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.

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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

On 23rd 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”.

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Child poverty

Through a package of £27.6 million of additional funding from Scottish Government, councils will be enabled to continue the provision of free school meals during the summer holidays and other food provision to help low income families during COVID-19.

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Child poverty

A survey of frontline Scottish community organisations found that there have been improvements in emergency food aid provision since the start of lockdown. However, it also highlighted a sense of emerging concern amongst community organisations that the food insecurity crisis is far from over.

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Children of prisoners

In a letter to Humza Yousaf MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice, and Teresa Medhurst, Acting Chief Executive of Scottish Prisons Service (SPS), the Justice Committee sought the views of issues raised in letters received from Scottish Human Rights Commission and Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland. The issues highlighted in these letters concerned the human rights and wellbeing of prisoners, conditions in prisons and Young Offenders Institutions, family contact, access to mobile phones and a lack of data. These letters aimed to ensure the rights of persons deprived of their liberty are respected and protected during the COVID-19 pandemic, and measures have been implemented in accordance with Scotland’s human rights obligations.

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

‘Rights Respecting’ reform to Scotland’s youth justice system has now been adapted to suit younger readers, so they can learn and understand the issues around Scotland’s youth justice system.

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

Research finds children and young people who have had previous experience or are currently in contact with youth justice services or practitioners working within the youth justice system, are feeling increasingly isolated in lockdown.

Date: 25th June 2020
Category: Disability, Basic Health and Welfare, Reporting to and monitoring the UNCRC

This webinar will explore children’s rights issues on the topic of disability, basic health and welfare in Scotland, which will inform our report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Based upon our examination of the UK’s progress implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Committee will make recommendations and thereby influencing legislation and policy.

Date: 25th June 2020
Category:

Closing date: 1st September 2020

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

Closing date: 7th October 2020

Date: 11th June 2020
Category: Disability, Basic Health and Welfare, Civil Rights and Freedoms, Education, Leisure and Cultural Activities

Thirty organisations have contributed their experience, insight, and analysis to form the Consortium’s submission to Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee Inquiry: Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Equalities and Human Rights.

Date: 11th June 2020
Category: Family Environment and Alternative Care

Domestic legislation and international conventions say that children’s views should be given due weight in decisions about parental responsibilities. Despite this, children’s rights to participate have often been inconsistently and inadequately realised. New research explores why this is and how both family law and practice could be developed to ensure compliance.