SCSWIS (Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland) is the new unified independent scrutiny and improvement body for care and children’s services and has a significant part to play in improving services for adults and children across Scotland. They regulate and inspect care services and carry out social work and child protection inspections. SCSWIS have taken over responsibility for inspeciton of child protection services from HMIe.
An inspection of child protection services took place in Glasgow in February/March 2011 and the report was published on 2 June 2011. You can find a copy of the report on the SCSWIS website.
Several particular strengths were identified that made a difference to children
and families:
- Support to help parents gain skills and confidence to care for their children.
- Schools and nurseries nurturing children and helping them keep safe.
- Work to ensure children who may have been brought into or moved around the country illegally are protected.
- Chief officers’ prioritising of support to the most vulnerable children and families.
Three examples of good practice were identified:
- Stepping Stones Family Sessions which helps parents of very young children to enjoy playing with, and caring for them.
- Rosemount Lifelong Learning Family Link Service which supports children and families affected by drugs and alcohol misuse so that they can have an improved standard of life and improved life chances.
- The Archway which helps young people who have been sexually assaulted.
Following the inspection of each local authority area, the Scottish Government gathers evaluations of four important quality indicators to keep track of how well services across Scotland are doing to protect children and meet their needs. Here are the evaluations of these for the Glasgow City Council area.
|
Children are listened to and respected |
Good |
|
Children are helped to keep safe very |
Very Good |
|
Response to immediate concerns |
Good |
|
Meeting needs and reducing long term harm |
Satisfactory |