Response to Scotland's Vision for Kinship Care Consultation from SASW

Our response to the Scottish Government Vision for Kinship Care Consultation

Section 5: National Vision for Kinship Care

What Works Well

The vision's grounding in The Promise foundations (Voice, Family, Care, People, Scaffolding) provides a solid framework that frontline practitioners can recognise and work with. The explicit commitment to equality of support regardless of legal status addresses a longstanding concern raised by social workers about artificial distinctions creating unfairness for families in identical circumstances.

The emphasis on multi-agency responsibility is welcome – social workers have long argued that kinship care cannot be viewed solely as a social work function. The recognition that scaffolding must involve housing, education, health, justice, third sector and communities, reflects the reality of practice.

What Needs Strengthening

Clarity on GIRFEC Integration

Whilst GIRFEC is referenced throughout, the practical interface between existing GIRFEC structures (Named Person, Lead Professional, Child's Plan) and new kinship-specific processes needs much clearer articulation. Social workers need to understand precisely how kinship assessments and support plans relate to existing multi-agency planning frameworks to avoid duplication or confusion about accountability.

The "Voice of the Infant" Commitment

The document mentions "voice of the infant" practice for pre-verbal children but doesn't specify what this means operationally. Given the emphasis on the critical importance of the first 1,001 days, social workers need clearer guidance on evidence-based approaches to understanding and representing infants' needs, wishes and developmental requirements in kinship assessments and planning.

Realistic Resource Acknowledgement

Whilst the document acknowledges resource constraints, there is insufficient honesty about the scale of investment required. Social workers are deeply concerned about being handed expanded duties without corresponding resources, leading to further pressure on already stretched services, potentially undermining the vision's implementation.

Private Arrangements and Proportionate Involvement

The statement that kinship families "especially those without social work involvement—should be able to access universal services, third sector support, and community-based resources" is welcome. However, the document would benefit from setting out definitively how families in private arrangements can access support without unwanted statutory intrusion, and how thresholds for different levels of involvement will be managed.

What's Missing

Sibling Relationships

There is minimal attention to keeping siblings together in kinship placements or supporting relationships between siblings placed separately. This is a significant gap given The Promise's emphasis on relationships.

Birth Parent Support

Whilst maintaining family relationships is mentioned, there is insufficient detail on support for birth parents within kinship arrangements. Social workers know that supporting parents' relationships with their children in kinship care is crucial but often under-resourced.

Cultural Identity and Diversity

Beyond a brief mention of "cultural, ethnic or other diversity needs," there's little substantive content on how kinship care will actively support children's cultural identity, particularly for minoritised communities where kinship care may have different cultural meanings and practices.

Realistic Timescales

The vision lacks honest discussion about the timescales for implementation given the current workforce capacity issues, the National Social Work Agency development, and broader care reform pressures.

Section 6: Scottish Offer to Kinship Families

Most Important Elements

Holistic Assessment Rights (Section 2)

The right to request or be offered a holistic family-focused wellbeing assessment is potentially transformative if properly resourced. This aligns with social work values of relationship-based, whole-family practice. However, critical questions remain:

  • Who undertakes these assessments and with what training?
  • What timescales apply?
  • How does this interact with existing Section 53 duty under the 2014 Act?
  • If delegated to third sector partners, what quality assurance and accountability mechanisms apply?

Extended Kinship Care Assistance (Section 2)

Clarifying and extending KCA to explicitly include income maximisation, therapeutic support, peer support, learning opportunities and practical assistance addresses gaps social workers encounter daily. The emphasis on "step up, step down" flexibility across the childhood journey is particularly welcome.

Aftercare Extension (Section 3)

Extending aftercare rights to young people who left kinship care before age 16 addresses a significant inequity. Social workers regularly encounter young adults who received no continuing care support despite childhood experiences meriting it.

Payment Transparency (Section 3)

Requiring the publication of foster and kinship carer payment rates supports efforts toward parity. Social workers frequently navigate difficult conversations about payment disparities that can appear unjust and families find difficult to understand

Significant Concerns

Kinship Co-ordinators Pilot (Section 4)

Whilst well-intentioned, this proposal requires careful scrutiny:

  • How does this role differ from existing social work, family support or third sector roles?
  • Given workforce shortages, is creating a new role the most effective use of limited resources?
  • Could existing roles be enhanced rather than duplicating functions?
  • What's the relationship between Co-ordinators and statutory social work responsibilities?

The commitment to "avoid duplication of roles and add value" is welcome but needs much more detailed scoping before piloting.

Assessment Without Social Work Involvement

The proposal that holistic assessments "could be carried out by the local authority, for example by family workers" and exploring delegation to third sector raises questions:

  • What minimum qualifications, training and registration conditions are required?
  • Who holds accountability for assessment quality and decisions flowing from it?
  • How are child protection concerns identified and escalated?
  • What happens when the identified needs require statutory intervention?

Social workers are concerned about proper governance, assessment quality, accountability and safe practice.

Foster Carer Mentoring Scheme (Section 4)

Using experienced foster carers to mentor kinship carers and offer respite is creative but needs careful thought about:

  • Training needs for foster carers in kinship-specific issues
  • Payment and terms for this additional role
  • Insurance and regulatory implications
  • Potential tensions between foster and kinship care identities

Missing Elements

Workforce Development Strategy

Beyond the mention of linking to the National Social Work Agency and a potential scoping exercise, there is insufficient detail on workforce development. Social workers need:

  • Clarity on what the kinship-specific practice competencies will be
  • Accessible, funded CPD opportunities
  • Protected time for training
  • Career pathways for kinship care specialists
  • Manageable caseloads that permit relationship-based practice that will be central to supporting the development of kinship care

Educational Support

Whilst "educational, physical, emotional and mental health needs" are mentioned, there is little concrete detail on educational support. Social workers know that kinship children often face educational challenges but that accessing appropriate support (including psychological services, additional support for learning, and educational psychology) is difficult.

Housing Protocol

The commitment to "actively facilitate sharing of good practice and innovative ideas between housing and social work professionals" feels weak given the acute housing pressures kinship families face. A national housing protocol or clearer duties on housing departments would be more meaningful.

Legal Support and Advocacy

Access to legal advice and advocacy is mentioned under "Voice" but needs substantial strengthening. Social workers regularly encounter kinship families unable to afford legal representation for Section 11 applications or who do not understand their rights. Free legal advice should be an explicit entitlement.

Respite Care

There's minimal attention to respite despite carers consistently identifying this as crucial. The proposal about foster carers offering "short, child-centred breaks" is mentioned almost in passing but deserves much more prominence and detail.

Supports Currently Difficult to Access That Need Prioritisation

Based on frontline social work experience, the following should be national priorities:

1. Therapeutic Support

Accessing trauma-informed therapeutic support (for both children and carers) is extremely difficult. Waiting lists are lengthy, eligibility criteria restrictive, and services often do not understand kinship-specific dynamics. This needs substantial investment and clearer pathways.

2. Financial Advice and Income Maximisation

The complexity of benefits interactions when becoming a kinship carer is significant. Many families lose out financially because they do not access all available support. Accessible, proactive income maximisation advice should be embedded from the outset.

3. CAMHS and Educational Psychology

These services are severely pressured. Kinship children often have complex needs meriting specialist input but face very long waits or do not meet thresholds. Clearer pathways and potentially ringfenced capacity would help.

4. Peer Support

Peer support consistently emerges as vital in engagement feedback, yet provision is patchy and often dependent on voluntary effort or precarious third sector funding. This should be recognised as essential infrastructure, not an optional extra.

5. Early Years Support

Given the emphasis on the first 1,001 days and evidence of developmental concerns in looked-after children, accessible early years support (health visiting, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, parenting support) is crucial but often difficult to access proportionately.

Additional Points to Consider

Implementation Sequencing

The commitment to co-design a phased, costed delivery plan is essential. However, social workers need assurance that:

  • Frontline practitioners will be meaningfully involved in co-design
  • Sequencing reflects capacity to deliver, not just funding availability
  • There is realism about what can be achieved within current workforce constraints
  • Quick wins that build confidence are identified alongside longer-term changes

Data and Monitoring

The commitment to understanding all kinship arrangements (including those not "looked after") is important but raises concerns about:

  • Data collection burdens on already stretched services
  • Privacy implications for families in private arrangements
  • How data will genuinely inform improvement rather than becoming a compliance exercise

Legislative Complexity

The document acknowledges the complex legislative landscape (1995 Act, 2014 Act, various orders, corporate parenting duties, etc.) and commits to exploring simplification. This is essential – social workers struggle to navigate this complexity, so families most certainly do. Fundamental reform should be seriously considered rather than further amendments to existing frameworks.

Interface with Care Reform

This vision sits alongside broader care reform and the establishment of the National Social Work Agency. Social workers want to know how these interconnect and need an assurance that kinship care will not be marginalised in these wider structural changes.

Realistic About Challenges

The document would benefit from greater honesty about:

  • Demand potentially increasing significantly if awareness raising succeeds
  • Existing workforce recruitment and retention challenges
  • Pressures on partner agencies (health, education, housing)
  • Tensions between universal offers and local variation
  • Time needed for cultural change across systems

SASW's Position

SASW supports the vision's direction and welcomes this consultation. Kinship carers provide extraordinary love and commitment, often in challenging circumstances, and deserve comprehensive support. The vision's grounding in The Promise, GIRFEC and children's rights is sound.

However, social workers are concerned about a lack of realism around implementation. We have seen too many worthy policy visions founder on inadequate resourcing, workforce capacity constraints, and insufficient attention to the practical issues for delivery. For this vision to succeed, it requires:

  • Honest, substantial investment across multiple services
  • Genuine workforce development linked to manageable workloads
  • Protected time and space for relationship-based practice
  • Multi-agency commitment backed by clear accountability
  • Realistic timescales acknowledging current pressures
  • Mechanisms to learn from implementation and adapt

Social workers want this vision to succeed for the children and families they work alongside. That requires unflinching honesty about what it will take to deliver it properly.