Blog: The Promise Scotland Launches Plan 21-24

At Aberlour we are committed to #KeepThePromise. We enthusiastically welcome the publication of the Plan 21-24 and the immediate and urgent steps it insists Scotland now must take as a country to achieve the necessary change required for Scotland’s children, young people and families.

The Plan 21-24 is clear about the need for a relentless focus and commitment to ending poverty and mitigating its impact on children, young people and families.

Over 100 organisations, including all local authorities and political parties, have committed to keeping The Promise. This shared ambition should both unite and challenge all of us across Scotland to do better and to do more to end child poverty.

Any commitment to alleviating the impact of poverty means putting more money in families’ pockets.

We need to support families and communities to thrive. Just this month our politicians unanimously voted to incorporate the UNCRC. Children have a right to receive support through social security and to an adequate standard of living. What a fantastic opportunity the Plan 21-24 gives Scotland to put those commitments into action and begin to make these rights real and to #KeepThePromise to Scotland’s children, young people and families.

The Plan 21-24 is unequivocal that children in care should feel loved, have their needs met and their rights upheld.

Children who have been removed from their family must have, should expect and have a right to a good, loving childhood.

The use of physical restraint for children in care is sadly sometimes necessary to keep children safe, but this must be pain free, used rarely and only when required. We are working hard at Aberlour to challenge the use of restraint and have made huge strides forward – our children, and the adults in their lives, showing us how they can create safe places to live. We are better able to respond to children’s distress and now understand their trauma more deeply.

That is what I want to see for our children. We want to challenge others to reflect this in how they care for and support the children that they look after. The Plan presents us with an opportunity to create houses and homes for children who can’t stay with their own families that are filled with care, compassion, understanding and love – and prove that we don’t break promises.

SallyAnn Kelly, Aberlour CEO