SurvivorScotland Strategic Outcomes and Priorities 2015 - 2017

SurvivorScotland: Strategic Outcomes and Priorities 2015-17

Background

Scotland is one of the few countries in the world to have actively taken steps to acknowledge and address the devastating effects of childhood abuse. It has been through the dedication and bravery of survivors who have spoken out about their own experiences and campaigned relentlessly to have their voices heard that the Scottish Government has listened and responded.

A lot has been achieved since the first petitions to the Scottish Parliament in 2000 and 2002 - the creation of a Scottish Parliament Cross-Party Group on Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse in 2001, the launch of a National Strategy for Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse in 2005, an Independent Historic Abuse Systematic Review which reported in 2007, the launch of In Care Survivors Support Service Scotland in 2008, the pilot Time to Be Heard Forum in 2010 and the subsequent National Confidential Forum launched in 2014.

These achievements are commendable however there is a lot more that can and must be done to ensure that those affected by the negative consequences of childhood abuse can enjoy good health and participate and thrive in society.

Human Rights

Everyone has the right to live and be treated with dignity. Sexual, physical, emotional abuse and neglect are a breach of these rights and anyone who has suffered such abuse has the right to access justice, remedies and reparation. In 2010 the Scottish Government contracted the Scottish Human Rights Commission to independently develop a Framework for Justice and Remedies for Historic Abuse of Children In Care. Following its publication Scottish Ministers agreed to engage in a process of interaction to develop an Action Plan to implement the recommendations of the framework (add link).

The resulting Action Plan on Justice for Victims of Historic Abuse of Children in Care identified a number of recommendations for the Scottish Government and others to take forward. These recommendations centred around key themes:

• Acknowledgment & Apology
  Key actions will be considering the merits of an Apology Law in Scotland, considering how the National Confidential Forum will contribute to establishing a national record and being guided by Survivors to consider an appropriate form of commemoration.

• Reparation
  The Scottish Government has made a commitment to establish a dedicated In Care Survivor Support Fund Service. £13.5m has be allocated over five years (2015-20) to enable Survivors to access services across a wide range of health and wellbeing domains which will enable them to lead full, healthy and independent lives.

• Inquiry
  In December 2014 the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning made an announcement to the Scottish Parliament of the Scottish Government's intention to hold a national public inquiry into historical abuse of children in care. Under the chairmanship of Susan O'Brien QC the inquiry will aim to begin its work in October 2015.

• Access to Justice
  Following consultation with Survivors and others the Scottish Government launched a consultation in June 2015 to establish how it will remove Time Bar for civil litigation in cases involving childhood abuse.

A formal process of monitoring and reviewing progress against the full range of recommendations will be through the implementation of Scotland's National Action Plan for Human Rights (SNAP). A range of mechanisms have been put in place to make the delivery of SNAP accountable and transparent. This includes a number of Action Groups. The Justice and Safety Acton Group will be the group that will monitor progress toward the implementation of the InterAction plan for Historic Abuse in Care. An internal Scottish Government policy group will coordinate activity and ensure that progress is being achieved across all recommendation in the plan, reporting regularly to SNAP.

Moving Forward

In addition to the work associated with implementing the interAction plan the Scottish Government is continuing its commitment to its work on SurvivorScotland policy. The SurvivorScotland strategy is now ten years old. Whilst its initial focus was on child sexual abuse the strategy's policy work and the work of those delivering services to survivors has rightly covered all forms of abuse.

We have learned a lot about what matters to survivors and what services they need. Work to date has highlighted the complexity of issues which surround those who have been abused and the need for coordinated, integrated resources, care, treatment and support.

We know more about what matters to survivors and that services need to be responsive to their individual needs and personal outcomes. A continued focus for the work of the SurvivorScotland policy team will be to improve and develop our workforce and the services they deliver that treat, care for and support survivors across all domains of health and wellbeing including physical, psychological and social in a person centred approach.

The Vision

Our vision is that Survivors should be supported to have equal access to integrated care, support and treatment resources and services which can reduce the impact of the inequalities and disadvantage experienced as a result of abuse.

In making this vision a reality we will need to ensure that evidence of what works can be embedded in practice when delivering services whilst ensuring that what works is also evidenced and shared. Building a strong evidence base embedded in service delivery and continuously improving those services will be a priority.

The wide range of health and wellbeing services that survivors may need to access must be responsive to the particular needs of Survivors. They need to be trauma informed to understand and recognise the long term negative consequences of child abuse. Developing a national approach to training and skills across the workforce enabling them to respond to the needs of survivors is a priority.

At the heart of this vision are Survivors. Meeting the needs of survivors and listening to what Survivors tell us will always be our overarching priority.

The key messages that survivors of abuse have told us are important to them are:

• That children and young people today should not experience abuse.
• Support for survivors should be lifelong.
• That support should be needs based and include advocacy, support and case management.
• That support should be integrated and joined up with specialist services when required.
• That support should be available across a range of domains of wellbeing.
• That support should be accessible to all survivors and their families.
• That justice and reparation for the suffering they have experienced should be readily and easily accessible.

Delivery Model

Our plans are based on what we know about the negative impacts abuse can have for survivors and their families and what survivors have told us is important to them. We know that these negative impacts can be life long and are experienced across many aspects of everyday life including personal and social relationships, education, and employment as well as physical and mental wellbeing.

The SurvivorScotland policy team is responsible for co-ordinating the successful delivery of future policy to support adult survivors and ensuring the implementation of the Scottish Government's SHRC interaction plan commitments. It will work in partnership with a wide range of other policy teams across Government to ensure better connections across these areas to help prevent child abuse and ensure policies and services are trauma informed and responsive to the needs of Survivors.

Our vision for Scotland's Survivors of childhood abuse is rooted in the Scottish Government's ambition for all citizens to be healthy, active participants in all aspects of Scottish life. To bring this vision to reality we must take steps to recognise and tackle the significant inequalities that survivors often experience as a result of their abuse and ensure that as policies and services are developed the needs of survivors are met.

Our overarching aims are to:

• Raise awareness of childhood abuse and its long term consequences.
• Improve resources and support services for survivors to enhance the health and wellbeing of survivors.
• Develop a national approach to training and skills across the workforce to enable them to respond to the needs of survivors.

Strategic Outcomes

This framework has three strategic outcomes. The framework will seek to involve the wider Scottish Government in supporting our work and sets out key priorities for action. Our delivery plans will be designed to help us achieve these outcomes.

A Healthy Life: Survivors are enabled and supported to enjoy an attainable standard of living, health and family life.

Choice and Control: Survivors are treated with dignity and respect and are empowered and enabled to access the right support.

Safety and Security: Survivors have access to resources and services which are trauma informed and have the capacity and capability to recognise and respond to the signs of childhood abuse.

Improving and supporting resources and support services for survivors will not happen without the collective efforts of all stakeholders and partners. We will require empowered, engaged, skilled and motivated stakeholders, partners and workforce to deliver our vision for survivors.

The House of Care is a useful visual framework representing this collaborative, enabling and empowering process putting people in the driving seat of their care. Our plans to deliver our vision for Survivors will need to ensure that all sides of the house are built on solid foundations where the Survivor is at the centre. A personal outcomes, needs based assessment leads to case managed, integrated support, care and treatment service provision.

Framework: The House of Care

Priorities 2015-17 Strategic Outcome 1

A Healthy Life: Survivors enjoy the highest attainable standard of living, health and family life.

Why we need to support this outcome:

Survivors have told us that they need help to access appropriate resources and services for their needs. They may need this help to be lifelong and they may need different support at different times across a range of domains of wellbeing.

Personal Outcome focused needs based assessments are essential to define these needs and inform the future development of resources and services.

What we will do:

Establish a robust process of needs based assessment for survivors across all sectors and review to identify survivors' needs and develop resources and services to respond to these needs.

How we will do this:

• Establish the capability, knowledge, skills, experience and training required for people to deliver needs based assessments and develop a national training framework to deliver this with NES and other agencies.
• Identify the capacity of the existing workforce to deliver needs based assessments potentially building on the Self Directed Support (SDS) model.
• Support local area 'tests of change' developments of needs based assessments and evaluate these to inform the training framework and resources needed to embed this practice across services for Survivors.
• Co-produce and build on the principles Survivors have identified as being important to them in developing a support fund for In-Care Survivors and ensure that the fund has the ability to offer a flexible approach to achieving the personal outcomes Survivors identify.

Priorities 2015-17 Strategic Outcome 2

Choice and Control: Survivors are treated with dignity and respect and are empowered and enabled to access the right support.

Why we need to support this outcome:

Survivors have told us that support needs to be integrated and joined up with specialist and statutory services and that it should be available across a range of domains of wellbeing. They have told us that they may need support to access the right help at the right time.

What we will do:

We will support the innovation, development and adoption of evidence based good practice to improve resources and services for survivors.

How we will do this:

• Convene a policy steering group of representatives from Scottish Government Policy Areas with responsibilities for different commitments of the SHRC interaction plan to work together to ensure the implementation of these commitments.
• Support and fund the development, implementation and evaluation of innovative tests of change which meet the strategic funding criteria we have developed and offer new ways to meet Survivor's needs.
• Use the learning from these tests of change to take successful projects to scale across Scotland ensuring equity of access to evidence based resource and service provision.
• We will encourage and assist statutory and third sector agencies to work in partnership to deliver needs based assessment, advocacy/case management and "one stop shop" integrated care, support and treatment resources and services for survivors.
• In developing the In-care Survivor support fund service ensure that the service provider is able to offer In-care Survivors an holistic integrated pathway of care support and treatment utilising and joining, where relevant, with local statutory and other third sector agencies.

Priorities 2015-17 Strategic Outcome 3

Safety and Security: Survivors have access to resources and services which are trauma informed and have the capacity and capability to recognise and respond to the signs of childhood abuse.

Why we need to support this outcome.

Survivors have told us that they experience variation across Scotland in the accessibility and quality of support available to meet their needs. Services, professionals and communities must be able to recognise and respond to abuse and put in place prevention strategies.

How we will do this:

• Identify, and work in partnership with, relevant policy colleagues across government areas to ensure better connections and raise awareness of childhood abuse and its negative impacts across a wide range of sectors.
• Support the development, communication and implementation of a national training framework, in partnership with NES and experts in the field, that:
  • Supports the development, communication and implementation of the evidence base for interventions which improve the wellbeing of Survivors .
  • Identifies and communicates current capacity, capability and good practice of resources and services for Survivors.
  • Identifies gaps in current provision and develops a clear plan to address these so that resources and services can ensure they are trauma informed, aware of the signs of childhood abuse, its negative impacts and are able to respond appropriately to improve outcomes for Survivors.
  • Support the evaluation of the impact of this framework on outcomes for survivors.
• Explore with the Chief Scientist Office opportunities to further the evidence base for interventions that improves the wellbeing of Survivors.