Jasmine Geddes

Dundee charity TCA are on the lookout for volunteer mentors for a brand new intandem mentoring programme to support children and young people living with close family or friends in kinship care in Dundee.

The one-of-a kind intandem family mentoring programme pairs volunteer mentors with children and young people aged 7-15 living in kinship arrangements, who meet regularly and build positive and trusted relationships. The programme also makes sure kinship carers get the support they need.

intandem seeks to offer opportunities for new and positive activities and relationships, where young people have choices, where they can learn to trust their own judgement and have fun.

Kathryn Baker, Chief Executive of TCA, said: “We are pleased to bring this new service to Dundee to offer kinship children and families mentoring and support through intandem family mentoring. We understand the importance of listening and supporting children and families to build strong trusted relationships to help them thrive.

“To make this happen, we are actively seeking compassionate and dedicated individuals to join as volunteers. If you are a good listener with a positive and non-judgemental attitude, we need you! We will support you with comprehensive training and on-going support, so you are well-prepared for mentoring.

“Young people tell us the most important qualities of a mentor are being able to listen, be up for having fun, and turn up consistently to spend time with them. If this sounds like you, please get in touch.”

In addition to weekly mentoring sessions with trained volunteers, intandem family mentoring also offers tailored support to the wider kinship family, including practical and emotional assistance from TCA, which can improve family relationships, enhance wellbeing, and build positive connections with schools and other support networks.

Celia Tennant, Chief Executive of Inspiring Scotland, who manage the national intandem programme, said:

“We are thrilled to extend our mentoring programme to Dundee and look forward to seeing the positive changes it will bring to kinship families in the area. With rising rates of kinship care across Scotland, intandem family mentoring is addressing the growing demand for support from families, who are often at crisis point before receiving help.

“Dundee is home to an estimated 300-500 kinship families, and this new programme will offer a much-needed breathing space for them and build trust and confidence in young people during a challenging time in their lives.”

For more information about the intandem family mentoring programme and how to get involved, please visit TCA’s website.

The Scottish Government’s recent public consultation on Developing a Universal Definition of ‘Care Experience’ presents a critical opportunity to address the imbalance of support available to those experiencing the ‘care system.’ 

intandem, Scotland’s mentoring programme for young people in, or at risk of experiencing the ‘care system’, is well positioned to gather valuable insights from those with lived experience. We conducted in-depth interviews with a range of individuals with lived experience, including young people currently mentored by intandem, care experienced adults who were previously mentored by intandem, and staff from partner charities who work directly with young people in or at risk of experiencing the ‘care system’, as well as their families. 

 

Key Insights: A Strong Case for a Universal Definition 

There was a significant consensus that a universal definition of ‘care experience’ could help address current inequities in support and access to entitlements. Many expressed that a clear, universal definition could help streamline the process of accessing support for both the services offering support and the people needing the support. This would prevent young people experiencing the ‘care system’ from having to repeatedly share their personal experiences, which can be re-traumatising. 

One young person reflected on the challenge of recounting their past repeatedly, saying, “It’s annoying to go through everything in your past every time.” A universal definition could reduce this burden and provide a more respectful and efficient way to access services and entitlements, especially if it was accompanied by a document or card that could be presented, eliminating the need for further explanation.   

However, those consulted were also quick to highlight that care must be taken to ensure a universal definition doesn’t inadvertently oversimplify what is, for many, a deeply personal and multifaceted situation. They emphasised that every person with care experience has a unique story, and it is vital that this be acknowledged within any universal definition. 

As one young adult pointed out, “How can someone staying at home be the same as someone stripped away from their family, like I was?” This powerful statement underscores the reality that each experience is distinct, and any definition must respect and reflect this individuality.  

While the desire for a more straightforward framework is clear, it is equally important to ensure that a universal definition does not oversimplify or deny access to support and services through a binary categorisation, for example, ‘looked after’ and ‘non-looked after’. While the need for a universal definition was widely supported, there was also strong consensus on the importance of inclusivity within any such definition. 

Key Insights: Definitions must be inclusive  

There was consensus that any definition of ‘care experience’ should encompass all forms of care outlined in the public consultation. In particular, staff from intandem partner charities working directly with young people and families, strongly advocated for the inclusion of young people in kinship care (looked after children and those classified as non-looked after children who live with a kinship carer) in the definition of ‘care experience.’ 

They emphasised the importance of recognising these young people and the unique challenges they face to ensure they can access support when needed.  

One staff member shared their thoughts about non-looked after children in kinship care, “These young people are the hidden looked-after children. As a system, we’re not recognising them, but they are a significant part of what we do as a charity because they require substantial support.” 

The confusion around the language defining a person’s experience of care means that some children who were previously ‘looked after’ but who are now, for example, cared for under a Kinship Care Order may miss out on support and entitlements when they need it most. 

The recently published Report Three by the Oversight Board for the promise calls for Scotland to address the imbalance of support and resource, including the difference between support for those experiencing foster care, formal and informal kinship care, and care at home. This call to action is both timely and crucial, reflecting the reality of what intandem are witnessing on the ground, and we hope it prompts meaningful change. 

Conclusion 

The opportunity to establish a universal definition of ‘care experience’ presents a crucial moment to address longstanding imbalances in the support available to those experiencing the ‘care system’. A clear and inclusive definition could not only streamline access to services but also ensure that individuals’ unique and varied experiences are respected and acknowledged. The insights gathered through intandem’s work highlight the need for a definition that is both broad enough to encompass all forms of care, including kinship care, while also being sensitive to the diverse nature of different experiences. 

As the call for more equitable support intensifies, particularly with the publication of Report Three by the Oversight Board for the promise, it is clear that the current system requires urgent attention. A universal definition, if crafted thoughtfully, can play a key role in ensuring that all young people, regardless of their experience of care, receive the support they need.  

Read the full response here. 

The children’s hearings system is familiar to the young people mentored by intandem and their families. When the Scottish Government invited views on the proposed redesign of Scotland’s children’s hearings system, we felt it was essential to share their voices. Like mentoring, we found that redesigning the system to prioritise trusted relationships was essential to its success. 

As Scotland’s mentoring programme for children and young people with experience of care, we are in a unique position to gather insights from those with lived experience. In response to this consultation, we held in-depth interviews with a range of people with lived experience of the children’s hearings system including children, young adults, kinship carers and staff from of intandem partner organisations working directly with young people and families. We also sought the expertise of the Inspiring Scotland Perinatal and Infant Mental Health team. 

The consultation was substantial, so our response focused on those questions where our children and families consulted had views to share. 

Key insights – a clear need for change 

Hearing the accounts of young people and adults with lived experience of the children’s hearings system was deeply unsettling. They described experiences that varied from tense and uncomfortable to profoundly traumatic, highlighting the emotional and psychological toll the system can take on those involved. 

One young adult shared “it’s traumatic, it can get heated, and they are talking about you.  They were horrible, I hated them.  Seeing people in a room, speaking about your personal stuff, it’s horrible.  You think the worst is going to happen.  A child shouldn’t have to go.” 

Currently, a child is required to attend their hearing, although this doesn’t always happen due to differences in locality and flexibility since Covid.  Professionals working with young people shared experiences of young people able to cope with attending a hearing, but others where it affected them significantly.  The redesign of the hearing system offers a real opportunity to consider the individual needs of the child. 

Young people shared their fear of strangers on the panel making fundamental decisions about their life, of parents manipulating what they said in hearings, and the overall anxiety of the process. 

Key insights – an opportunity for significant change 

Those consulted felt passionately about the need for a redesigned children’s hearing system starting with removing the obligation for a young person to attend.  

If a child chooses not to attend their hearing it’s essential there are ways for a child’s participation, and their rights, to be supported. A kinship carer commented “their participation could be through play therapy, a mentor, counsellor, advocacy worker or safeguarder.  The most important thing is it’s done in a child-friendly environment.” 

A consistent theme throughout the feedback was the need for someone working with the child who holds a trusted relationship, someone who can build a strong relationship and help them explore their true thoughts and opinions. A young adult highlighted “speaking to someone you trust is key, not just someone who appears to speak to you for the purpose of the panel meeting, it’s not nice.”  This was further reinforced by a young person who commented, “I don’t like speaking to random people, I wouldn’t tell the whole story.”   

Those consulted made several suggestions to ensure the rights and views of children and young people are better represented in the children’s hearings decision making. These included: 

• more advocacy workers appointed, and more time provided to ensure advocacy workers can build the necessary relationship and trust with the young person, 

• opportunities for children and young people to speak with a smaller number of adults in a less formal setting before each hearing, and 

• the opportunity for a young person to join by video link to minimise disruption to their education, reduce stigma, and minimise the potential trauma of the panel meeting. 

Everyone consulted felt that continuity of a chairing member should be the default position for each child’s hearing.  Young people and young adults felt continuity was important to make the situation less intimidating overall and lessen the sense that strangers have the power to make decisions about their life.  

For adults, continuity of panel members was seen as a positive step and an opportunity to ensure things discussed in panel meetings were followed through.  A kinship carer commented “sometimes it feels like promises are made in panel meetings, but nothing happens because people are different the next time.  If there was continuity, there would be more accountability to make things happen.” 

The majority of those consulted agreed that children’s hearings should be routinely recorded.  There was a sense that the minutes currently taken don’t always reflect what a young person or family think has been agreed and this creates a sense of frustration and mistrust of the system.  Recording was seen as a way to check and correct any discrepancies. 

The introduction of child-friendly summaries of children’s hearings decisions was unanimously seen as a positive step. 

Conclusion 

Redesigning the children’s hearing system is both necessary and an opportunity to better meet each child’s individual needs. Central to this redesign is removing the obligation for children to attend hearings and prioritising the importance of relationships. Whether it’s offering advocacy that allows sufficient time to build a trusted relationship, enabling young people to feel comfortable sharing their true feelings, or ensuring consistency of panel members, relationships are essential to the redesign. 

 

Read the full report here.

The Scottish Government recently invited views on the support needed by young people leaving care and entering adulthood as part of the ’Moving On’ From Care Into Adulthood public consultation. 

As Scotland’s mentoring programme for children and young people with experience of care, we are in a unique position to gather insights from those with lived experience.  

We held in-depth interviews with:  

• young people mentored by intandem and approaching the stage of moving on from care into adulthood, 

• young adults who are volunteer mentors with intandem and have their own lived experience of moving on from care into adulthood, 

• kinship carers supported by intandem, and 

• staff of intandem partner organisations who work directly with young people and families. 

Key insights – good practice 

It was clear good practice does exist and for some young people the transition from care to adulthood is well planned and supported. Young adults with lived experience of moving on from care spoke of Throughcare workers and Aftercare workers helping them to access information, entitlements, support and housing.   

One young adult commented on her experience of finding a house “my Throughcare worker fought for a particular area for me due to my mental health and good support network in that area.  They tried to give me a house in a different area but it wouldn’t have been good.  I’ve got a house in that area now and it’s worked out well because I know people, it’s better for my anxiety and stress.”   

A professional mentioned that Shelter is good at linking in to help young people transition. However, they also highlighted this requires an adult or support worker to facilitate the process. While this works if you are living in residential care with support workers available, for those in different forms of care such as at home or in kinship care this could be more difficult. 

Key insights – where more support is needed 

From those consulted it was evident more support is needed to ensure ALL young people have a positive experience of moving on from care. The perception that not all forms of care had access to the same planning, advice and resources was evident.  It was felt this results in young people slipping through the net, particularly those in kinship care or living at home on a CSO. 

Information isn’t always readily available for young people, and it seems to be missing at this vital time in their life.  There appears to be an assumption that all parents and kinship carers are able to support young people with the transition to adulthood however this is definitely not the case. 

One professional commented “some kinship carers are struggling to cope and are focused on surviving day-to-day.  They don’t have the information or capacity to help a young person prepare for moving on from care into adulthood.” 

Everyone consulted commented that school and Link Workers should have a positive part to play in preparing young people for the life skills needed in adulthood. There was also unanimous agreement that peer support was a good idea for young people moving on from care. 

Professionals felt it important there was support available long term for people with care experience. One commented “often young people are desperate to be out of the care system, it often hasn’t been a positive experience for them.  But they should have the option to link back in at a point when they realise they need it.  Information provision is key.”  

Young people agreed that information was key to a successful transition with discussion around a tailored information pack, website and helpline. 

Housing 

An area of particular concern for everyone consulted was the challenges around lack of information about housing options for young people moving on from care, the long timescale required to apply for housing and be successful, the availability of suitable housing, and the risk of ending up in homeless accommodation.  

A young adult shared he had ended up in homeless accommodation when he couldn’t stay at home any longer and had to move quickly. It was a frightening experience as a teenager with exposure to violence and addictions.  

Another young adult shared having to be on the list for social housing for two years before she was able to get an offer of a house.  She said young people need to get on the list early because it takes so long.  

A professional confirmed this by highlighting “there isn’t enough social housing for young people, particularly in their local area where they have a network of support.  We’re setting them up to fail right away with isolating them from their local community.”  

A kinship carer we spoke to commented “the default option for young people leaving care shouldn’t be to access social housing, I don’t think it should be encouraged.  It would be better to have a system where you are supported to stay where you are until you are able to afford rent or to buy.” 

In general, more information is needed, more time to plan, and more suitable accommodation options for care leavers.  A preference suggested by various young people, young adults and professionals was the introduction of dedicated housing for care leavers to avoid them ending up in homeless accommodation which can be a very unsafe environment. 

Conclusion 

Our consultation response covered many aspects of the support needed by young people moving on from care.  The importance of lifelong links with workers, the need for improved support around employment, health and wellbeing and access to information are all covered.   

A young adult commented “When you leave care you don’t want everything done for you but you don’t know how to do anything!”.  

We need to give young people the necessary skills and support for moving into adulthood to ensure they thrive. 

Read the full response here. 

 

 

We recently brought together organisations to host an event looking at where kinship care currently is in Scotland and where it needs to be to support young people and their wider families to thrive.  

 

The kinship care landscape in Scotland  

“We need to do more for kinship carers and children” 

 

Since 2016, Inspiring Scotland has worked alongside 11 partner charities to deliver intandem mentoring, a powerful community-based mentoring programme for children and young people with care experience. Through these trusted mentoring relationships with children in kinship care and their kinship carers, we became increasingly aware of a gap in support for families and sought to understand this in more depth with The Robertson Trust.  

Insights from our charity partners suggested increasing demand for support from kinship families. Charities also reported that despite doing their best some kinship carers they visit are often close to crisis, but that families and staff sometimes struggled to identify available support. Conversations with Children & Families Teams within some local authorities also indicated increasing numbers of kinship families. 

This led to the Kinship Learning and Collaboration event, which aimed to bring together those working alongside kinship families to improve connectivity and understanding around what supports and services exist for families. 

 

Key learnings from the event 

“The willingness to collaborate and learn from each other stood out for me.”  

 

We need to work together and collaborate. All families are different and have different needs. Organisations and agencies need to work together to ensure there is a strong network of shared supports which are accessible and co-designed with families – no one organisation or support worker can do this alone. Inspiring Scotland, and indeed everyone at the event, wants to see children and their families offered the right support at the right time in line with the commitment of The Promise.  

 

“Carers need collaborating teams behind them, not just an individual caseworker” 

 

intandem has been on a journey to understand how best to support the needs of young people in kinship care and their carers. Families often ask our coordinators for practical and emotional support which can go beyond mentoring, and intandem’s relationship-based approach has led us to try and find ways to meet these varied support requests either directly or through others.  

The event highlighted several challenges and suggestions for change: 

• Legislation for kinship care has evolved in a piecemeal fashion and doesn’t always support the varied needs of kinship carers. A simplified landscape would free up staff and families time, energy and resources.  
• Collaboration is needed to join up the approaches of the statutory and voluntary sectors to create and deliver more standardised, quality care, and increase the visibility of support.   
• More authentic participation is needed and this needs to be followed up with action and delivery.  
• Although some support services for kinship families do exist and are often high quality, they are small in scale, localised and with limited consistency across Scotland. Not all areas have dedicated local authority kinship teams and peer support groups are highly valued but not everyone has access to one. The current capacity of third sector staff and volunteers to meet the rising demand is an ongoing challenge we can’t get away from.  
• More investment is needed alongside a joined up, national approach to support longer term, sustainable, services which form part of a strongly connected network of support for families.  

 

“Such a disparate picture throughout Scotland in terms of service provision” 

 

What works: Next steps  

 “Some great work being done but still a way to go.”  

It’s important to recognise that there are some high-quality supportive services available and that these work well when they are adequately resourced and readily accessible.   

We heard some examples of what is working well in some communities across Scotland:  

• family support work provided alongside mentoring for children and young people  
• a family hub approach including therapeutic support, mentoring for young people and statutory services 
• carers self-advocating and creating local peer support groups  
• dedicated kinship teams and panels in local authorities  
• broader criteria to help remove barriers to accessing support  

We want to keep up the momentum for collaboration and drive positive change for kinship carers who take on such an important role for society.   

We are committed to supporting children and young people in kinship care with mentoring. Our relationships mean we cannot overlook the immediate needs of the families around the children and young people mentored.   

We therefore continue to seek to galvanise people from across the sector to help ensure kinship families are supported and empowered.  

We want to keep up the momentum, learn about and share more resources, and strengthen links between those supporting children and young people in kinship care.  

If you are working in this area or have insights on kinship care, please get in touch.  

  

Celia Tennant  

CEO at Inspiring Scotland  

The Scottish Government has recently asked for views on their proposed Care Leavers Payment. As Scotland’s national mentoring programme for children and young people with care experience, our Fund Manager Christine was in a unique position to gather valuable insights from the young people this will affect. Here’s what she found out… 

 

In my remit as both Fund Manager and Policy and Participation Manager, I have got to know the young people mentored by intandem and involved in our youth forum InVoice well over the past year. I wanted to ensure their voices and experiences were heard by key decision makers for the proposed Care Leavers Payment. 

With experience of kinship care, foster care, residential care and looked after at home the young people of InVoice will be directly affected by the proposed new payment. I knew we were in a unique and privileged position to be a trusted representative where young people with care experience could express their honest views and we could gather some real valuable insights for Scottish Government.  

What young people think of the proposal 

The proposal, a one-off payment of £2000 to young people moving on from care, was considered a positive step as part of work towards keeping The Promise, an initiative in Scotland that every child in Scotland will grow up loved, safe and respected. The young people and our partner organisations felt it could help reduce some of the financial barriers young people face while moving on from care particularly around accommodation and employment. 

One young person commenting “I had to leave home and ended up in homeless accommodation, it was very stressful. £2,000 would have meant I got myself on my feet much quicker”. 

Another mentioned “I live in residential care, and the one thing I’ve always worried about is not having enough money to move out. Or having the money to move out but not keeping up with it.”   

However, the young people were clear it comes with the risk of being spent unwisely, and it could even be harmful in terms of giving young people the means to make poor life choices or be exploited by family and friends. 

Getting it right for every child means flexibility 

The key ingredient to the success of this proposal is offering flexibility. What works for one young person might not work for another so flexibility around how young people can access the payment and when, and ensuring there is support available from a trusted adult at all stages is important. 

Eligibility criteria should be widened to include young people looked after at home.  One young person commented “I want to emphasize to the Scottish Government that all care experienced people should have this opportunity because we all went through care.  Yes, there are different types of care but at the end of the day we’ve all had to deal with the care system, it doesn’t matter what part of the care system you’re in.” 

Another young person commented “it doesn’t seem fair that looked after at home wouldn’t get this payment. They still have to go to meetings, go to Hearings, and they might be living in a toxic environment at home and really unhappy.  They need this payment.” 

The opportunity to speak directly to young people and gather the extensive experience from our partner organisations was extremely valuable.  The experience of young people in care differs greatly, but it’s clear they need a helping hand as they transition into adulthood.  While there is much to iron out around the detail of this proposal, when asked whether a payment of £2,000 at the point of moving on from care would be helpful, one young person commented “really bloody helpful by the way”.   This sentiment was echoed across our partner organisations and the other young people we consulted. 

Read our full response here.  

 

Christine Roxburgh  

Fund Manager