What steps it is taking to improve relationships between social services, schools and parents to ensure a coordinated support system for ch…

Scotland’s ‘Getting it right for every child’ (GIRFEC) approach underpins the delivery of high-quality universal and targeted support through a single, coordinated approach to planning across education, social work, and health and social care; and between public services, the third sector and community partners.The GIRFEC approach recognises that children, young people and their families need to know who they can contact when they require support. The named person, Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC): practice guidance 2 – role of the named person
- gov.scot (www.gov.scot) or equivalent role, provides a clear point of contact within universal services for information, advice or help. A named person can provide or help families access further information on practical support from within their own service, or request support from other services or agencies across the community. For school-aged children, the named person is usually a head or senior teacher.The non-statutory GIRFEC Child’s Plan remains an important element in the ways children’s and related services can work in a co-ordinated way to support the wellbeing of children, young people and their families. Using the GIRFEC approach, practitioners and lead professionals should support a child or young person's wellbeing by working alongside them and their family, and other practitioners involved in supporting their wellbeing. Where a child or young person is supported through a GIRFEC Child’s Plan, the lead professional Lead professional
- Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC)
- gov.scot (www.gov.scot) offers families a single point of contact who can work with them and any multi-agency team to help co-ordinate support and help everyone understand their respective roles in implementing the plan.GIRFEC provides the foundation for all of the Scottish Government’s policies to ensure that children and young people receive the right support, at the right time. This includes Scotland’s legislative approach to collaborative local strategic planning. Children’s Services Planning duties are set out in Part 3 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. This requires services and support to be planned and delivered in a way which delivers on national and local priorities and meets the statutory aims of Children’s Services Planning, including the aim to ensure that support is experienced as joined-up from the point of view of children and families.Each local authority and Health Board must work collaboratively with specified service providers, other public bodies, the third sector, and children, young people and families to develop their Children’s Services Plan (CSP). Each Children’s Services Planning Partnership (CSPP) has a multi-agency strategic governance group of local senior leaders, who are responsible for their CSP. This includes publishing an annual report to demonstrate what progress has been made to improve outcomes for children, young people and families living in that area.The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 provides the legal framework for identifying and addressing the additional support needs of children and young people who face a barrier, or barriers, to learning. Parents, children, and young people have the right to ask for an assessment of whether additional support is required. Local authorities and other agencies should ensure that parents are fully aware of the processes for assessing and providing for children’s additional support needs, understand the planning approaches and are familiar with the support services available from the school, the education authority and from other agencies.Scottish Ministers also fund Enquire, the national advice and information service on additional support for learning. Enquire operate a telephone helpline providing confidential and tailored advice to parents and carers on their chi