Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 part 11 - continuing care: guidance

Glossary

Aftercare - advice, guidance and assistance provided to care leavers under section 29 of the 1995 Act. Any young person who ceases to be looked after on or after their sixteenth birthday and is less than twenty-six years of age are eligible (between sixteen and nineteen) or potentially eligible (between nineteen and twenty-six) for Aftercare^[64]. Aftercare applies to all care leavers, regardless of their placement type while they were looked after.

Care Leaver – for the purposes of this guidance, a care leaver is a young person who ceased to be looked after on, or at any time after, their sixteenth birthday.

Care Placement - a placement for a looked after child with a family, relative or other suitable person or residential establishment^[65].

Carer - the family or persons with whom the placement is made^[66].

Continuing Care - this refers to a local authority’s duty under section 26A of the 1995 Act to provide certain eligible young persons with the opportunity to continue with the accommodation (foster/kinship/residential) and assistance they were provided with immediately before they ceased to be looked after up until their 21st birthday.

Corporate Parent - an organisation or individual listed, or within a description listed, in schedule 4^[67] of the 2014 Act.

Corporate Parenting - “An organisation's performance of actions necessary to uphold the rights and safeguard the wellbeing of a looked after child or care leaver, and through which physical, emotional, spiritual, social and educational development is promoted.”^[68]

The necessary actions or duties of corporate parents are set out in Part 9, section 58 (Corporate Parenting responsibilities) of the 2014 Act.

Eligible need - Eligible needs are defined in Article 2 of the Aftercare (Eligible Needs) (Scotland) Order 2015 as:

a) financial support to meet essential accommodation and maintenance costs, such as travel and other necessary living expenses;

b) support, in the form of information or advice, to assist the person to access education, training, employment, leisure and skills-related opportunities; and

c) insofar as not covered by sub-paragraph (b), support, in the form of information or advice, relating to the person’s wellbeing.

Any assessment of a young person’s wellbeing will include the wellbeing indicators (as described in section 96 of the 2014 Act).

Eligible needs can be further described as needs which cannot be met through existing universal services and supports.

Getting It Right For Everyone - Building on learning from Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC), the Scottish Government is currently co-designing Getting It Right For Everyone (GIRFE), a multi-agency approach of support and services from young adulthood to end of life care. GIRFE is about providing a more personalised way to access help and support when it is needed – placing the person at the centre of all decision making that affects them to achieve the best outcomes, with a joined-up, coherent and consistent multi-agency approach regardless of the support needed at any stage of life. GIRFE will form the future practice model of all health and social care professionals and shape the future design and delivery of services.

The GIRFE principles are:

• I have the information that I need to make decisions about my own health and social care, and I am trusted to know what is right for me.
• The people who support me take the time to listen and understand me as a person and we consider my whole life when making decisions about my health and social care.
• I know that I can be clear about what matters to me, and I trust that my choices will be respected and understood by the people who support me.
• Treating everyone with kindness, dignity and respect is the foundation of my health and social care support.
• The people involved in the conversations around my health and social care support work together with me to share information and develop a clear understanding of how to support my wellbeing.

Independent living – Independent living might mean different things for different individuals; for example, for some disabled young people, living alone may not be an option. Statutory guidance on self-directed support^[69] defines independent living as "people of all ages having freedom, choice, dignity, and control, and fulfilling your rights to participate in society and live a full life. It does not mean living by yourself or fending for yourself".

Looked After Child - A child is looked after by a local authority when he or she is:

a) provided with accommodation by a local authority under section 25 of the 1995 Act; or

b) subject to a compulsory supervision order or an interim compulsory supervision order made by a children’s hearing in respect of whom the local authority is the implementation authority (within the meaning of the 2011 Act); or

c) living in Scotland and subject to an order in respect of whom a Scottish local authority has responsibilities, as a result of a transfer of an order under regulations made under section 33 of the 1995 Act or section 190 of the 2011 Act; or

d) subject to a Permanence Order made after an application by the local authority under section 80 of the 2007 Act.

The definition is set out in section 17(6) of the 1995 Act, as amended by the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (the 2007 Act) and Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (the 2011 Act).

To assist in the provision of their care some children and young people with disabilities are looked after by local authorities (often under section 25 of the 1995 Act arrangement). These children and young people, who are provided with accommodation by a local authority under section 25, are therefore looked after, and so covered by the duties set out in Part 11 of the 2014 Act.

In this guidance the terms “looked after young person” and “looked after young people” refer to any individual falling into the definition provided above.

As young people can be uncomfortable with the label “looked after child”, and in view of the focus of this guidance (Continuing Care), the terms “looked after young person” or “looked after young people” are used.

A child who has been adopted, or a child who is secured in a placement with friends or relatives by means of a Kinship Care Order (under section 11 of the 1995 Act), is not considered looked after.

Throughcare - advice and assistance provided to looked after young people to prepare them for when they are no longer looked after by a local authority. Local authorities are under a duty to provide such assistance to all looked after children and young people^[70]. For more guidance on throughcare, refer to the Supporting Young People Leaving Care in Scotland: Regulations and Guidance on Services for Young People Ceasing to be Looked After by Local Authorities published in 2004.

Wellbeing – Any assessment of a child or young person’s wellbeing should be founded on the 8 wellbeing indicators: Safe, Healthy, Active, Nurtured, Achieving, Respected, Responsible, Included,

sometimes referred to as SHANARRI. The wellbeing indicators are informed by the UNCRC. They are overlapping and connecting areas that are fundamental to understanding what children and young people need in order to grow, develop and thrive.