Scotland's Redress Scheme: combined annual report 2025

4.6 Children First (Royal Scottish Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children)

Introduction

Children First is Scotland’s national children’s charity. We stand up for children, keep them safe and support them to recover from trauma and abuse through our national and local services.

Children First has been a contributor to Scotland’s Redress Scheme since 26 August 2022.

As well as providing a fair and meaningful financial contribution to the scheme, the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021 requires contributors to the Redress Scheme to report annually on their wider (i.e., non-financial) redress activities, such as providing emotional, psychological, or practical support for people who were abused as children; providing assistance to survivors to access historical records; providing assistance in tracing and reuniting families; or providing apologies to survivors.

Children First became a contributor to the Redress scheme on 26 August 2022. This report covers our non-financial redress activities from 7 December 2023 to 7 December 2024.

Non-Financial Redress Activities

Advice and assistance on accessing historical records and the digitisation of our historical archive

Building on the foundational work we completed in 2023 we have continued our work to digitise our historical archive to make our archive more accessible and reduce the time it takes to respond to requests for information.

All records for the RSSPCC Children’s Shelter and Dundonald House Children’s Home have now been digitised. Our digital register details 10,767 admission entries. The total number includes where a child was present in one of our care settings more than once during their childhood.

We are continuing the work to digitise RSSPCC Inspectors case records from 1920 to 1990 for all branches of the RSSPCC across Scotland. These records, though limited, provide invaluable information about decisions that were made about children and families who were involved with the RSSPCC. Although the case records rarely provide evidence of ‘in care’ status, the records may hold information that can lead to a survivor being able to identify a place where they were ‘in care.’

We have also provided advice and guidance to requesters to help them submit requests to other organisations.

The work we have undertaken in 2024 continues to reduce the wait times that survivors or other requesters have had to wait for information about their lives.

Children First received 122 historical requests for information in the reporting period. We have also received ten Verification of Previous Payment/Confirmation of Identity requests.

Continuing to work alongside Redress support organisations

We have continued to respond to requests received from third party support organisations that represent survivors. This has led to an open dialogue with those organisations to ensure we are providing the best possible response for survivors. Keeping an open dialogue with these organisations ensures we can adapt our approach to how survivors want to access or receive their information.

Commitment to providing trauma-sensitive support to survivors

In our Redress reports in 2022 and 2023, we highlighted our trauma-sensitive approach to assist survivors to access their records. We have continued to build on this work and have received positive feedback from survivors, advocates, and support organisations. Children First has long been a leading advocate and provider of trauma recovery support to children and their families. Children First has aligned our subject access request and historical records request processes with our trauma-informed way of working with the children and families we currently work alongside.

This means we are open, sensitive, and compassionate in all dealings with people who seek to access information. We provide clear and transparent information to requesters about what information we might hold about their life and why we hold that information. We are honest with requesters that although we have extensive historical records, they are incomplete, and we may not always be able to provide evidence of time in care for requesters.

We ensure that a trauma-trained Children and Family Services senior manager is involved in the process. We make the offer of providing in person or virtual professional and specialist support to requesters to review their records, to help provide some answers and most importantly because some of the content could be re-traumatising for requesters. Requesters may not wish to access the support initially, and we ensure that this offer remains open should the requester wish to come back later.

One requester, who was happy for us to share their feedback anonymously told us,

“I just want to say that these records and the support you have given me, has been incredibly helpful in allowing me to understand and process some difficult feelings regarding my childhood. So genuinely - thank you so much for all the work in sourcing these records, transcribing and sending them on, and for the offer of staying in touch with Children First. I am very grateful.”

Advice and assistance on tracing and reuniting families

Children First continues to work alongside the specialist organisations to respond to requests for information directly relating to tracing and reuniting families. We have successfully helped trace and reunite families in previous years.

In the reporting period, we were able to help two requesters to begin the process of tracing their family. In one case our records were able to identify that during their childhood, they went by more than one surname, which has opened further possibilities for finding records with other organisations.

In the second case we were able to find one record within our archive for a person who has been looking for records from their childhood for the last fifteen years. Our single record was enough to let the person know that they had siblings they did not otherwise know they had, and they have now begun the process of tracing and reuniting with those siblings.

Current work alongside children

In 2023 and further to decades of campaigning to improve children’s experience of care, protection and justice, Children First opened Scotland’s first Bairns Hoose in the West of Scotland to reduce the trauma children can experience through the care and justice systems. We are now working with local partners to support the development of Bairns Hoose across Scotland in various different local authority areas. The purpose of the Bairns Hoose approach in Scotland is:

• To ensure that children and young people who have been victims and witnesses of abuse or violence (and in the case of Scotland, this will initially be extended to children under the age of criminal responsibility who have caused harm) receive appropriate assessment, treatment and support from the moment they disclose abuse, or abuse is suspected or alleged.
• To avoid subjecting children to multiple interviews by different agencies in different locations.
• To ensure high-quality evidence is collected to inform both legal and protective measures.
• To co-ordinate the child’s (and their families) journey through child protection, care, justice and recovery to minimise trauma and promote safety and healing.

It has been recognised for many years that the Scottish justice system needs reform to meet the needs of child witnesses and victims. Children have often reported that their right to be heard in judicial and administrative proceedings (Article 12 of the UNCRC) is not upheld.

The Bairns Hoose is key to Scotland’s aspiration that children experience child-centred, protection, trauma-free justice, care and support to recover.

Funding for emotional, psychological, or practical support to survivors

During the reporting period, Children First has not been in direct contact with survivors of abuse and as such has not directly provided funding for support for individuals. However, as, and when survivors contact us either directly or through their representative, we will offer a trauma-sensitive, open, and compassionate response. Specifically, we will offer one to one initial support and counselling and where appropriate signpost survivors to other specialist organisations who may be able to offer ongoing support.

Provision of apology to survivors

During the reporting period, Children First has not been in direct contact with survivors of abuse and has not had the opportunity to provide a direct apology to a survivor of abuse. Within our public statement published in September 2022, we offer our unreserved, whole-hearted apologies to anyone who suffered harm as a child whilst in our care. As and when survivors contact us, we will make a direct apology to survivors and offer survivors the opportunity to discuss their experience.

Conclusion

Children First is fully committed to its responsibilities to ensure redress applicants are fully supported and listened to. We will continue to provide a trauma-informed response to support and meet the needs of requesters, develop our historical archive to assist survivors with their search for answers and commit to providing apology and support when we are in contact with survivors. Finally, Children First will continue to acknowledge, support, and champion the rights of survivors.