New Human Trafficking and Exploitation blog

Date: 6th January 2016
Category: Children in situations of exploitation, Special protection measures

The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015 received Royal Assent on 4 November 2015. One of the things the Act does is to place a duty on Scottish Ministers to publish a Strategy to tackle human trafficking and exploitation. Neil Rennick, Director for Justice in the Scottish Government has published a blog providing discussion on this.

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All Kids Count: new campaign

Date: 6th January 2016
Category: Child poverty

The UK government plans to give up on its own targets to end child poverty. The Welfare Reform and Work Bill will scrap the child poverty targets and introduce new measures of 'life chances' instead, including worklessness and educational attainment. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) have launched a new campaign with Rebecca, a mum of two who describes how, despite her and her husband both working full-time, they still struggle. She's started a petition asking the House of Lords to hold the government to account on child poverty. Nearly 50,000 people have signed the petition, you can also do so below.

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2015 Eurochild Report on the European Semester

Date: 6th January 2016
Category: Other human rights treaties and mechanisms

Eurochild carried out the assessment of the 2015 European Semester with the help of its member organisations. The work draws on the experience of the past four years' (2011 - 2014) analysis of the National Reform Programmes (NRPs) of EU Member States, with an extended scope in 2015. In the 2015 analysis, Eurochild particularly assessed the extent to which the European Commission 'Recommendation on Investing in Children: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage' (2013) has been implemented across the EU and whether the European Semester process is helping or hindering the achievement of positive outcomes for children.

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Electoral Future of Scotland

Date: 5th January 2016
Category: Civil Rights and Freedoms

In July 2014, Together responded to the Scottish Government's consultation on Scotland's electoral future - these views have been included in the summary of responses.

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The Scottish Child Care Protection Committees Forum (SCPCCF) has been re-named Child Protection Committees Scotland (CPC Scotland)

Date: 8th December 2015
Category: Protection from abuse or neglect

CPC Scotland promotes policy and best practice for the protection of children across Scotland. It plays a leading role in the development and promotion of agreed common standards and effective procedures. The group informs national child protection policy, working alongside the Scottish Government in order to make a positive difference to the lives of vulnerable children and young people.

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Child neglect, wellbeing and resilience – adopting an arts based approach

Date: 8th December 2015
Category: Protection from abuse or neglect

" Neglect is a complex issue but art can help, so let it " - this was one of the key messages to come out of the first of four Scottish Universities Insight Institute funded seminar sessions organised by WithScotland and the University of Dundee, exploring how arts-based techniques can be used in research and practice when interacting with neglected children.

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The Written Declaration on Investing in Children has been a success

Date: 8th December 2015
Category: General principles, Child poverty

The written declaration on investing in children is a 300 word text with four specific demands that required 376 signatures by MEPs from 7 September - 7 December 2015 to be published in the minutes of the European Parliament and forwarded to relevant EU institutions.

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Children’s rights must be at the heart of the Paris climate agreement

Date: 8th December 2015
Category: General measures of implementation, Right to life, survival and development, Disability, Basic Health and Welfare

Climate-related disaster and changing weather patterns increase the risk of malnutrition, vector-borne diseases such as malaria, and water and food-borne diarrhoea. According to the World Health Organisation, children suffer a much greater burden of these climate-related diseases than adults. Yet despite rhetoric about protecting our planet for future generations, children and their rights have been largely absent from COP21 negotiations.

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Plans to scrap human rights act postponed

Date: 8th December 2015
Category: Other human rights treaties and mechanisms

Plans to scrap the Human Rights Act have been delayed for a second time until 2016, Justice Secretary Michael Gove has confirmed.

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GIRFEC Final Draft Statutory Guidance for Parts 4, 5 and 18 (section 96) of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 is now available

Date: 8th December 2015
Category: General principles, Family Environment and Alternative Care, Civil Rights and Freedoms

Following public consultation earlier this year and an intensive period of joint working with organisations from across children's and adult services and parent groups, Scottish Government have made available the revised draft Statutory Guidance for the GIRFEC provisions. The new law and draft guidance aim to improve outcomes for children, young people and families by ensuring a consistent approach to how we support children's and young people's wellbeing wherever they live in Scotland. It is hoped that the draft guidance will enable services to operate effectively by:

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