Bairns' Hoose
Based on the Icelandic model of Barnahus (child’s house), Bairns' Hoose provides Scotland with an opportunity to provide a genuinely child-centred approach to delivering justice, care and recovery for children who have experienced trauma, including, but not only, child sexual abuse.
Seeking to support children in a way that avoids re-traumatisation, Bairns’ Hoose aims to deliver whole family support while improving outcomes for children, young people and families as they recover from trauma. The delivery of Bairns’ Hoose in Scotland will support existing systems and processes to adapt to the needs of children, and to carry forward practices and processes which streamline and embrace a child-focused and trauma informed approach.
A key aim of the model is to reduce the number of times children have to recount their experiences and provide trauma-informed support as soon as it is needed.
The overall vision of Bairns’ Hoose is that all children in Scotland who have been victims or witnesses of abuse or violence, which has caused, or is likely to cause significant harm will have access to trauma informed recovery, support and justice.
In delivering for Scotland, Bairns’ Hoose will ensure that any child under the age of criminal responsibility whose behaviour may have caused serious harm or abuse will have access to trauma-informed, needs-focused support and recovery.
In our Programme for Government 2024 we committed to test our approach to Bairns’ Hoose across ten areas – providing safe, trauma-informed environments for child victims and witnesses to access multi-agency support and recovery services – ahead of a national rollout, incrementally, from 2027.
Phased approach
With ten partnerships in place throughout Scotland, made up of three key statutory partners (health, local authorities and Police Scotland), and third sector, we are taking a phased approach to the development of Bairns’ Hoose to create a system that works nationally, allowing time for learning and evaluation to ensure that the model is achieving the correct outcomes and is aligned with other key policy objectives.
Bairns’ Hoose partnerships offer Scotland a unique opportunity to lead on the testing and delivery of a national model of Bairns’ Hoose. Aiming to improve care, health and justice outcomes for children and young people, Bairns’ Hoose will contribute towards ambitious public sector reforms in delivering holistic, whole family support as well as opportunity for long-term system benefits through preventative support.
We are working collaboratively with all selected partnerships as they trial the Bairns’ Hoose Standards in different geographical and operational contexts.
Our Children and Young People participation and engagement plan, describes how children and young people will be involved in the development and implementation of the Bairns’ Hoose.
The expected outcome of the initial Pathfinder phase is that we will have enough knowledge about how the Standards (the “what”) work in different contexts to develop a national Bairns’ Hoose Blueprint (the “how”), which will underpin the next phase for incremental rollout.
Knowledge exchange programme
Engagement between Scottish Government and the partnerships is ongoing with a number of in-person and virtual events delivered within the Knowledge Exchange Programme 2025 which includes a variety of themed webinars and Insight sessions developed to share learning as well as national and international research and good practice.
Aiming to support partnerships to develop their Bairns’ Hoose our Knowledge Exchange programme encourages shared learning and collaboration between partnerships and provides access to learning from international experts, policy teams and evaluation and research experts.
Scottish model for joint investigative interviews
Joint Investigative Interviews are formal interviews conducted with a child by trained police officers and social workers.
The National Joint Investigative Interviewing (JII) Project was established in 2017 to develop a new approach to the joint investigative interviewing of children in Scotland, the Scottish Child Interview Model (SCIM).
A key aim of the new Scottish Child Interview Model – which has been developed and assessed by Social Work Scotland, local authorities and Police Scotland in a series of pilot projects - is to gather valuable reliable evidence while minimising the emotional impact on the child and ensuring their safety and well-being throughout any investigation
The key principles of the new Scottish Child Interview Model remain fundamental to many other Scottish Government initiatives, including the Bairns’ Hoose model. Successful national rollout of the new Scottish Child Interview Model is considered a precondition for national Bairns’ Hoose implementation.
Across Scotland, interviews are already conducted within Bairns’ Hoose-style services where these are available. As partnerships continue to develop, SCIM interviews will be carried out in the Bairns’ Hoose whenever it serves the best interests of the child. This approach will ensure the collection of reliable evidence while reducing retraumatisation and the emotional impact on the child.
Scottish Child Interview Model (SCIM) for Joint Investigative Interviews (JIIs) and the Bairns' Hoose are central to Scotland's approach to child protection, providing a structured, trauma informed practice to deal with cases involving child victims, witnesses, or those at risk.
The COSLA website provides regular updates on the roll out of the model.
Governance
Ministers established a National Bairns’ Hoose Implementation Group (NBHIG) in autumn 2024 to reflect the delivery-focused phase of the programme. The function of the NBHIG is an advisory one to provide operational and delivery input, and strategic advice to support delivery of the Pathfinder phase of the Bairns’ Hoose programme, in line with the Bairns’ Hoose Vision, Value and Approach. The NBHIG provides an opportunity to ensure key delivery partners are effectively engaged and serve as a forum to resolve local issues and partnership-specific challenges which require a national solution.
The NBHIG’s workplan is being developed in line with the Scottish Government’s vision for Bairns’ Hoose, refreshed in June 2023. The delivery of the programme is also supported by the Bairns’ Hoose Project team focused on progressing the key workstreams of the programme – analysis, knowledge exchange, funding, children and young people engagement, and improvement.
The Bairns’ Hoose Cross-Portfolio Assurance Group comprising of senior civil servants provides the oversight, and linkages across governmental portfolios. Scottish Government Accountable Officers for Education, Justice and Health are accountable for the feasibility, deliverability and sustainability of the Bairns’ Hoose Programme, and advise Ministers on the progress and delivery of the programme. Scottish Ministers have ultimate responsibility for the programme and take key funding, policy and delivery related decisions.
Keep up to date
If you wish to keep up to date with the Bairns’ Hoose policy, email bairnshoose@gov.scot
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