New Legislative Changes in the Children and Young People Act 2014 and the Victims and
Witnesses Act 2014
There have been some recent changes in the law that may be relevant for you and the children,
young people and families you work with. Here are two documents that outline key legislative
changes in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and the Victims and Witnesses
(Scotland) Act 2014.

Key Legislative Changes - Children and Young People

Key Legislative Changes - Victims and Witnesses
CELCIS Events - From Act to Practice: Practitioner seminars
CELCIS, in partnership with Clan Childlaw and commissioned by the Scottish Government, is running
a series of seminars aimed at practitioners who work directly with children and young people, and
their parents and carers.
These events, about the implementation of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, will:

Review new practice under the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 against the intended
outcomes of the legislation

Support the development of best practice that focuses on outcomes for children and young
people

Identify areas of practice development required as a result of the new legislation

Inform the development of support required for practitioners as a result of the Act
Eight seminars are planned from September to December 2014. Booking for all events is now open
and will close one week before each event.
For more information, or to book a place, select one of the links below:
Tuesday 2 September - The Lighthouse, Glasgow
Tuesday 16 September - Howden Park Centre, Livingston
Tuesday 23 September - Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen
Wednesday 29 October - Royal George Hotel, Perth
Wednesday 5 November - The Bentley Hotel, Motherwell
Wednesday 12 November - Savoy Park Hotel, Ayr
Tuesday 25 November - Dumbuck House Hotel, Dumbarton
Tuesday 2 December - COSLA Conference Centre, Edinburgh
Scottish Welfare Fund – new resources on CPAG website
The Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) is a national scheme delivered by local authorities which was
established in April 2013 when community care grants and crisis loans were abolished, and the
funding for them devolved. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has developed a new postcode
look-up tool for Scotland, England and Wales for anyone to get details of how to apply to the SWF in
their area.
The SWF statistics for 2013-14 have been published, and you can view them here.
If you work with vulnerable people facing a crisis you can find out more about the SWF and access
resources on the CPAG website.
Over the coming months the policy team will be working as part of the Scottish Campaign on
Welfare Reform (SCoWR) on influencing the Welfare Funds (Scotland) Bill, introduced in parliament
last month. We will look to highlight the rights of kinship carers and other vulnerable children and
young people who use our services and would benefit from the fund. Further information on this will
be included in future policy bulletins.
Citizens Advice Scotland – Sanctioned: what benefit?
Citizens Advice Scotland has published the report ‘Sanctioned: what benefit?’, the most detailed
examination of the impact of sanctions on the people of Scotland so far. It provides an analysis of
the current system, its impact on CAB clients, real case evidence, and the findings of a survey of
Scottish CAB advisers.
This comprehensive report based on the evidence of CAB across Scotland shows that many people
are forced into poverty and ill health, often having to rely on foodbanks as their benefit payments
are stopped. The report also reveals that many people who are hit by a sanction are not told the
reason for it, or how to appeal against it.
Further information is available on the CAS website, and the report can be downloaded for free
here.
EU SPIRTO project – Resources directory available
The EU funded Self-Produced Images – Risk Taking Online (SPIRTO) project is a joint enterprise
between the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, University of Edinburgh, Linköping
University (Sweden) and Innocence in Danger (Germany).
As part of the project a searchable directory of resources has been created. The directory catalogues
advice, information and educational resources that parents, professionals and young people can use
to respond to issues arising from young people’s self-produced nude or nearly nude images. It will
continue to be updated to serve as a valuable information source for practitioners.
You can access the resources directory by visiting the SPIRTO website:
http://www.spirto.health.ed.ac.uk/resources/resources-directory
Research and other publications
Child and Family Services

Implementing the strengthening families approach to child protection conferences.
Summary: Evaluation of the Strengthening Families (SF) child protection conference model with
seventy-five professionals, thirteen parents and nine family members/ friends in one county council.
Includes evaluation of training, implementation, parental involvement and outcomes. Concludes the
SF approach has a positive effect on parental involvement, but calls for a wider understanding of the
approach amongst professionals.
Publication Details: British journal of social work (Early online view) March 27 2014 pp. 1-20
Authors: Jane V. Appleton, E. Terlektsi and L. Coombes
Child health, development and welfare

Feeding forward to a 'miracle day': a pilot study of video feedforward in reactive
attachment disorder.
Summary: Presents two case studies where video feedforward was used in treatment of reactive
attachment disorder. Video feedforward is a solution-focused intervention used to improve desired
behaviour, whereby a person changes their behaviour through observation of themselves on video.
Children with reactive attachment disorder, their caregivers and their clinician completed
storyboards of behaviours desired during a 'miracle day' and filmed the individual scenes. These
scenes were fed back to the child and their caregiver using principles of video interaction guidance.
Finds that families reported improvements in the targeted behaviours usually within a week of the
intervention.
Publication Details: Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry (Vol.19, Iss.3) July 2014 pp. 384-391
Authors: Charlotta Gorski and Helen Minnis
Child Protection

A study to investigate the barriers to learning from serious case reviews and identify ways
of overcoming these barriers.
Summary: Examines why lessons are not being learnt from serious case reviews (SCRs). Draws on
findings from focus groups and a survey of professionals. Identifies a number of issues around: SCR
processes and publications; learning culture and training; and policy and procedures. Puts forward
recommendations to improve learning from case reviews.
Publication Details: London: Department for Education (DfE), 2014
Authors: Anne Rawlings, Paty Paliokosta, Daryl Maisey, Jessica Johnson, Jenny Capstick and Ray
Jones
Corporate Authors: Kingston University Institute for Child Centred Interprofessional Practice (ICCIP)
Website: Read Online

Enough is enough: a report on child protection and mental health services for children and
young people.
Summary: Looks at why vulnerable children are not receiving the child protection and mental health
services they need. Identifies issues around four key areas: frontline child protection, statutory
mental health provision, the voluntary sector and the legal and regulatory framework. Expresses
particular concern about the number of reports of local authorities failing to comply with legal
obligations to children. Recommends the establishment of a Royal Commission to re-design social
care and statutory mental health services.
Publication Details: London: The Centre for Social Justice, 2014
Authors: Adele Eastman
Corporate Authors: The Centre for Social Justice
Website: Read Online
Domestic abuse

Putting men’s abuse of women on the childcare agenda: an innovative specialist domestic
abuse project.
Summary: Describes and evaluates the MAZE project in West Yorkshire, a specialist domestic abuse
service that works with women affected by domestic abuse, their partners and children. The project
offers a case based approach designed to meet the individual needs of the woman and her partner,
underpinned by a gendered approach to addressing male violence, assessing and acknowledging
risks and being clear about where the responsibilities for these lie. The findings suggest MAZE has
positive benefits for the women and children they are working with, and have seen some evidence
of behaviour change in the men.
Publication Details: Practice (Vol.26, Iss.3) 12 May 2014 pp 143-159
Authors: Sue Peckover and Angela Everson

Finding the costs of freedom: how women and children rebuild their lives after domestic
violence.
Summary: Explores barriers to and factors supporting long term settlement for women and children
who have experienced domestic abuse. Reports on a study that tracked 100 women and their
children between 2011 and 2014. Participants were recruited after exiting domestic abuse services
provided by Solace Women's Aid. Finds that over 90% of participants experienced post-separation
abuse. Recommends that women and children should be able to access support services for a
minimum of two years following separation from their abusers.
Publication Details: [London]: Solace Women's Aid, [2014]
Authors: Solace Women's Aid Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWAS)
Website: Read online
Families and parenting

Sensitive parenting is the foundation for secure attachment relationships and positive
social-emotional development of children.
Summary: Literature review looking at the current knowledge about sensitive parenting and its role
in affecting infants' attachment security and developmental outcomes of attachment. Finds the
literature supports the importance of sensitive parenting and attachment security for children's
social-emotional development. Insecure and disorganised children appear to be at risk for problems
in the social and behavioural domains. Discusses attachment based interventions and implications
for policy and practice.
Publication Details: Journal of Children's Services (Vol.9, Iss.2) 2014 pp. 165-176
Authors: Anja van der Voort, Femmie Juffer and Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg
Social Care

Improving outcomes for looked after children: a critical analysis of kinship care.
Summary: Compares outcomes for looked after children placed in kin and non-kin care. Finds that
kinship placements are more likely to achieve stability. Emotional and behavioural outcomes for
children in kinship care are at least as favourable, if not more favourable, than for children in nonkinship care. However, children in kinship care are more likely to experience problematic parental
contact and difficulties with their immediate family. Highlights areas for practice development
including: providing more support to children and kinship carers; and ending inadequate kinship
placements, even if this is against the child's wishes.
Publication Details: Practice (Early online view.) 07 May 2014 pp 161-180
Authors: Lydia Brown and Robin Sen
Sexual Abuse

Assessment for self-blame and trauma symptoms during the medical evaluation of
suspected sexual abuse.
Summary: Looks at the effect of: severity of child sexual abuse, family reactions to the initial
disclosure and the victim's self-blame on the behavioural and emotional symptoms of sexually
abused children. Looks at a sample of 501 8-17-year-olds presenting for medical evaluation following
sexual abuse in the United States. Finds that self-blame, and parents' failure to believe initial
disclosure increase the number of trauma symptoms experienced by abused children.
Publication Details: Child Abuse and Neglect (Early online view) 11 March 2014
Authors: John D. Melville, Nancy D. Kellogg, Nadia Perez and James L. Lukefahr

Goodbye pink room.
Summary: Personal account of child sexual abuse, as told to the author and written from a child's
perspective. Follows Rose from primary school to adolescence, documenting the sexual abuse she
experienced, perpetrated by a family friend. Explores themes including disclosure and the impact of
child sexual abuse on the victim.
Publication Details: Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2014
Authors: Jane Grayshon and Elizabeth Hall
ISBN: 9780745956466
Events
CELCIS 2014: We Are Family
The conference aims to explore a question that should be at the heart of many of our interactions:
what does family mean for our looked after children and care leavers? We aim to show the reality of
what family means to looked after children and care leavers; including birth families, adoptive
families, foster / kinship/ residential families and wider corporate families. We will also explore what
it means to be a corporate parent in Scotland from 2015 with the implementation of the Children
and Young People (Scotland) Act, alongside the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and the Children's
Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011.
Date: 8 October 2014
Venue: Perth Concert Hall
For further information and booking details: http://withscotland.org/events/celcis-2014-we-arefamily
Children in Scotland Annual Conference
It has been an incredible year with legislation enacted to make Getting it Right for Every Child a
reality. The time is right to ask what will we do to make the legislation work well for every child and
family? What progress is underway with Public Service Reform, including the impact of improvement
approaches, such as the Early Years Collaborative and Education Attainment? Why are we not
making the desperately needed progress to reduce poverty and inequality and what is needed to
reverse this? And to challenge ourselves and all relevant interests.
Date: 12 & 13 November 2014
Venue: Perth Racecourse
For further information and booking details:
http://www.childreninscotland.org.uk/html/tra_tshow.php?ref=1865
Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) Conference 2014
The focus of this year’s GIRFEC conference is the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. The
conference will explore three key elements of the Act: the role of the named person; the child’s
plan, and; information sharing. The conference is directed at practitioners and managers who are
currently working within the Getting It Right framework and responding to the requirements of the
new legislation.
Date: 4 November 2014
Venue: Stirling Management Centre, University of Stirling
For further information and booking details: http://www.stir.ac.uk/social-science/girfec/