National Guidance for Child Protection
Published: 09/09/21
The Scottish Government has now published the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 with a suite of accompanying documents:
National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
A PageFlip version has also been published: Child Protection Guidance 2021 (theapsgroup.scot)
This non-statutory Guidance describes the responsibilities and expectations for all involved in protecting children in Scotland and replaces the 2014 version. It outlines how statutory and non-government agencies should work together with parents, families and communities to prevent harm and to protect children from abuse and neglect. The Guidance promotes partnership between those who care about and have responsibilities for the child, and entails a collaborative approach between professionals, carers and family members.
The Guidance has been developed collaboratively and has involved extensive engagement with stakeholder groups and individuals, to ensure that it takes full account of developments and new thinking. It incorporates our understanding of best practice and ‘what works’ from various sources, including practitioner and stakeholder experience, inspections, research and learning from Significant Case Reviews. The 2021 guidance also integrates the (previously separate) guidance for health professionals.
A key change in the 2021 Guidance is to reflect the greater integration of child protection within the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) continuum and use GIRFEC language and core components to frame identification and proportionate responses to child protection concerns within the National Practice Model. The Guidance outlines the continuum of support for all children, from universal support through to protection from significant harm, underlining that the wellbeing and safety of children are indivisibly connected. There is a clear articulation of the importance of GIRFEC to protecting children, particularly in recognising that all children must receive the right help at the right time. The leadership of Children’s Services Planning Partnerships will therefore be instrumental in supporting implementation of this Guidance within the broader context of local GIRFEC practice.
The Guidance has a strengthened focus on children’s rights, engagement and collaboration with children and families, and on building on strengths. It incorporates the experiences and views of children, young people and families and includes a greater emphasis on ensuring that a child’s views are taken into account in all decision-making that affects them. These views have also informed the development of the series of Practice Insights published alongside the Guidance, ensuring a central focus on the child’s voice and perspective.
We have also published a supporting narrative for use in wider communications which is intended to reiterate the commitment to the Promise vision and set out how our approach to child protection in Scotland aligns with and supports strategic developments. We have drawn together supportive statements from a range of stakeholders which are published alongside the Minister’s statement and a statement from the Chairs of the National Guidance Steering Group.
A Scottish Government consultation report which includes the independent consultation analysis report and the Scottish Government response to the consultation has also been published. This is supported by a “We Asked, You Said, We Did” summary document that was published on CitizenSpace on 15 July.
The National Guidance for Child Protection Committees Undertaking Learning Reviews and the accompanying resources have also been published today .
An initial assessment of the impact of both sets of Guidance have been undertaken. The Scottish Government will continue to review and update these impact assessments where required during the implementation process. The following impact assessments have been published as supporting documents to the National Guidance:
Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment
Equality Impact Assessment
Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment
Islands Communities Impact Assessment
Data Protection Impact Assessment
Fairer Scotland Duty screening exercise
Implementation
Whilst publication of the guidance and associated documents is an important milestone, consistent implementation across Scotland will be key to realising the benefits from this review. We have established an implementation steering group to undertake detailed implementation planning as local areas engage with the Guidance and a fuller picture of support needs for practitioners, managers and leaders emerges. Membership is drawn from statutory and third sector partners and national organisations. Consideration of local resourcing and wider support requirements will be an early focus for this group.
We would be grateful if you could circulate this email to your networks and retweet the following:
If you have any questions or would like to discuss any aspect of the suite of documents, please email Child_Protection@gov.scot
Our colleagues at the Scottish Government have asked us to disseminate the following information to pharmacy teams: