Cross-Border Placements (Effect of Deprivation of Liberty Orders) (Scotland) Regulations 2022: practice guidance, notice and undertaking template

3. Wider policy context

Following the Independent Care Review in Scotland, the Promise report was published in 2020 and Scottish Ministers are fully committed to Keeping the Promise. The Scottish Government published a Keeping the Promise implementation plan in March 2022 and a progress update in September 2024.

The realisation of the Promise means significantly reducing the number of children and young people living away from their families and includes ensuring that cross-border placements only happen in exceptional circumstances, where they are truly in the best interests of a child.

Cross-border placements should therefore only occur in exceptional circumstances, where the placement is in the best interests of an individual child and appropriate safeguards are put in place to ensure that the cross-border DOL order placement works effectively and protects the rights, interests, and needs of the child.

The Regulations are an interim step, necessary to better regulate cross-border DOL placements of children and young people on DOL orders into Scottish residential care. The Scottish Government is committed to introducing broader, longer-term measures to address the wider consequences and implications of cross-border placements in Scotland, as enabled by provisions of the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024.