another environment including a residential home for children. All children are individuals and although they may have experienced a similar home life their interpretation of this may be different, therefore requiring a different type of care.

The Promise stipulates “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.” It adds “Nurturing and supporting families to stay together will take far more than what Scotland currently provides.” Research highlights there are additional resources required to support siblings to stay together. It is an ambitious framework that requires providers to accommodate the specific needs and complexities of sibling groups, ensuring needs are met individually and together.

With the Care Review in mind, we pledge to “Keep the Promise” of the Scottish Government to be able to keep siblings together wherever possible to enable them to grow and develop alongside each other. Daily care will be provided within a home environment supported by a staff team who embody family values and are specifically chosen to support children and families due to having strong pre-existing professional relationships.

We acknowledge that there may be occasions where brothers and sisters are unable to live together, if this should happen there needs to be a commitment from care services to enable children and young people to maintain their roots. As part of our care and support we are committed to enabling young people to keep in regular contact with their families, friends and other important people in their lives. We also encourage young people to spend time in their local community if it is safe to do so.