The £500 Self-Isolation Support Grant is being extended to include parents on low incomes whose children are asked to self-isolate, Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville announced yesterday.
The grant will also become available to those who may be eligible for Universal Credit, but have not yet applied.
Both changes will be introduced from 7 December.
Ms Somerville said: “We introduced this grant at unprecedented speed, and I am grateful for the work of COSLA and councils to ensure it is up and running.
“While self-isolation can be difficult for everyone, we know there are particular financial barriers to complying faced by some people.
“We always said we would review this grant to make sure it worked for people who face hardship as a result of self-isolation. That is why we are making changes for some people who are not currently eligible.
“We are extending it to parents of children aged under 16 who need to take time off work because their child is told to self-isolate, and also to people who are eligible for Universal Credit, but have not claimed it – providing they fulfil all of the other criteria for the grant.
“Supporting people to self-isolate is critical to controlling the spread of the virus. These are important changes, and I am grateful to councils for their continued work to support those who can claim this grant.”
COSLA Community Wellbeing Spokesperson Councillor Kelly Parry said: “COSLA welcomes the Self-Isolation Support Grant being extended to parents and carers of children who have been asked to stay home from school because of the virus and that it will also include those with an underlying eligibility for benefits.
“Council staff across the country have been working really hard to ensure the grant is accessible to people who have experienced a loss in income after being asked to self-isolate.
“By extending the eligibility for the grants, more people will be helped to stop the spread of the virus over the winter period.”
The Self-Isolation Support Grant provides £500 for low income workers who are in receipt of Universal Credit or other benefits and will lose earnings as a result of having to self-isolate.
Parents or carers of children under 16 who are asked to self-isolate, but who are not required to self-isolate themselves, are not currently eligible for the grant.
This is why the grant will be extended to those parents and carers, where they fulfil the other eligibility criteria:
employed or self-employed and unable to work from home
in receipt of Universal Credit or one of those which will be replaced by UC (legacy benefits)
facing a loss of income from looking after the child during the period of self-isolation
Only one claim per household can be made, where a parent or primary carer is required to look after a child who must isolate.
Eligibility will also be extended to people with a low level of income which means they would be entitled to Universal Credit.
Thousands of disadvantaged young people are being helped to develop valuable digital skills through the Scottish Government’s Connecting Scotland programme.
More than 23,000 iPads and Chromebooks are being distributed among digitally excluded low-income families and care leavers, as part of the latest phase of the £43 million programme.
As well as a new device, recipients also receive mobile data and help to use the internet confidently and safely for up to two years.
Connecting Scotland works with local authorities, public bodies and third sector organisations to reach people across the country.
Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said: “Access to the internet brings huge benefits, especially during these challenging times. It provides a way to keep in touch and keep us informed, and is also an important way for people of all ages to further their education, find work and training opportunities.
“That’s why in this year’s Programme for Government we further committed to our world-leading Connecting Scotland programme by pledging to reach a total of 50,000 digitally excluded or marginalized people by the end of 2021. The combination of a device plus ongoing support means that everyone can get the most out of their laptop or tablet, and develop their skills.
“So far more than 8,700 people have received this package, and the stories fed back to us from local organisations show the real difference it’s making to households across the country.”
The full-time carer of a child who received a laptop through the programme said: “Thank you so much, the laptop is amazing. We downloaded Google Classroom and Ruby* did all her schoolwork.
“It was so fantastic to see her enjoy looking at a decent sized screen – it’s been a struggle to have Ruby do homework on an old mobile phone which is past its best. To be able to help her home school on a proper laptop is wonderful.”
Connecting Scotland is a Scottish Government programme set up in response to COVID-19. It provides iPads, Chromebooks and support to develop skills for people who are digitally excluded and on low incomes and is delivered in partnership with SCVO, all 32 local authorities and hundreds of third sector organisations across Scotland.
Phase 2, round 1 launched on 18 August and is focused on households with children, or where a child is normally resident (this includes pregnant women with no child in the household) and care leavers up to the age of 26 (in line with eligibility for aftercare support).
The next round of phase 2 opens tday (24 November)and will close on 18 January at 11am.
Applications can be made by organisations who support eligible groups via the Connecting Scotland website.
Managers are much more positive about their staff working from home and working flexibly since lockdown says a new study undertaken jointly by the Equal Parenting Project at the University of Birmingham and the Work Autonomy, Flexibility and Work-Life Balance at the University of Kent.
The report titled ‘Managing Employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Flexible working and the future of work’ is based on a UK wide survey with managers which aimed to understand the organisational perspective on managing homeworking since the UK COVID-19 lockdown.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, many organisations have been forced to move the majority of their workforce to remote working, often at very short notice. In many cases these businesses had previously discouraged flexible working and had very little infrastructure in place to support these new ways of working. The question arises, what impact did this shift to homeworking have and what does this mean for the future of work?
To answer this question, the research team undertook a survey of managers between the 24th July to 11th August 2020. The sample consisted of managers from across the UK, an array of industries and all levels of management.
In total, 742 managers completed the survey which involved questions around norms for working from home, attitudes toward working from home, trust, key learning experience what tools the organisation supplied to employees to enable them to work from home and what support was made available to the employees.
As the first academic piece of research exploring managerial experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK, this research discovered that 54.7% of managers reported over 80% of their employees have been working from home since lockdown.
As a result of their management experiences during lockdown, fewer managers now believe that presenteeism and long working hours are essential to career progression within organisations.
Many managers also reported that working from home increases productivity, concentration, and motivation due to their experiences in lockdown. 58.6% of managers surveyed said that working from home increases productivity whereas only 44.1% agreed with this statement before lockdown.
However, managers also saw some draw backs, with 58.7% of all those surveyed saying that working from home lead to isolation, and other citing issues around blurring of boundaries as key negative outcomes.
Regardless, most managers now believe working from home will become much more commonplace in the future, with more jobs, including senior roles, being advertised as being available for flexible working and more support being made available for home working.
Commenting on the report Dr Holly Birkett, Co-Director of the Equal Parenting Project at the University of Birmingham said: “The report shows managers are much more positive about working from home and flexible working, than they were before the pandemic.
“Managers say their organisations are going to be more supportive of homeworking and flexible working in the future, including more likely to support working from home, job shares and part time working even for Senior roles.
“This change along with the breakdown of the presenteeism culture and the removal of a flexibility stigma, which existed before COVID -19, could help improve employee wellbeing, help to support people to take on caring roles and break down many of the barriers women face to balancing career and family, with the potential to improve female representation on Boards and close the gender pay gap.”
Overall, the data included in the report has shown that working from home has been commonplace since the initial lockdown and managers have faced a steep learning curve regarding how to manage remote teams often with very little support or guidance.
Despite this, managers have been pleasantly surprised about the results with their teams generally performing really well during this time. While there have been some performance issues these were generally where this was already an issue prior to lockdown.
Dr Sarah Forbes, Co-Director of the Equal Parenting Project said: “Due to positive experiences of working from home and with flexible working patterns amongst their staff, managers are keen to support more working from home and flexible working in the future.
“This could take the form of better flexible working policies and tools to facilitate this as well as training being readily available for managers to learn how to better support remote workers in their team. However, we also need to understand working remotely over long periods of time can also be very isolating and that some people much prefer working in an office environment.”
Dr Heejung Chung, Principal Investigator of the Work Autonomy, Flexibility and Work-Life Balance Project at the University of Kent said: “As we have also seen in our previous employee survey, the flexible working genie is out of the bottle – more workers want to work flexibly in the future, and as this report has shown, managers now see how flexible working can benefit companies.
“However, that shift will not be the same for all companies and for all workers. Government policies to help make that cultural shift, by introducing stronger rights to flexible working and better protection against discrimination for flexible workers may help this transition go smoothly after the COVID-19 lockdown measures end.”
The webinar will also have presentations by Lauren Adams, HR Director at CBI , Daisy Hooper, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at CMI, and Anthony Fitzpatrick, Employee Relations and Global Employment Policy Lead at Aviva will deliver organisational and managers’ perspectives on experiences of remote working during the pandemic and how these experiences are likely to change the future of work.
One thousand children from Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, known as ‘COVID Warriors’ have had their levels of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies measured during the first wave of the pandemic and repeated again two months after initial recruitment.
The study is led by Dr Tom Waterfield from the Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine at Queen’s University Belfast, in partnership with the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Northern Ireland.
The aim of the study, which began in May and is ongoing, is to assess the number of children who have had COVID-19, the symptomatology of infection and the kinetics of the antibody response in children.
The researchers have found that antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 persisted beyond two months in all children. Unlike other studies, this is one of the first to report on follow up blood results in children and provides an early insight into how the antibody response evolves over time.
Dr Tom Waterfield, lead on the study, said: “These results show that the antibody response to COVID-19 infection in children seems to be holding firm at two months and that antibodies are likely to persist for some time. This provides renewed hope that children may develop a lasting immunity to infection.”
Health and Social Care Research & Development Division (HSC R&D Division) of the Public Health Agency plays an ongoing role in supporting the conduct of high-quality health and social care research and has provided funding to support the delivery of this important study.
Dr Janice Bailie, Assistant Director of HSC Research and Development said: “Research studies continue to play an ongoing, vital role in the pandemic response; as the COVID Warriors study tests children at multiple timepoints, we now know more about the SARS-CoV-2 antibody response and its behaviour over time.
“Such findings will be of great value to help inform our decision-making, and planning of appropriate measures to protect our population.”
The study is supported by funding from HSC R&D Division, Public Health Agency, The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and is also subsidised by a donation from the Queen’s Foundation thanks to a past graduate of the University through a charitable gift in their will.
It is being delivered in partnership with The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, the Ulster Independent Clinic, NHS Glasgow and Greater Clyde, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.
Stacey Miller from Paisley is supporting the Stroke Association’s ‘Hope After Stroke’ Christmas appeal, after her Mum, Andrea, had a stroke at the age of 45.
Thanks to the Stroke Association in Scotland, both Andrea and Stacey have been attending a Stroke Café that has been a life saver for both. It’s given them the opportunity to meet others who have been through a similar experience. The social interaction and peer support has given both them a belief that lives can be rebuilt again– that there is a glimmer of hope after stroke.
Andrea spent hours, days, and months undergoing intensive rehabilitation in hospital uncertain as to what the future may hold. But when Andrea left hospital six months later, Stacey was amazed with how far she’d come.
Although Andrea still relies on care, she is in her own home and that means the world to her. Having her two daughters and sister come in and look after her care needs is so much easier than being in hospital. And although Andrea’s communication difficulties have been challenging, she and her family have found new ways to communicate.
And now Christmas is upon us, Stacey is making preparations with her Mum.
Stacey says: “Mum loved Christmas, it was always a big thing for her. The stroke took away her freedom to make plans for Christmas and go out and about purchasing all the things that gave her and everyone else joy.
“We knew after the stroke Christmas would be a very different affair, but as Mum’s confidence has grown, she is now more involved. She participates in decisions over plans, presents etc., even if she can’t physically carry them out. Christmas is always more magical with kids around and Mum is loving the idea of being involved with my two year-old putting up the Christmas tree and looking at all the baubles and decorations together.
“It brings a tear to my eye, watching her with Noah John. It’s as if nothing has changed and her love of life is still there.
“But I’m aware of her ongoing needs. The Stroke Association in Scotland has been invaluable in offering a sense of purpose both to Mum and me, that life can be normal again.”
Stacey is asking people to make a donation to the Stroke Association’s work supporting people affected by stroke, as they rebuild their lives this Christmas.
Andrea Cail, Director Scotland of the Stroke Association said: “When someone’s life has been shattered by stroke, they may feel all hope is gone. But we also know that people cling onto even the smallest glimmer of hope. This is what powers them on to achieve what many thought would be impossible.”
The charity estimates that there are over 120,000 people living with the effects of stroke in Scotland, while around 15,000 people have a stroke every year.
“This pandemic has had a serious impact on our ability to raise funds through our usual community events and activities. Many people have praised the support they received from the Stroke Association, to help with that first glimmer of hope to rebuild their lives again.
“That support may be found in a call to our Helpline; through the friendship and support of our online community; or the ongoing support of a phone call from one of our lived experience volunteers. It takes time and money and people to provide this help. And that’s why we’re asking everyone across Scotland to donate to the Stroke Association and help give someone the gift of hope this Christmas.”
To donate or for more information about stroke and the vital role that hope plays in stroke recovery and rebuilding lives, please visit www.stroke.org.uk/hope
People in Edinburgh are being encouraged to support a campaign to address bullying behaviour among Scotland’s young people which has launched during Anti Bullying Week 2020 (16-20 November).
The campaign seeks to empower young people with advice and approaches from those who have experienced bullying, after a consultation with young people and professionals highlighted that the management of bullying related incidents was a key area of concern.
With this in mind, respectme has created a suite of resources for primary and secondary aged children to help approach and guide conversations at a time when learning supervision is has been reduced, while also supporting young people with advice from those who have been there themselves.
Anyone involved in influencing the life of a young person is invited to download the free resources available at www.whatmadeitbetter.com.
Supporting the call is the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, John Swinney, who said: “Anti-Bullying Week is an ideal opportunity to send a clear message that bullying of any kind is completely unacceptable and when it occurs we all have a responsibility to address it.
“Children and young people need to be educated about all faiths and beliefs and learn about tolerance, respect, kindness and good citizenship. We want all children and young people to be able to speak to someone they trust when bullying happens and that is why campaigns like this are so important.
“I look forward to taking part in Anti-Bullying week to highlight to those being bullied, that things will get better, and how we can be that person that did make things better.”
“There’s a wealth of evidence highlighting a rise in bullying behaviour since lockdown, particularly in an online setting, which has no time boundary and is difficult to monitor and supervise. This makes Anti-Bullying Week and the campaign all the more poignant as we seek to start the conversation and share valuable advice.
“The #WhatMadeItBetter? resources are free for anyone to explore, and we’d urge adults who have experienced bulling to get involved and help us shape future resources by taking our online survey which looks at what more can be done to support young people.”
Speaking out to young people is James Allan, frontman of award-winning Scottish indie band Glasvegas, who shared his personal advice: “As humans, we carry so many experiences with us, and in some way can blame ourselves or believe what other people say.
“If anybody does experience these things, try and challenge that insecurity or doubt in yourself and to know it’s the way we’re wired up. Things will get better and, in the meantime, be yourself, stay true to yourself and believe in yourself.”
Aberlour report reveals a level of poverty that is ‘fundamental and absolute’ with majority of families requesting emergency cash to buy food, utilities and clothing
6 in 10 families who applied to the fund could not afford to feed their children
1 in 2 families could not afford to heat their homes
Scottish children’s charity, Aberlour has published a new report which warns thousands more families are at risk of falling into poverty due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aberlour issued the warning after the true extent of increased demand on its Urgent Assistance Fund was revealed in the new report, which was prepared by Professor Morag Treanor from the Institute for Social Policy, Housing, Equalities Research (I-SPHERE) at Heriot-Watt University.
Between March and August this year the charity gave out over £370,000 in emergency cash grants, with demand for the fund increasing by over 1,000% based on the same time period last year, while the value of grants given out increased by 52%. In total 3,264 children were supported by the fund.
Analysis of the cash donations has revealed that applications for funding came from 31 of the 32 Local Authorities across Scotland[1] from families that were desperate for help, with the majority of applications coming from the Glasgow area. Almost all of the applications received were for basic essentials from families who were unable to afford to feed their children (60%), unable to afford to keep their homes warm (50%), and who couldn’t afford to clothe their children adequately (29%).
The report also found that 71 per cent of the applications were made by single parents, despite single parent families only making up 25 per cent of the population in Scotland[2]. Meanwhile, Aberlour found the number one reason for families requiring emergency cash was because of parental mental health issues (17% of families), which shows the hugely negative impact the pandemic is having on people’s mental health.
Other applications were for bedding, baby supplies or to replace essential white goods in the home including fridges, washing machines and cookers.
The recent labour report release by the Office of National Statistics (on 10 November) has found that the UK’s unemployment rate rose to 4.8% in the three months to September, up from 4.5%, and redundancies rose to a record high of 314,000 during the same period pushing more families towards the edge of poverty.
This November Aberlour has launched its urgent ‘Surviving Winter Appeal’ to raise funds that will go towards tackling poverty and inequality across Scotland.
SallyAnn Kelly, Chief Executive of Aberlour Children’s Charity warned:“When the lockdown started, we feared that it would have a devastating impact on families living in or on the edge of poverty. This has sadly proved to be the case.
“While our services have continued to support children and families throughout Scotland, and our supporters have donated magnificent sums to our Urgent Assistance Fund, we need to continue to raise more money to sustain our vital work and reach more families at risk of falling through the cracks.”
Professor Morag Treanor from the Institute for Social Policy, Housing, Equalities Research (I-SPHERE) at Heriot-Watt University who wrote the report, said:“What is striking here is that all of the applications made to the Urgent Assistance Fund were for basic essentials that are needed to survive.
“This demonstrates that there is a level of need across families in Scotland that is really quite fundamental and absolute, and on a higher scale than we have seen for some time.”
A family support worker, who referred many families to Aberlour, said:“It was particularly tough for the families referred to Aberlour who had been doing quite well and managing fine financially, and never had to worry about the benefit system.
“All of a sudden, they or their partner lost their job, and they couldn’t afford to pay the bills or put food on the table. That for them was a huge shock; when you have gone from managing, feeling really quite confident about your monthly budget, and then that just falls down overnight.
“It wasn’t just the financial impact, but the emotional impact too. One parent came to us and asked, how do I feed my children?! I have no money left. That was the biggest change from COVID, families who have never struggled before, their worlds were suddenly torn apart.”
Case study – Sue’s story
Sue lives in Falkirk with her husband and six children. Sue first found out about Aberlour three years ago. Her son Luke, who was only 11 at the time, was having problems at school.
He has ADHD and autism, and it was clear to her that he wasn’t getting the support he needed with his education. No one was listening to her, until Angela, a Support Family Worker from Aberlour stepped in. Angela’s job is to help children like Luke and their families with whatever issues they may be facing, before they get out of control.
Together, Angela and Sue worked with the school so Luke could have the same opportunity to thrive as every other child. As Aberlour says, “A bad start shouldn’t mean a bad end”. Luke’s situation began to improve, and he started to do much better.
Then COVID hit.
Now Sue didn’t just have to deal with Luke’s issues – she also had to worry about where the next meal was coming from. Her husband was furloughed, so their income took a heavy hit.
Bills and debts began to mount up, and feeding the children became a big challenge. Her family tried to help with the grocery shops whenever they could, but they were forced to start using a foodbank. The family also started to struggle to find enough money to keep the electricity meter topped up, and the warning beep was a constant reminder that money was about to run out.
It was then Sue decided to get back in touch with Angela. She helped Sue access an emergency cash grant from Aberlour’s Urgent Assistance Fund, which meant she was able to buy food to feed the children and top up the electricity meter to keep them warm. They are also working together on a longer-term plan to get on top of the family’s finances.
Sue said: “Before lockdown things were starting to get back on track for us. Don’t get me wrong, we still had our ups and downs but we were coping and Luke was doing much better.
Then, when COVID hit, things quickly started to get worse. I was embarrassed about what people would think when I started using the food bank, and on top of that with the whole family at home and a new baby to keep warm our utility bills were much bigger than before. I just felt hopeless.
The help we got was absolutely fantastic. I can’t think how I would have done it without Aberlour. It’s more than just help for the children, it’s emotional help for us as well. I know that Angela will always be there at the end of the phone. She was there for us before the pandemic, during lockdown, and I know she will still be there whenever I need her help in the future.”
A leading charity is urging the Scottish Government to include parents of children with complex disabilities and life limiting conditions to be amongst the first to receive the promising COVID-19 vaccine.
The plea comes from Kindred, an advocacy organisation supporting parents of children with complex needs, which has warned of the impact on these children if their parents contract the virus and are unable to provide care.
The charity has released a report today (16th November) highlighting the “devastating” impact of the pandemic lockdown on families of children with exceptional health needs.
Kindred is calling for public acknowledgement of the extraordinary efforts of these parents, many of whom had started shielding weeks before lockdown, and has asked for a letter from the Scottish Government to families. Such a letter would enable parents to feel that their efforts had not gone unnoticed and, in some way, help them come to terms with the trauma experienced over this period.
The charity conducted a survey of parents from 17 local authorities to better understand the ramifications of the lockdown months on these vulnerable families in August 2020 as schools prepared to reopen.1
The results show that:
93 percent of these families experienced an impact on their ability to meet their children’s medical and care needs due to the pandemic; 63 percent said that the impact of the pandemic on their ability to provide care was ‘big’ or ‘severe’.
Two out of every three parents who took part in the survey said sleep deprivation was one of the main factors that impacted their ability to care for their children. It was the norm for these parents to get an average of five hours of broken sleep per night. Kindred has called for an urgent need to investigate the provision of overnight respite care across Scotland.
Over a third of parents received no respite care before the pandemic and this dropped to 60 per cent after the start of the pandemic. This highlights the importance of schools in supporting parents and giving them a break from caring. Almost all the children attended special school with access to therapy, and the expertise of Additional Support for Learning staff. There is no doubt that schools are preventing crisis and family breakdown where a child has high care needs.
The charity has written to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Jeane Freeman MSP, and to Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, John Swinney MSP, urging that these parents be given priority when distributing the recently announced vaccine.
The report provides evidence that parents were left caring entirely alone in the home environment. There was an even greater impact on single parents. Despite the high level of need of all the children, some parents did not even get a phone call from professionals during the pandemic. These parents fear falling sick and being unable to look after their vulnerable children.
This is the case for Alex Davey from East Lothian and her six-year-old son, Benjamin, who has complex medical needs including tube-feeding, epilepsy and overnight ventilation.
Alex received a letter instructing her that Benjamin met the criteria for shielding in March. For his safety all respite and at-home care services received were brought to a halt, leaving Alex and her husband to be the only people providing care for Benjamin and his two sisters. Since March, Benjamin has been hospitalised six times, often involving full-time ventilation in critical care.
Alex’s main concern is that she and her husband will themselves contract Covid-19, rendering them incapable of meeting Benjamin’s complex care needs, potentially for a long period of time.
Early access to the vaccine is therefore imperative according to Kindred to ensure that families like Alex’s can be sure that they can continue to care for their child.
Further recommendations to the Scottish Government:
The report shows a disparity between the experience of those families who received the support and advice from health professionals, particularly on shielding, compared to those who didn’t. On this evidence, Scottish Government is being urged to ensure that professionals contact parents and charities should be funded to provide peer support.
Siblings play a vital role in the care and support of a disabled brother or sister and Kindred is urging that Self-Directed Support is available for adult siblings to be paid as carers within the home in the event of another lockdown. (see case study of Dr Gael Gordon in Notes to Editors and image attached)
The needs of families for respite should be taken into consideration with regards to special schools, with consideration given to keeping them open in the event of a second lockdown and providing the resources to do this.
Sophie Pilgrim, Director of Kindred, commented: “Our report provides evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on families of children with complex needs and life limiting conditions.
“Anyone reading this report will be moved by their plight. Many families started shielding before schools closed with the loss of all care and support. Some of these children require two to one support in school and other care settings, and yet parents had to cope from March to August, many with no help at all.
“As the vaccine becomes available, we must prioritise parents who are providing medical care for their children and cannot afford to get sick themselves.
“Many parents received no respite care before the pandemic, and those that did lost their care with lockdown. Serious sleep deprivation puts parents at risk of depression, accidents and long-term conditions. One of the parents told us ‘I feel like I am drunk’. We found that many parents have to cope on five hours of broken sleep a night, well below the NHS recommendation of a minimum seven hours a night.
“We need to recognise the long-term exhaustion of these families. Special schools are all the more important and need to be supported to carry on their excellent work and to keep their doors open.
“Parents put their children first. And we must work together and ensure they are amongst the first to get the vaccine.“
Adoption Week (16-20 November) celebrates adoption in Scotland and this year asks prospective adopters whether they could adopt a sibling group?
More than 1,300 children placed for adoption since April 2018 across the UK have been separated from birth siblings, it was reported earlier this year*.
Children requiring care away from their birth families are more likely to have existing sibling relationships and they also tend to come from larger sibling groups. Sibling groups of three, or more, are at greater risk of being separated, to achieve permanence through adoption. In fact, in Scotland at this moment in time there is not one adopter approved to adopt three, or more children.
Fiona Aitken, Adoption UK’s Scotland Director, said: “Sibling relationships are amongst our longest lasting relationships and contribute greatly to our sense of identity.
“Positive sibling relationships can provide a source of resilience for children facing adversity and provide continuity at a time of change and uncertainty. They can also be a source of support into adulthood. Placing siblings together has been associated with increased wellbeing and stable, enduring placements.”
“If you are a prospective adopter, please do consider whether you could adopt a sibling group. Be open to being approved for more than one child to enable a younger sibling(s) to join your family.
“Adoptive families can also help to maintain sibling relationships between their child/ren and their brothers and sisters wherever they are. This can be in person, through visual media, cards, letters, pictures or photographs.
Mrs Aitken continued: “The ideal scenario is for children to experience normal family life. Can they meet up with siblings at the park, at the beach, at each other’s homes? Can they have sleepovers? Can this be arranged between families? You can start by discussing this with your social worker.”
A siblings’ webinar (17th, 7pm-830pm), on how to maintain relationships between brothers and sisters, will be chaired by Kate Richardson, Manager of Scotland’s Adoption Register.
Adoption Week Scotland will also shine a light on both therapeutic parenting and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). FASD is a range of physical, emotional and developmental deficits or delays that may affect a person when they were exposed to alcohol during pregnancy.
Highlights of the week include Training from Dr Karen Treisman on Therapeutic Parenting (16th, 19:30-21:30); an FASD Webinar (18th, 6.30pm-7.30pm) for prospective adopters; and Insights into FASD(17th, 1pm-3.30pm), a training session for professionals working with families affected by FASD.
There will also be a live Q&A eventwith Children’s Minister Maree Todd, (18th, 11am-1pm), tackling the ‘wicked issues’ in adoption; a welcome and information event (15th, 7pm-830pm) suitable for anyone considering adoption; as well as a legal Q&A with Rhona Pollock, AFA Scotland’s legal advisor (19th, 7pm-8pm).
Robin Duncan, Director of AFA Scotland, said: “In the midst of everything else that has been happening in 2020, Adoption Week is a great reminder that some children continue to need care and protection, and to acknowledge the crucial opportunities that adoption can offer.
“People who have been adopted often speak passionately about the importance of being able to keep relationships with people who are important to them, and we hope that this year’s focus on siblings will help ensure brothers and sisters can live together and keep these links wherever possible.”
Children’s Minister Maree Todd added: “Those of us with brothers and sisters know the importance of those relationships. For children who have experienced change in their lives, maintaining those bonds can be invaluable and, along with Adoption UK Scotland, I encourage prospective adopters to consider sibling groups.”
Adoption Week Scotland 2020 is funded by the Scottish Government and managed by AFA Scotland and Adoption UK Scotland. It is an opportunity to celebrate and promote the best of adoption with awareness-raising, information sessions and social events.
Further details about all of the events during Adoption Week Scotland 2020 can be found here.
Projects working with young families to encourage healthy eating and good nutrition have been awarded a share of more than £600,000 of funding.
Ten initiatives around Scotland are being allocated funding by the Scottish Government, supported by Public Health Scotland, to help prevent and reduce levels of childhood obesity.
Among the initiatives are the Bump and Beyond Buddies scheme in Tayside, which aims to extend its successful peer support infant feeding programme and a pilot scheme in areas of deprivation in Lothian where 120 family workers and early learning childcare practitioners will be trained to support families in community settings in good nutrition.
The funding is part of the Scottish Government’s ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce diet-related health inequalities.
Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said: “We want children and families to have access to appropriate support to achieve as healthy a weight as possible, no matter where they live and we will continue to support local partners to develop ambitious and effective plans to prevent and reduce childhood obesity.
“We all have a responsibility to work together to help people in Scotland to achieve and maintain a healthy weight and these projects will help address inequalities in obesity between children in our wealthiest and poorest areas.
“As we set out in our 2018 Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery plan, our ambition is to halve childhood obesity by 2030 and significantly reduce diet-related health inequalities.”
NHS Lothian will trial HENRY, an evidence-based training package, with family workers and early learning childcare practitioners working across the four local authority areas.
The pilot brings together support for parenting efficacy, family emotional welbeing and behaviour change with information about nutrition, physical activity, oral health and more.
Tracy McGillivray OF NHS Lothian’s Health Promotion Service said: “The Childhood Obesity, Early Intervention and Prevention funding will allow NHS Lothian to work closely with our partners in City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian.
“The project will work in areas where families are at increased risk of diet-related health inequalities.
“We will be able to provide training to community-based family support staff to have increased knowledge, skills and confidence around the promotion of eating well and ensuring consistent messaging in the importance of establishing good nutrition in the early years.”
