STAR is the only specialist service in Scotland offering support with contact for brothers and sisters in care. Today it celebrates its sixth birthday. Stand Up For Siblings are proud to have STAR as a partner organisation and would like to wish everyone at STAR much success for many years to come.

Karen Morrison, STAR’s founder, has been reflecting on their achievements and said: “Being the first of its kind, everything was a struggle initially from funding to raising awareness. We were ultimately asking local authorities to change the way they have always worked. At this point there was also very little research, but we persevered and continued to climb mountains because regular and quality contact for separated brothers and sisters did matter and we were really starting to see the huge benefits from our groups who started to attend.

 “A 10 year old girl who attended STAR was on her third placement in three months, she missed her sisters dearly and her chaotic life was starting to show. She looked at me when I asked her how she was doing and she said ‘at least we have STAR’ we were the only continuity in that girl’s life and that moment kept me going through our hard times at STAR.

 “Six years later and we are in a place I never dreamed we would be – over 400 children and young people have passed through STAR and this number grows weekly. We now have over 50 volunteers – many who are highly experienced supervisors.

 “What a journey! Here’s to the next 6 years!”

Further to the announcement made by the Minister for Children and Young People on the first anniversary for Stand Up For Siblings, more information has become available. The Minister responded to a Parliamentary Question from MSP Kezia Dugdale. You can see the response here.

Stand Up For Siblings has welcomed the announcement made by the Minister for Children and Young People, Maree Todd MSP, today.

Earlier today the Minister announced that there are plans to make improvements to the law for brothers and sisters who are in the care system. The law is to be strengthened in relation to keeping brothers and sisters together when they are placed in local authority care when it is in their interest to do so.

The changes will also result in siblings being on an equal footing with parents in relation to promoting personal relations, meaning that there will be a duty on local authorities to take steps to promote personal relations and contact between brothers and sisters when a child is in care.

Dr Christine Jones, of University of Strathclyde and Co-Founder of Stand Up For Siblings said: “We’re delighted by the announcement by the Minister today, along with all our partners in the Stand Up For Siblings coalition.

“These proposals represent real progress towards protecting the rights and promoting the wellbeing of brothers and sisters in care.

“We created Stand Up For Siblings as we believe that if we all work together, we can make a real difference to the lives of children and young people and can influence the law, policy and practice around this issue.

“We will continue to work together to take forward and build on this exciting development and invite others to join us in this work.”

Today, the Minister for Children and Young People, Maree Todd MSP announced that there are plans to make improvements to the law for brothers and sisters who are in the care system. The law is to be strengthened in relation to keeping brothers and sisters together when they are placed in local authority care when it is in their interest to do so.

The changes will also result in siblings being on an equal footing with parents in relation to promoting personal relations, meaning that there will be a duty on local authorities to take steps to promote personal relations and contact between brothers and sisters when a child is in care.

This announcement comes almost exactly one year after the launch of the “Stand Up for Siblings”, a collaboration made up between a number of child welfare, children’s rights and legal organisations and academics within Scotland including Clan Childlaw. They believe that more can be done to protect the rights and promote the wellbeing of siblings and are working together to influence the law, policy and practice.

Minister for Children and Young People, Maree Todd MSP today recognises the potential importance of the brother and sister relationship for a child in care.  She announced her commitment to strengthen the law in relation to keeping brothers and sisters together when it is in their best interests to do so.

Ms Todd said: “The Scottish Government is committed to making our care system the best that it can be.  For most children in care, where it is appropriate, it is now the case that a child is placed with brothers and sisters with whom they have close personal ties.  This has proved overwhelmingly that that is good for their welfare and emotional wellbeing.

“However, it is not the case for every child in care, and we need to understand how best we can use law and practice to make sure that more children are kept together, either physically, or through the proactive encouragement of contact.  We will identify barriers and explore solutions across all agencies, improving practice where we can.”

Alison Reid, Principal Solicitor of Clan Childlaw said: “We are delighted with this announcement. It is progress in the right direction and will allow brothers and sisters in care more of an opportunity to develop and maintain good relations which have the potential to last a lifetime. However, this is just the start.

“We will continue to drive forward change in both law and practice to make sure siblings have the rights they need to participate fully in decisions that affect them, particularly in relation to Children’s Hearings as well as in permanence and adoption proceedings.”