Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

Conclusion

7. As a result of the evidence gathered and analysed against all UNCRC requirements, what is the potential overall impact of this proposal on children’s rights?

Guidance: Please choose from positive, negative, neutral or no impact, Please note you can have both a positive and negative impact on children’s rights. See page 20 in Internal CRWIA and SoC for more information. UNCRC Requirements (Annex 1)

Applicable answer(s): Positive

Guidance: If you have answered no impact to question 7, please move onto question 10.

8. If you have identified a positive impact on children’s rights, please describe below how the proposal will protect, respect, and fulfil children’s rights in Scotland.

Guidance: See page 21 in Internal CRWIA and SoC for more information.

Aftercare, financial support for education or training expenses^[2] and the expansion of corporate parenting duties^[3] for those previously ‘looked after’.

To ensure that children and young people, deprived of their family environment, receive appropriate assistance in accordance with Article 20 of the UNCRC this policy will extend Aftercare based on an assessment of need to children and young people aged 16-25 who were “looked after” before their 16th birthday, as well as financial support for education or training expenses and the expansion of corporate parenting duties for this cohort. This includes being “looked after” at home, or in foster, kinship, or residential care, as well as those who have been adopted and were previously looked after.

By expanding Aftercare eligibility, the policy also supports young people’s right to benefit from social security, as set out in Article 26, helping them to achieve stability as they transition into adulthood. In doing so, it contributes to fulfilling Article 27, which recognizes every child’s right to an adequate standard of living and obligates states to assist those in need of support.

Furthermore, many care-experienced young people have faced significant challenges and disruptions in their lives. In recognition of Article 39, which emphasises the right to recovery and reintegration for children who have experienced adversity, this policy seeks to provide ongoing assistance that enables care-experienced young people to build stable and fulfilling futures.

Guidance on the language of Care etc.

Our policy areas are focused on addressing stigmatising language, defining the term ‘care experience’ and the introduction of independent advocacy services. The provision will provide access to advocacy support to ensure that children and young people with care experience are being listened to and that their preferences and needs are heard throughout their life. Development of the guidance will uphold in particular the Article 12 rights of care-experienced children (respect for the views of the child)

Advocacy

The policy to provide access to advocacy through the development of regulations under the Bill will uphold Article 3 (best interests of the child) and Article 25 (review of treatment in care If a child has been placed away from home for the purpose of care or protection (for example, with a foster family or in hospital),. Access to a lifelong advocacy service will ensure that the best interests of the child must be a top priority in all decisions and actions that affect children and that they are involved in any review of the way they are cared for. The advocacy service will also uphold Article 6 (life, survival and development), to support children to develop their full potential.

Advocacy will also ensure that the child the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them and will uphold Article 12 (respect for the views of the child) and Article 13 (freedom of expression).

Our policies will also uphold Article 23 (children with a disability). Any care experience child with a disability will have access to advocacy to support their right to live a full and decent life with dignity and, as far as possible, independence and to play an active part in the community.

Foster Care

The proposal to create a national register of foster carers will have a positive impact on Articles 3 and 9 of the UNCRC. This proposal aims to provide a national register that could offer multiple benefits, including enhancing safeguarding, improving portability for foster carers across services, supporting better matching processes, and providing valuable data to inform policy and recruitment strategies. The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) heard evidence highlighting concerns with the current fragmented system and the risks it poses, particularly its reliance on carers disclosing previous fostering history. While SCAI’s final findings are awaited, the testimony has reinforced the case for exploring a consistent, national approach.

Children’s Hearings Redesign

The proposal to make changes to the threshold for referral in the statutory criteria will help to reduce the number of referrals to the reporter which do not ultimately result in an onward referral to a hearing. This will mean sensitive information regarding their family life will be less likely to be shared with SCRA, and they will not be subject to any investigation by the reporter. It will therefore better uphold the Article 16 rights of those children – that they should not be subjected to arbitrary interference with their privacy, family, home or correspondence

The child’s Article 12 rights require that they are able to express their views freely in all matters affecting the child. As part of our response to the Hearings for Children recommendation that the obligation to attend be removed, the right of the child to attend will remain. We are also ensuring that, to the greatest extent possible, the child’s preferences on how they express their views are respected and upheld.

In order to safeguard the child’s best interests under Article 3, the proposal will ensure hearings have the ability to require a child’s attendance where it is necessary for the child’s right to a fair hearing, or would otherwise be necessary for the hearing to make a decision in the child’s best interests.

A statutory requirement on the reporter to gather the child’s views as part of their investigation, and to record the extent to which the child’s views are already reflected in the information provided to them, will better uphold the Article 12 rights of all children in the hearings system to express their views freely in all matters affecting them.

Holding a post-referral discussion to enhance a child and family’s understanding of proceedings, and assist in supporting their participation in subsequent hearings, will give better effect to the child’s Article 12 rights. It is not currently possible to quantify the extent to which the offer of these discussions will be accepted, however ongoing research from SCRA on a similar scheme in one locality will be instructive in terms of both the numbers and the overall impact on children and families’ experiences of subsequent hearings.

Renumerating Panel members will ensure there is greater continuity of Chairing Members than can currently be provided under a volunteer only model. It will allow Chairing Members to have more effective “case grip” on individual cases across multiple hearings. This will enable a Chairing Member to understand the child’s views in the context of ongoing proceedings, as opposed to in a single hearing. It will ensure the child’s views do not have to be repeated to the same extent, and the evolution of the child’s views throughout proceedings can be better understood by decision makers. This will therefore contribute to the upholding of the child’s Article 12 rights.

Furthermore, with remuneration will come a greater expectation on the training and development of Chairing Members which we believe will lead to more effective decision making in the child’s best interests at all points in the hearings system. This will help to minimise delays, reviews and appeals, and uphold the child’s rights under Articles 3, 12, 16 and 39.

Enhanced powers of exclusion will ensure that the presence of those who would have a harmful impact on the child and prevent them from appropriately participating in their hearing and providing their views in proceedings, can be more effectively restricted. Greater reassurance will be able to be given to children that they will be protected from the significant distress cause by others, which will uphold their rights under Articles 3, 12, and 39.

The ability of decision makers to make ICSOs for longer and more flexible periods of time will mean that ICSOs can be put in place for periods which better reflect the child’s best interests. For example, in some areas, the timetabling of court business does not synchronise well with the current length of ICSOs. This means that children in those areas must attend more frequent hearings to extend ICSOs because the matter cannot be considered in court before the ICSO ends. Bringing greater flexibility will therefore uphold the child’s Article 3 rights, in that decisions on the length of ICSOs can be better informed by what is in the child’s best interests, and their rights under Article 16, in that it will minimise the need for additional hearings which interfere in the child’s privacy and family life due to arbitrary time limits.

9. If a negative impact has been identified please describe it below. Is there a risk this could potentially amount to an incompatibility?

Guidance: Please contact your SGLD Adviser to discuss any negative impacts and risk of potential incompatibilities. See pages 21-22 in Internal CRWIA and SoC for more information.

N/A

Mitigation Record

What options have been considered to modify the proposal in order to mitigate a negative impact or potential incompatibility?

Please summarise mitigation actions taken below

Guidance: Please copy and paste the following three headings for as many risks or negative impacts which you have identified and explained in questions 7 and 9.

Issue or risk identified and relevant UNCRC requirement

N/A

Action Taken/ To Be Taken

N/A

Date action to be taken or was taken

N/A

10. As a result of the evidence gathered and analysed against all wellbeing indicators (Annex 2), will the proposal contribute to the wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland? (Guidance Section 2.3.2, pages 20-22).

Guidance: Please choose from yes, no or not applicable, delete responses as appropriate. See page 23 in Internal CRWIA and SoC for more information.

Safe: Yes

Healthy: Yes

Achieving: Yes

Nurtured: Yes

Active: Not Applicable

Respected: Yes

Responsible: Yes

Included: Yes

Overall, it is assessed that there is a positive impact on the wellbeing of children and young people

11. How will you communicate to children and young people the impact that the proposal will have on their rights?

Guidance: Providing information to children and young people on how their rights are being or will be impacted helps to ensure that policy-development is transparent. Are you publishing a child-friendly or accessible CRWIA? See page 23 in Internal CRWIA and SoC for more information.

A copy of this CRWIA will be published on Gov.scot in due course along with associated evidence and impact records. Care has been taken to use plain English in the drafting of this CRWIA so that it published in an accessible format.

Following introduction of the Bill, policy teams will continue to work with children, young people and their families to ensure that they are aware of their rights and how any legislative changes will impact on them.