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The new law and draft guidance aim to improve outcomes for children, young people and families by ensuring a consistent approach to how we support children's and young people's wellbeing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 It is hoped that the draft guidance will enable services to operate effectively by:

- setting out a shared understanding of children's wellbeing, essential to services working together to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families

- placing in statute the role of 'Named Person', typically a health visitor or promoted teacher, as a point of contact that children and families can go to for advice or support if they need it

- formalising a single planning framework via the Child's Plan for children who need additional support beyond what would be generally available, and

- making sure that services are able to share the right information at the right time to help children, young people and families to access the right help at the right time

The revised draft guidance, which includes an outline of key changes to the original consultation version and Q&A is available here.