Chief Social Work Officer Joint Statement: Emergency in availability of alternative care options for children
12 June 2026
Across Scotland there is now an acute shortage of suitable homes and carers for children who are unable to remain in the care of their family. The lack of options increases the risk of harm to children from physical, sexual, emotional abuse or exploitation and neglect, as well as placing undue and unsustainable pressure on the people entrusted with keeping Scotland’s children, young people and adults safe. The crisis is occurring at a time of growing concerns about the impact of poverty on families, a shortage of housing, and national attention on child sexual abuse and exploitation.
We, Scotland’s thirty-two Chief Social Work Officers, are therefore taking this unusual step of issuing a joint statement to ensure that the public and political leaders are aware of the situation, and the need for urgent action. In the absence of placement options, newborn babies are remaining in the care of hospital nurses. Children as young as three years old are being placed in residential homes with young adults; a setting characterised by frequently changing staff and other young people. Older children are sleeping on the sofas of foster carers and residential homes. And in such scarcity, where any safe placement will do, expensive specialist options are being used for children who do not have high levels of need, making them unavailable for those children who do.
Scotland aspires to be among the best places in the world to grow up, no matter what your background or circumstances. And Scotland has made a promise to those children and families who require social work support that the experience will be positive and nurturing. We share these ambitions wholeheartedly. But the primary responsibility of public authorities is to protect the welfare and wellbeing of people, and if we are unable to do this fundamental task, those ambitions will never be realised.
The capacity of the care system is saturated, and it is only thanks to the incredible efforts of Scotland’s carers, social work staff and other professionals that we have been able to prevent the system collapsing entirely. Some carers have not had a break in many months, and in some parts of the country social workers have had to take children home with them, as no other safe options are available. This is an emergency for Scotland’s care system, and we ask Scottish Government and Local Government leaders to work with us to take necessary action. Principally, we – as the leaders of social work in local government – require the flexibility to authorise placements which we deem suitable to protect the welfare and wellbeing of children. We also need to see political commitments to alleviate the administrative demand on social work implemented at pace.
Scotland aspires to be among the best places in the world to grow up, no matter what your background or circumstances. And Scotland has made a promise to those children and families who require social work support that the experience will be positive and nurturing. We share these ambitions wholeheartedly. But the primary responsibility of public authorities is to protect the welfare and wellbeing of people, and if we are unable to do this fundamental task, those ambitions will never be realised.
