Staying together and connected: getting it right for sisters and brothers: national practice guidance

2. Our rights: What brothers and sisters can expect

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Our brothers and sisters are incredibly important to us all as we move through life. When children are brothers and/or sisters who are care experienced, or for those children who have brothers and/or sisters who are care experienced, they can expect that their rights are promoted and upheld to protect their relationships with each other. From a child's perspective, they can expect that:

• I have a right to respect for my family life, including with my brothers and sisters, if I have close personal ties with them.
• If I am not living at home with my birth parent(s), I have a right to maintain my relationships with my family, including my brothers and sisters, where it is in our interests to do so, and provided all of my brothers and sisters want to maintain our relationship.
• I have a right to be listened to, heard and respected in all decisions that affect me. I have a right to have my views heard and respected in relation to my brothers and sisters, where practicable.
• I can expect professionals to support me with my relationships with my brothers and sisters.
• Professionals working with me understand the importance of brothers and sisters being together and actively make this happen unless it is not appropriate for us to live together or know each other.
• My brothers and sisters may not only be people who have the same birth parents as me. I have a right to have my views listened to about who I consider my brothers and sisters to be.
• I will have the support I feel I need to maintain relationships with my brothers and sisters, if there is a need for an unavoidable move to a new home or if my family circumstances change.
• I know that, if it is appropriate to do so, I have a right to live with my brothers and sisters.
• If I do not live with my brothers and sisters, I have a right to live near to them, and to see them regularly (if it is appropriate for all of us to do so).
• If it is appropriate and if I am not living with my brothers and sisters, I have a right to keep in touch with them and to see them.
• If I do not live with my brothers and sisters, I have a right to understand why these decisions about me have been made, unless this is information about other people and it is not right to share this information or the information would harm me. Reasons that I can't live with my brothers and sisters must be based on what is best for us (and not on other things like resources or the availability of places to live together).
• If any decisions are being made about my brothers' and sisters' care, I have a right to have my views on this considered, so far as practicable.
• If my brother or sister has a Children's Hearing where decisions that affect my contact with them (or the possibility of contact) are likely to be made, I have the right to an opportunity to take part in the discussion.
• I have a right to information about me and my brothers and sisters (if this is safe for me and respects my brothers' and sisters' rights to privacy). This should be recorded clearly and sensitively so that I can understand it if I read it.
• If I feel my rights are not being respected, I have a right to challenge this, be listened to and taken seriously, and I am supported to do this.
• If it isn't safe for me to spend time with my brothers or sisters, I will be offered support to help me understand what I need to make this safe. This will happen at a time that works for me. I can expect that the people who care for me and my brothers and sisters will make plans about how to support us to be safe to spend time together.
• When I do life story work with or about my brothers and sisters, it should be tailored to our needs, and at a time that is right for me and my brothers and sisters. If I want, I know that I can do this in the future instead, and I know this will be updated if new brothers and sisters are born.
• My carer knows the information that I feel is important about my brothers and sisters and will talk to me about this when I want to.
• Ongoing conversations give me the opportunity to rebuild and support relationships with my brothers and sisters, and I have the support I need to rebuild relationships, if it is appropriate.

For this to make a difference to the lives of all brothers and sisters with care experience in Scotland, every adult who cares for a child must understand their responsibilities and have access to the resources needed to support these rights in practice.