Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership have been on a journey with their Family Connections Assessment and Plan. The aim is for all care experienced children who have a brother or sister, to have a family connections assessment and plan as early in their care journey as possible and not just when permanence is being progressed.

Elaine Goudie, Assistant Service Manager and Roddy Ringland, Team Leader talk to us about how the Family Connections Assessment and Plan has been developed in Glasgow…

Q) How has this come about?

A) Within Glasgow City HSCP there has been some form of sibling assessment for many years. However, this assessment was often left to the point permanence planning decisions were being made for children and young people and by that point opportunities to support connections continuing were potentially lost. It was acknowledged a new assessment framework was required and the publication of The Promise and the National Guidance: Staying Together and Connected: getting it right for sisters and brothers gave us direction to make changes in our practice.

Q) What did you do?

A) Two Promise Keepers were named in the Glasgow’s Promise Plan 21-23 who were given the responsibility to re-design the sibling assessment and create a Family Connections Assessment. But we were clear this wasn’t just about writing a new document that would be circulated for implementation.  There needed to be a system change which shifted practice from following processes to promoting the right to connections that would be supported and sustainable in the long term. Therefore, in mid 2021 a wider working group was established which included IROs, locality and family finding Team Leaders, managers from Family Group Decision Making, Learning and Development staff, including those who assess and support foster carers’ and adopters. Celcis provided support to think about the National Guidance and how this can be implemented and also supported a pilot and evaluation of the draft assessment. Key to the development of the assessment and plan was the commitment of senior managers who supported implementation and committed to a role out programme for all staff.

Q) What did you want to achieve?

A) We wanted to develop an assessment framework that did not just report what the current relationships status of sibling relationships are. We wanted an in-depth assessment of a child’s important relationships, including how those relationships can be supported to develop and improve if need be. The assessment should consider if children can be supported to live together and if they can’t, consideration should be given to how the relationship should be sustained. It was felt important a clear plan be included that was made available to all adults supporting the child’s connections to ensure clarity about what their ongoing relationships should be and how they should be supported. With some recognition the siblings’ relationships may change over time but support should be maintained to allow them to stay in touch. We also wanted the assessment to start much earlier to allow important connections to be maintained at the point a child had to live apart from their family. 

Q) How was implementation supported?

A) A draft assessment and plan with associated guidance which provided relevant links to the National Guidance was agreed and rolled out early 2022 with a view this new framework would be used for all assessments. A series of briefings for all children and families social work staff took place. We understood to ensure implementation was successful a number of supports were needed in addition to this. Workshops were offered on an ongoing monthly basis to allow practical support, mentoring was offered, learning needs were identified around life story approaches and training and mentoring was provided around this.

Q) Can you tell us about the evaluation?

A) After the framework had been in use for a year an evaluation was carried out by Celcis. The evaluation was positive. There is clear evidence of a culture of change where sibling relationships are viewed as important and should be prioritised. But there were some areas for development. Completion of the assessment continued to be process driven with the majority completed at the point a permanence decision was being considered. Social workers found it difficult to prioritise assessment in the early days of a child being looked after when other reports were also needed. Children wanted us to consider wider connections not just siblings and sibling like relationships. Gaps in children and young people’s understanding of life story were identified which made it difficult to seek their views and support transitions. This could lead to plans being delayed rather than creating actions to help support these needs.

Q) So, what is happening now?

A) A new assessment and plan has been developed which allows a two stage approach. Stage one is a short exercise to capture who the children’s connections are when they start to be looked after. Key to this is an exercise which allows the child to tell us who they view as important. Wider connections are considered in addition to siblings and sibling like relationships. Stage two allows a more in-depth assessment which produces a plan which should be a living document regularly reviewed at children’s meetings. If a child is adopted the connection plan will be included in the post adoption support plan. 

Ongoing support to staff continues to be offered and a one day briefing will be offered to all of children and families social work staff in early 2024 to ensure everyone is aware of the new framework and understands how their roles can be supported. The briefings will also provide an input on life story narratives and an introduction to the Staying Connected Tool Kit to consider how to sustain connections in transitions. The briefings will be extended to staff in children’s houses allowing those working directly with children and young people to support connections. Key to the successful implementation has been developing foster carers and adopters. Assessments of adopters and foster carers and learning resources have been adapted to help them develop an understanding of the importance of connections and assess their capacity to value and support these for the children they look after. A Promise Participation Worker has also joined our implementation group to help us think about how we develop our practice to ensure young people understand their rights and are able to express their views.

On the 1st of October members of the Community of Practice were hosted by Rossie’s residential and secure service for a day of discussions about the needs of children and young people in their care who are separated from their siblings.

Michael Scanlin, Service Development Manager for Residential Services, gave a presentation on the innovative work they are progressing to have a separate facility set within the grounds of Rossie to facilitate siblings and family members to spend time together. 

The building has been designed to meet the differing needs and wants of the young people and will facilitate cooking and eating together as well as chilling with games, arts and crafts and TV. Michael took his inspiration from visits to Siblings Reunited STAR and is drawing on the importance of access to the outdoors with the building being close to the woods and plans for adventure play equipment and polytunnels for gardening activities. Building work commences very soon with young people at Rossie being involved in the planning of furnishings and decor and Michael is hopeful the centre will be ready for visits by the summer of 2025.

Following Michael’s presentation, we heard from Rachel Farrier and Claire Lightowler from Clan Childlaw on the work they are doing with young people to realise their sibling rights as set out within the legislation. View their powerpoint presentation and information about Participation Rights).

Following a delightful lunch, attendees were divided between three breakout sessions, each having a different focus:

CLAN breakout – Overcoming barriers to sibling contact – This session, facilitated by Clan Childlaw, focussed on what the barriers are to sibling contact, how we overcome any barriers, and how we can help children seek remedy when their rights to sibling contact are not respected.

Rossie Secure breakout – Balancing Risks with Rights in Secure Care – exploring the significance, the barriers and strategies in nurturing sibling bonds. Sharing insights into secure care practices in supporting brothers and sisters to keep in touch. 

Rossie Residential breakout – Timeline of a journey to care: Case study of one young person’s experience of placement moves and impact on family life. 

This was a very informative and thought provoking event, combined with the excitement at the creation of another resource in Scotland to promote sibling relationships.

Scotland’s care system is taking years to find many of the country’s most vulnerable children permanent homes – and too many of them have no contact with their siblings, according to new research.

The study of more than 1,800 children ‘looked after’ in Scotland reveals that it took, on average, more than two years to find them a permanent home, and more than one in 10 were in temporary placements 10 years after becoming looked after.

Researchers on the Permanently Progressing longitudinal study, led by the University of Stirling in collaboration with Lancaster University, and the Association for Fostering, Kinship & Adoption Scotland (AFKA), have been looking at the lives of all 1,836 children who became looked after in Scotland aged five or under in 2012-13, tracking their progress from infant to adult.

A new book, which has been written by experienced social workers, aims to help children understand sibling separation.

The book called ‘Growing Shoots With Deep Roots’ uses rhymes and illustrations to help children and families explore their connection to families and nature. 

The book explains why some parents can’t parent and provides a space in the book to write and draw children’s own family trees and who their roots talk to.

This book celebrates different families touching on fostering, adoption, kinship and half-siblings, while weaving the scientific and natural worlds, using trees talking to each other to provide a backdrop to the connected roots of family.

Written by Kim McPherson and Lisa Wilson, who run Help2Tell, a life story service creating custom poems and books for donor conceived and care experienced children, the book is available to buy on Amazon.

The Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, Natalie Don MSP has written to members of the Staying Together and Connected (STAC) National Implementation Group, about the Scottish Government’s work around siblings. The letter has been shared with Stand Up For Siblings.

The Community of Practice for Siblings has published the latest edition of their newsletter. This issue contains a round up of the online session in May and the in-person event in June, plus lots more! Remember, there’s still time to sign up to the next Community of Practice online event on 20 August. You can register on Eventbrite.