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.

A massive congratulations to STAR (Siblings Reunited) for winning a prestiguous award at Fife’s Volunteering and Voluntary Sector awards last night (5th June). The charity, which helps brothers and sisters spend quality time together, received the Children, Young People and Families Award. Congratulations from everyone at Stand Up For Siblings. It is very well deserved for the amazing work you do.