Children and Young People Policy Resources

In addition to the policy resources listed below, you can find out more about how GCVS is engaged in policy initiatives that seek to provide young people in need of additional support with pathways into education, employment or training.

Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People
Link to the website of the Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People

Neglecting the Issues
A report published in July identifies the key issues surrounding child neglect and suggests ways to tackle the problem. The report, Neglecting the Issues, sets out key areas to be tackled if we are to help the estimated 1.5m children in the UK thought to be suffering from neglect. Causative factors that dramatically increase the likelihood of child neglect in vulnerable families include poverty, alcohol and substance abuse, the inability to access local services and mental health issues.

The report recommends the investigation of six key areas that an inegrated approach to tackling the problem should consider. Key issues include the role of fathers and their access to services and advice; additional ‘Sure Start’ type services; public awareness programmes and campaigns; better communication between parents, carers and professionals; and ways in which children can be encouraged to ask for help directly.

Read the full report here

Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme
On 28 February 2011 the Protection of Vulnerable Groups Scheme will go live. The scheme replaces the current disclosure system for those working with children and/or vulnerable adults. Read the guidance here

Valuing Children’s Potential:  How Children’s Participation Contributes to Fighting Poverty and Social Exclusion.
A book from the Eurochild Network.Through use of concrete case studies, this book demonstrates how children and young people can participate and get involved in decisions affecting their lives.

Single Outcome Agreements for Scottish Local Government, 2009-10
A thematic analysis by the Children's Voluntary Sector Policy Officers' Network

Growing Up In Scotland Report (GUS)
Is a collaborative study that follows the lives 8,000 of Scotland’s children from infancy through to their teens. GUS has recently published 4 new reports and research findings covering:

1.The circumstances of persistently poor children
2.Maternal health and its impact on child behaviour and development
3.Children's social emotional and behavioural characteristics at entry to primary school.

Child Poverty in Scotland – Taking the Next Steps (JRF May 2009)

Poor Children's Educational Attainment: How Important are Attitudes and Behaviour?

This Report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Considers some of the ways that affluence and disadvantage influence children’s educational attainment. It focuses on a broad set of factors, varying across childhood, classified under the broad umbrella term ‘aspirations, attitudes and behaviours’. The implications for policy are also explored.

Working it out - Children in Scotland

Children in Scotland was commissioned by the Scottish government to undertake a 12-month project to November 2009 to raise debate about future development of the childrens' sector workforce. These papers summarise the challenges that the sector's workforce is currently facing.

Getting it Right For Every Child
Getting it right for every child is the foundation for work with all children and young people, including adult services where parents are involved. It builds on universal health and education services, and is embedded in the developing early years and youth frameworks.

New! Getting it Right For Every Child Guidance published 23rd June 2010

GCVS have prepared a summary document to provide an overview of Getting it Right For Every Child.

The Early Years Framework
This framework is about giving all our children the best start in life and the steps the Scottish Government, local partners and practitioners in early years services need to take to start us on that journey.

A Curriculum for Excellence
A Curriculum for Excellence provides explicit statements of the aims of education in Scotland, concepts which have long been implicit.
In summary, the purposes of education are to enable all young people to become:

• Successful learners
• Confident individuals
• Responsible citizens
• Effective contributors.

The development of these capacities, attributes and capabilities lies at the heart of work on curriculum renewal.

Statements about the purposes of education, and the definition of principles for curriculum design, were endorsed by the then Minister for Education, in A Curriculum for Excellence: Ministerial Response .

More Choices More Chances - Scottish Government NEET Strategy
The NEET Strategy, More Choices, More Chances (MCMC) is an action plan to reduce the proportion of young people not in education employment or training in Scotland.

Engage for Education
The Scottish Government Engage for Education website enables a direct conversation between the Government, teachers, parents, young people and wider education providers.

Community Planning Engaging with Young
This Advice Note sets out why community engagement is so important. It addresses the factors which contribute to effective engagement planning and activity.

Youth Justice Framework
The framework outlines the Scottish Government's shared ambition to enable young people to realise their potential by providing the appropriate opportunities and support at the right time.

Youth and Religion
This is the website for an academic research project investigating the area of Youth and Religion. The aim of the project has been to investigate the contemporary meanings and significance of religion of young Scottish Christians in Glasgow, including:

• How young Scottish Christians experience religion in their daily lives, and the meanings that they ascribe to religious identities;
• The personal and social factors that influence these constructions of religious meaning and religious identity;
• How religious meanings are shaped by intergenerational relations and how understandings of religion differ between young people and their guardians.

The UN Convention on the Rights for the Child
The UK is bound by international law to abide by the provisions under this convention. The Convention, developed in 1989, spells out the basic human rights of children everywhere. These include: the right to survival; to develop to the fullest extent; to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life.

Dealing With Bullying and the Importance of Friends
This is a resource to help people who work with young people tackle the issue of bullying and teach the importance of friends as an avenue of support.

Good Practice: Carers and Young Carers Stories: Caring Together and Getting it Right for Young Carers: The Carers and Young Carers Strategy for Scotland 2010-2015

This compendium of good practice and carers and young carers stories accompanies Caring Together and Getting it Right for Young Carers.