graphic illustration of children surrounding a heartWhat is corporate parenting

A corporate parent is an organisation or person who has special responsibilities to care experienced babies, infants, children, and young people.

The Care Inspectorate is a corporate parent.

This means we should understand and respond to your needs as any parent should. We will do as much as we can to make sure you feel in control of your life and able to overcome any barriers you face. We must publish detailed corporate parenting plans and reports, collaborate with other corporate parents, follow direction, and provide relevant information to Scottish Ministers.

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Care experience

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 provide legal definitions for the terms ‘looked-after’ and ‘care-leaver’. Throughout this plan we will use the term ‘care experienced’. This is more inclusive language which many in the care experienced community prefer, as it speaks to the diverse range of experiences and the lifelong impact of care experience. This term includes those looked after at home, or away from home in kinship, foster, residential or secure care.

We made the decision to include:

  • those who are adopted
  • a lifelong recognition of care experience by removing the age 26 barrier for care experienced individuals being involved in opportunities with the organisation.

Children’s rights

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty that covers all aspects of children’s lives. The United Nations Conventn the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2023 and from 16 July 2024 is now a part of Scottish Law.

As a public body, we play a role to support Scottish Government to promote, uphold and fulfil children’s rights and wellbeing across policy and practice for all children and young people, and in particular people where we have responsibility as a Corporate Parent.

Article 20 of the UNCRC highlights the importance of:

‘If a child cannot be looked after by their immediate family, the government must give them special protection and assistance. This includes making sure the child is provided with alternative care that is continuous and respects the child’s culture, language and religion’.

The Plan 2024 - 2027

This high-level plan will cover the period April 2024 to December 2027.  It details our commitments and recognises that all staff at the Care Inspectorate are Corporate Parents.  The priority actions and commitments in this plan were consulted on with:

  • our young volunteers with care experience 
  • children’s rights and care experienced group
  • national organisations
  • care experienced adults.

They also come from the development areas as noted in the 2021 – 2023 Corporate Parenting triennial report.  

To achieve everything set in this plan, we will: 

Work in partnership

Engage in meaningful participation  

Be trauma informed

Be rights-based

Promote young people's right to continuing care and enduring relationships

 To help us achieve the commitments in the plan, and meet our responsibilities under section 58 of the act, we will be:

  • alert to all matters that affect the wellbeing of our children and young people 
  • strong when challenging the disadvantages that our children and young people face 
  • leaders by driving improvements and working with other corporate parents to raise society’s expectations for our children and young people  
  • responsive in how we assess the needs of our children and young people, or any service or support provided 
  • active in providing our children and young people with real opportunities within our organisation, so that they grow and develop skills for the future.

hands holding children

Commitment 1: Children’s rights

Promote, uphold, and fulfil children’s rights for all connected by our work, particularly those where we have corporate parenting responsibilities.  

We will:

  1. Promote an approach that reduces the use, and eliminates the misuse, of restraint and restrictive practice 

  2. Improve the ways children and young people who are connected by our work, can offer / receive feedback and access independent advocacy 

  3. Use accessible and inclusive communication with all infants, children and young people

Commitment 2: Participationfamily chatting

Strengthen our participation and equalities practice to support care experienced individuals.

We will:

  1. Work towards acknowledging care experience as a protected characteristic 

  2. Work closely with other corporate parents and participate in national groups to share good practice and learning

  3. Use the Lundy model of participation to inform how we meaningfully involve individuals. 

 

Commitment 3: Developmentgraphic representation of three people sitting at a table learning

Provide flexible and supportive development, volunteering, and employment opportunities for care experienced individuals.

We will:

  1. Deliver a volunteer development scheme 

  2. Provide accessible, supportive, and tailored development opportunities.