Healthcare professionals - supporting children and young people who may have experienced child sexual abuse: clinical pathway

Appendix E – GIRFEC

All decisions relating to children’s safety or wellbeing needs should be based on children’s rights as articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the principles of Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC).

The GIRFEC approach supports planning for children and young people to promote, support and safeguard their wellbeing and to ensure that any action to meet needs is taken at the earliest appropriate time to prevent acute needs arising. GIRFEC provides a consistent and unified approach to identifying concerns, assessing needs, and agreeing actions and outcomes.

The GIRFEC approach is based on key principles which should continue to underpin any assessment and decision making in relation to a child or young person’s wellbeing. This means always having the child or young person at the centre with meaningful input to discussions and decision making, along with their parents or carers where appropriate; considering the needs of the child or young person in the context of their family, unique world and circumstances, as well as their strengths and factors that affect their resilience. This ensures that support is accessible and responsive to the individual child or young person’s needs and ensures that services work in partnership to provide a cohesive and coordinated network of support that is provided through a single planning process.

This support will also reflect the foundations of the Promise^[70] to children and young people in Scotland contained in the seven reports of the Independent Care Review published in February 2020. Advocacy and therapeutic support will particularly relate to the following foundations:

• Voice: Advocacy and therapeutic support will actively listen to what a child or young person says they need and want and build that support package accordingly
• Family: Therapeutic support will also be provided to the non-abusing family members of a child or young person
• People: Advocacy and therapeutic support will actively support a child or young person to maintain relationships with people who are important to them from their family and wider community
• Scaffolding: Advocacy and therapeutic support will be available to a child or young person and their family from the right people at the right time as long as it is required