Corporate Parenting
Corporate Parenting – Fit’s it a’ aboot?
Corporate Parenting is something that is enshrined in ‘legislation’. This kind of means it is a law and must be done. The ‘Law’ or ‘Act it is part of is called the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. Some of you may have heard of this but 2014 is the year the Act was passed or made legal. Scotland is in brackets because Scotland has its own legal system and many Acts or Laws only apply here.
Acts can be huge and confusing things to read and as such are broken down into lots of parts and sections. The part that refers to Corporate Parenting is ‘part 9’. This part refers to ‘looked after children and young people as well as care leavers’.
Corporate Parenting is about making sure all the important organisations that can help young people, do what they can to ensure their ‘Wellbeing’. Some of you have heard of the SHANNARRI indicators and each one of the letters that makes up this unusual word refers to something that is important about your development.
S AFE
H EALTHY
A CHIEVING
N URTURED
A CTIVE
R ESPECTED
R ESPONSIBLE
I NCLUDED
Corporate parenting is about making sure everyone tries their best to make sure these all turn out as good as possible. This gives everyone a better chance of having good outcomes in life.
Everyone who is a ‘Corporate Parent’ has a part to play and it is not up to any one individual or organisation. Corporate parents include all the local authority (council) organisations such as Education, Social Work and Housing. They also include Further Education agencies such as Colleges and Universities as well as Voluntary Organisations, Health, the Police, Fire Service, Employment and Careers Services, Benefits services and many more.
Corporate Parents have to let the Scottish Government know every three years what they are doing to improve the lives of ‘Looked After Children and Young People and Care Leavers’. To do this they have to listen to what you are saying and one of the ways of doing this is through ‘Champions Boards’. Many Local Authorities or ‘councils’ have their own ‘ Champion’s Boards’ and we have one in Aberdeen which young people meet with every three months.
Most of the young people that go along to the Champion’s Board are part of a group called ACE. This stands for Aberdeen’s Care Experienced. Young people meet at ACE and one of the things they do is decide what the important issues are for Looked After and Care Experienced Young people so that they can speak to all the Champions to try and make things better. There is information about ACE and how to get involved elsewhere on this website and you are all welcome to come along. If you don’t want to come along but have any ideas you want the Champion’s to discuss or consider, contact Laura Bailey, Donna Simpson or Forrest Templeton
