Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC): policy statement

7. Keeping the Promise

GIRFEC, The Promise, and children’s rights are indivisible components in our delivery of Scotland’s vision for all children, young people and families.

GIRFEC contributes to the platform for developing work on family support and delivering The Promise made to all of Scotland’s children, young people and their families. There is a shared commitment to build on the foundations of The Promise, to reorganise how we think, plan and prioritise for children, young people and their families. Those foundations of Voice, Family, Care, People, and Scaffolding of The Promise carry over into the first of three Plans: The Plan 21-24 with priorities in A Good Childhood, Whole Family Support, Supporting the Workforce, Planning and Building Capacity.

For GIRFEC to be applied using a rights-respecting approach, the views of children and young people should be sought and listened to. There must be a compassionate and caring decision- making culture focused on children and young people and those they trust. Children and young people should be meaningfully and appropriately involved in all matters which affect them, including in decision making about their care.

Staying Together and Connected: Getting it Right for Sisters and Brothers, our National Practice Guidance, reflects our ambition to act on what we have heard. We listened to people with experience of care, who told us that separation from their sisters and brothers had a lifelong impact. The guidance puts children’s wellbeing at the heart of decision making, with the voices of children reflected throughout its development. Of crucial importance is the expectation that brothers’ and sisters’ relationships should be nurtured and helped to recover where that is needed. Crucially, sisters and brothers should share the same home, away from home, where it is

safe and appropriate for them to do so. When that is not possible the Guidance offers creativity to professionals to promote brothers’ and sisters’ time together, where appropriate.