At the recent Community of Practice event on 1 February, Karen Morrison, founder and chair from STAR (Siblings Reunited) read out a poem written by a teenage girl who came to STAR with her older sister. ‘To Have You There By My Side’ is a powerful reminder of the importance of siblings being able to always remain together.
The latest session of the Community of Practice for siblings focused on the work ongoing in West Dunbartonshire.
More than 65 practitioners from across Scotland came together for the online event on Thursday 1 February.
This was the second online session following the first webinar in October and a face to face event in June and December 2023.
Ailsa Dinwoodie, The Promise Lead Officer at West Dunbartonshire Council presented findings of a survey of brothers and sisters in care.
It has been a year since the local authority started on their journey and Ailsa highlighted the work that has been ongoing since then. You can read more about Ailsa’s presentation here.
At the virtual session, practitioners got the opportunity to consider a series of questions in break out rooms, including:
The event ended with a touching poem written by a young person read out by Karen Morrison from STAR (Siblings Reunited).
Speaking afterwards Tom Boyd from The Promise Scotland said: “What a great session and another significant step for the Community of Practice. I think there is now a sense of connection across Scotland and this is only going to grow in the year ahead.”
Kate Richardson, the Chair of Stand Up For Siblings added: “A massive thank you to everyone who helped organise the event and to all our practitioners who attended. Thank you to Ailsa and the team at West Dunbartonshire for sharing the amazing work they are doing. We look forward to hearing how this work develops.”
Dates for future events are available on the Community of Practice page.
Exciting work is underway in West Dunbartonshire to Keep The Promise. Ailsa Dinwoodie, The Promise Lead Officer tells us more…
In West Dunbartonshire in March 2023 we were keeping 38% of our children and young people with all of their brothers and sisters in care. 27% of our children and young people were with 1, but not all of their brothers and sisters. 35% were separated from all of their brothers and sisters. We are significantly better at keeping brothers and sisters together within kinship care, however this is also where we see the highest number of children separated.
68% of respondents to our Brothers and Sisters survey about time together reported that there was no formal plan in place to support their time together with brothers and sisters out-with contact with their wider family.
Actions to consider within this report span data, local policy and protocols, supporting and promoting creative practice and quality assurance. Having a Brothers and Sisters Charter, led by our care experienced children and young people, making sure everyone is clear on how we value sibling relationships and our commitment to supporting and nurturing these relationships. Ensuring we have a mechanism for routine data collection around the separation of brothers and sisters is essential for monitoring our progress.
This work has been carried out as part of the Keeping the Promise Working Group on Brothers and Sisters, which aims to understand how well we are doing at keeping brothers and sisters together currently, the factors impacting upon separation, and how well we are doing at keeping connections between siblings when they are separated. This will support future proofing of our services, building capacity and culture change within systems to ensure relationships between brothers and sisters and valued and protected. The data gathering began in March 2023 and this report was written in July 2023 and finalised in January 2024.
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Thank you to Ailsa and West Dunbartonshire for sharing their story. We look forward to hearing how it develops.
If you would like more detail about the work, there is a briefing available. You can also view a powerpoint presentation.
Following the first webinar of the year on 1 February, here’s the dates for the Community of Practice for siblings events for the rest of 2024…
22 April 2024 – in person
10am – 3.30pm at Family Journeys
16 May 2024 – ONLINE
10am – 12:30pm
25 June 2024 – in person
10am – 3.30pm at STAR (Siblings Reunited)
20 August 2024 – ONLINE
10am – 12:30pm
1 October 2024 – in person
10am – 3:30pm at Rossie Young People’s Trust
21 November 2024 – ONLINE
10am -12:30pm
Watch this space for how to register. More information will be posted here shortly.
The Independent Care Review helped to highlight the importance of brothers and sisters maintaining relationships whether or not they are living together – and the extent to which, for many children in Scotland, this has not been happening. Siblings Reunited (STAR) stands out as an example of a project that has helped many children separated in care stay in touch and have positive time together. Set up in 2013, STAR is the only specialist service in Scotland offering support with family time together for brothers and sisters.
AFKA Scotland and STAR have come together with other organisations in Stand Up For Siblings (SUFS), a collaboration formed in 2017 between partner organisations to shape and influence policy, practice, knowledge and service development based on research in Scotland. This group has been instrumental in driving forward new legislation and regulation in relation to Brothers and Sisters in Scotland.
In October 2021, STAR and AFKA were successful in securing funding from The Promise Partnership to conduct an evidence-based process evaluation of STAR. The aims of the evaluation were to: provide learning for STAR’s future development; articulate a STAR model to guide those looking to develop similar services; and, identify key learning for better supporting relationships between brothers and sisters separated in care. The evaluation took place between February 2022 and February 2023, during which time the research team spoke to a range of stakeholders including children and young people, caregivers, social workers, and volunteers.
Findings from the evaluation have been published in the form of a full report, four briefings for caregivers, volunteers, professionals, and managers and policy-makers, and a research summary for children and young people. Links to all of these can be found below. For further information about the evaluation please contact the principal researcher for the project, Mark Hardy.
‘Place and Space’ and Siblings within Kinship were the two key themes at the most recent meeting of the Community of Practice for Siblings.
Nearly 40 people from local authorities and organisations across Scotland, gathered at Victoria Quay in Edinburgh on Tuesday 5 December for the Community’s fourth in-person event.
The Community of Practice is a supportive, welcoming network that promotes the sharing of knowledge, learning from best practices, and the development of innovative approaches to support positive change for brothers and sisters. It is for change-makers across Scotland with an interest in building improvement, keeping the promise to brothers and sisters.
Those attending were welcomed to the event by Kate Richardson, Chair of the Stand Up For Siblings partnership, who set the scene for the day. Kim McPherson from Help2Tell then read a beautiful poem about the connections between brothers and sisters that do not lessen through separation. It is hoped this poem will be developed into a small hardback book for children.
Then the main part of the morning session focused on places and spaces that nurture positive family connections.
Facilitated by Selina Smyth and Jane Durham from Family Journeys, participants were split into four groups and encouraged to transform the rather corporate Government meeting room into a beautiful space for brothers and sisters to make connections. The Community planning group had taken along a variety of materials from toys to blankets and craft materials to use as resources to create warm, welcoming spaces. All those attending had also brought along an object or item that made them feel safe or special.
Tom Boyd from The Promise Scotland and a member of the Community planning group said: “It was a really interesting concept to explore, what could be done within a rather dry, corporate space. In reality, there are still too few beautiful places across Scotland where brothers and sisters are able to make connections, so it was amazing to see the creativity and commitment from everyone working to transform the room into something that could feel special. There were calm spaces and others full of fun and energy. Choice and flexibility were big themes. We ended up with four wonderful designs.”
Mark Hardy from AFKA (Association for Fostering, Kinship and Adoption Scotland) then gave an update on the soon to be published process-evaluation of STAR, Siblings Reunited. Mark outlined some of the key aspects that underpin why STAR is such a special space for children, young people, families and carers. STAR itself is in a stunning spot in the Fife countryside, but the evaluation points to the ways in which many different spaces and places can be made to feel special.
The focus of the afternoon’s session was supporting sibling relationships in kinship settings. Guest speakers for the afternoon were Anne Currie, kinship care consultant for KCASS and AFKA Scotland and Emma McKenna from Fife Council kinship support team. They spoke about the ways of fostering and building relationships between brothers and sisters in kinship settings and how much these relationships mattered to children and young people. There was a focus on important developments nationally in the approaches to supporting kinship care, and the broad and imaginative work of the Fife Kinship Care Team. The Community of Practice worked in groups exploring a case study, with much discussion about the ways in which important relationships for children and young people can be supported.
To end the day Laura Beveridge from The Promise Scotland led a reflective exercise with participants pairing up to explore their personal/collective stories of change to better nurture and support sibling and sibling-like relationships.
A massive thank you to everyone who attended the day. We look forward to seeing you at future events! Thanks also go to colleagues at the Scottish Government for providing the venue for the day.
If you want to know more about the Community of Practice for Siblings, you can read the latest newsletter or you are very welcome to join the Community of Practice’s next event which is online on 1 February. You can book your place here.
The Community of Practice is also building a map of important existing or planned activity across Scotland to support sibling and sibling-like relationships. If you are involved in a specific project or service, existing or planned, please help us build that map by providing some simple information here.
Future in person events are being planned, so watch this space for more information!
