3 March 2025
Social Work Scotland note the letter from the Children’s Commissioner highlighting the challenges and lack of secure care provision for children who need it. We also acknowledge the implications for children’s wellbeing and safety, and the pressures the lack of national provision places on local authorities when the resources needed to fulfil statutory duties and meet needs are not available.
The concerns raised by the Children’s Commissioner reflect the reality that our members are facing, working to keep children and those around them safe and supported. We are working with the Scottish Government, and other partners, to address the immediate and longer-term realities of both increased demand on providing secure care, and the consequences of removing children from the prison systems – something supported by us and partners.
We appreciate the ongoing efforts of secure care providers, local authorities, and wider partners in delivering vital support. All children have the right to appropriate safe care, including secure care when they need it; but it’s clear that too many children are not having their specific needs appropriately met, and urgent action is required to create additional secure capacity and support local options. Without this, children in Scotland will remain in situations that are inappropriate, and those professionals with responsibility for their wellbeing are left with no alternatives.
We understand the complexity of the current landscape- our members work hard to provide the essential support required to meet the varying needs of children who are a risk to themselves or others. We are committed to working urgently with partners such as secure providers, mental health services, and Scottish Government to alleviate the current crisis. We are acutely conscious everyone is working hard to form the essential scaffolding of support required to meet children’s needs in a challenging environment – to help keep them safe and thrive, now and into the future.
We particularly support the Commissioner’s position that all children who need secure care should be treated equally, and the suggestion that a central coordinating process be considered. It should be noted that this immediate crisis does not detract from the importance of the longer-term work to Reimagining Secure Care, which we and our members are invested in seeing through and is crucial to ensuring that all children who need support from our care system are given the love, safety, and support that they need, when they need it.
Social Work Scotland will continue to work closely with our members and partners – including local authorities, the Scottish Government, and secure care providers – to put changes in place that ensure we are collectively working towards getting it right for every child to help all of Scotland’s children reach their potential.
