Looked After Children and Youthwork
Who we are and what we do
Our Head of Division is Rachel Edgar and she can be contacted on 0131 244 0979
or rachel.edgar@scotland.gsi.gov.uk Her personal assistant is Joan Kay who can be contacted
on 0131 244 0997 or joan.kay@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Faxes should be sent to 0131 244 3547
The division is made up of three branches
Branch One leads on policies relating to looked after children including at home, in foster care and kinship care; residential units and schools - including historical issues around List D schools. It is also working on improving outcomes for looked after children, such as educational attainment and on the development of throughcare and aftercare services.
For further information contact
Shirley Laing on 0131 244 5482 or Shirley.laing@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Robert Kelman on 0131 244 5479 or robert.kelman@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Louise McCue on 0131 244 5137 or louise.mccue@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Margaret Rooney on 0131 244 5480 or margaret.rooney@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Graham McCann on 0131 244 1425 or grahammccann@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Anne-Margaret Mitchell on 0131 244 7445 or anne-margaret.mitchell@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
or Scott McDonald (branches 1 and 2) on 0131 244 4078 or scott.mcdonald@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Useful website links
www.scottishthroughcare.org.uk - The Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum
www.sircc.strath.ac.uk - Scottish Institute for Residential Childcare
www.whocaresscotland.net - Who Cares? Scotland
www.fostercare-scotland.org.uk - The Fostering Network
www.icscotland.icnetwork.co.uk - In Care Abuse Survivors Group
www.laidlawyouthproject.org - Laidlaw Youth Project
www.columba1400.com - Columba 1400
The team supports a Lead Implementation Officers Group – officials in each local authority who are overseeing the implementing of the Regulations on Supporting Young People Leaving Care.
Branch Two is responsible for development and delivery of policy and adoption, long-term fostering, and other forms of permanence including proposals for a new legal framework and practice improvements; intercountry adoption policy and casework and liaison with the UK Government on adoption issues.
The consultation process for the adoption policy review began on 30 June and will run until 31 October. In addition to the consultation paper, public meetings are being held in early October and a series of focus groups will also be held. A report on the consultation process is expected in December.
For further information contact
Peter Willman on 0131 244 5410 or peter.willman@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
John McCutcheon on 0131 244 1664 or john.mccutcheon@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Simon Cuthbert-Kerr on 0131 244 7748 or simon.cuthbert-kerr@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Robert Girvan on 0131 244 3663 or jrobert.girvan@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Paul Wilson on 0131 244 3663 or paul.wilson@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
www.baaf.org.uk - British Association for Adoption and Fostering Scottish Centre
www.scottishadoption.org - Scottish Adoption Association
www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk - Home Office
www.ukvisas.gov.uk - UK Visas
www.dfes.gov.uk - Department for Education and Skills
Branch Three is responsible for policy on youth work, including the development of a national strategy for youth work, community learning and youth work links and the European White Paper on Youth. It also covers a wide range of young people’s issues including grant funding to national voluntary youth organisations; Youth Link, the Scottish Youth Parliament; the Young Scot (Executive funded work programme) and the Lloyds/TSB Foundation for Scotland project to address substance misuse and young people.
For further information contact
Judy Waterman on 0131 244 0192 or judy.waterman@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Catrina Steenberg on 0131 244 1662 or catrina.steenberg@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Laura Powrie on 0131 244 0104 or laura.powrie@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Wendy Stirling on 0131 244 0992 or wendy.stirling@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Useful Website links
Youth Work Branch www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Young-People/youth-work
Youth Work Branch Telephone: 0131 244 0992 (Fax: 0131 244 2547) email Young.People@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
The Partnership Agreement www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/government/pfbs-01.asp
The European White Paper: A New Impetus for Youth and its influence in relation to information, participation, volunteering and increasing knowledge about young people
www.europa.eu.int/comm/youth/whitepaper/download/whitepaper_en.pdf
Working and Learning Together to Build Stronger Communities (2004)
www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/web/FILES/WALT.pdf
Document with relevance to the role of youth workers is ‘Empowered to Practice’
www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/social/etp-00.asp
Scottish Compact www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/social/sccm-02.asp
www.savethechildren.org
www.scottishyouthparliament.org.uk
www.youthlink.co.uk
www.youngscot.org