Share your COVID-19 good practice working with children and young people in and leaving care as part of #WeLove campaign

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Family Environment and Alternative Care

Staf’s campaign would like to highlight and document good practice adopted during the pandemic when working with children and young people in and leaving care, particularly around relationship-based and trauma-focused practice. Examples gathered will be taken to Scottish Government, to build back a better Scotland at the end of this crisis.

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Scottish Child Law Centre launches new website

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Civil Rights and Freedoms

The Scottish Child Law Centre offers free expert legal advice on children’s rights and child law across Scotland. Its new website will make it easier for advice line users to find out about the services offered and how to contact Scottish Child Law Centre.

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Explore how Scottish organisations have adapted their practice when responding to COVID-19

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Disability, Basic Health and Welfare

Barnardo’s Scotland has detailed how it has continued to promote, monitor, report and protect the rights of children and young people amid COVID-19. This work was prompted by concerns that children and young people’s participation rights have not been upheld.

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Developing Scotland’s artificial intelligence strategy

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Education, including vocational education, Recreation, play and cultural activities

Scotland’s AI Strategy wants to include children and young people’s visions of the use of artificial intelligence in Scotland and to create better awareness of what artificial intelligence is. To do this, it has created fun activity learning and quizzes, which upon completion YoungScot are offering 50 reward points.

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Nine equality principles to adapt for economic recovery in Scotland

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Disability, Basic Health and Welfare

Engender has set out nine evidence-based ideas, challenges, and calls to enable inclusive growth and recovery from COVID-19. They describe features of an economy that works for women as well as men and aims to create better jobs, better decision-making, and a more adequate standard of living for all.

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Children (Scotland) Bill update

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Family Environment and Alternative Care

The Children (Scotland) Bill aims to make changes to how disputes involving children are resolved when families break down. It aims to ensure the voice of the child is heard in court proceedings, measures are aimed at protecting the best interests of children and regulate child contact centres and child welfare reporters. This Bill has now passed stage two, during which proposed amendments were voted on.

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Supreme Court holds that sibling participation rights in the Children’s Hearing System are compatible with human rights law

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Family Environment and Alternative Care

The UK Supreme Court has published its judgment in relation to two Scottish cases which challenged the compatibility of the Children’s Hearing System and the participation rights of siblings with Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).

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Overcoming barriers to public interest litigation in Scotland

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Civil Rights and Freedoms, Policies & procedures

One factor identified by the Human Rights Consortium Scotland which hinders Public Interest Litigation, is the restrictive test on who has legal standing to take a case to court. From this, Chris McCorkindale and Douglas Jack produce a briefing on how Scotland can adopt a more expansive test to enable organisations to engage in these legal proceedings in the interest of those they represent.

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Cost of a school day in Scotland

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Child poverty, Education, including vocational education

COVID-19 has magnified the already greater risk of poorer educational outcomes and wellbeing, increased barriers to engagement and reduced participation in school life associated with growing up in poverty. This finding originates from a survey that looked at how household income has affected children’s experiences of education while they learn from home.

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Plan to reopen schools full-time in August

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Education, Leisure and Cultural Activities

On 23 rd June 2020, the Deputy First Minister John Swinney MSP updated Parliament on plans to reopen schools and announced that Scottish Government will provide a further £100 million over the next two years to help support children returning to school and recover “lost ground”.

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