“The Barnahus or ‘Children’s House’ originated in Scandinavia and has become commonplace across Europe and North America. It is a radically different way of supporting children who have experienced or witnessed abuse from what we currently do in Scotland. In the Barnahus, all professionals supporting children work together ‘under one roof’, with its ‘four rooms’ of protection, health, recovery and justice. This means that children can tell the public authorities what happened to them in a child-friendly and supportive place, with consistent therapeutic support available throughout to them and their family members including siblings.
Introducing Barnahus or ‘Bairns’ Hoose’ to Scotland will mean that children no longer have to repeat their story to different professionals in different locations, but that all professionals work together in one place which is designed for children. It will also mean that less children have to attend court to give evidence, which can result in them experiencing further trauma. With therapeutic help provided from the outset and a trusted person alongside throughout a child’s time at the Barnahus, this model is known to be effective in helping children cope with abuse and violence. Above all, it means that the different professionals work together as a team from one child-centred place providing a safe, trusted and compassionate service for children to be protected and supported without experiencing unnecessary further trauma. It also reduces delay and improves how crimes against children are identified, investigated and prosecuted.
The Care Inspectorate and Healthcare Improvement Scotland were commissioned by Scottish Government to develop Bairns’ Hoose Standards for Scotland and we are pleased that these were published at the end of May. There are different versions of Barnahus operating across Europe and Scotland has decided to adopt a relatively integrated and inclusive model. For example, the Bairns’ Hoose will be available for all children up to 18 years whether they have directly experienced or witnessed abuse. Non-abusing family members will also be able to access support from the Bairns’ Hoose. In addition, children under the age of criminal responsibility (currently 12 years) whose behaviour may have caused significant harm will attend the Bairns’ Hoose. The Scottish Standards stipulate that both healthcare and therapeutic support, as well as joint interviews by police and social work, will be provided by the Bairns’ Hoose under one roof. Further, the inclusion of specialist voluntary sector therapeutic support as part-and-parcel of the Bairns’ Hoose team is a feature of Scotland’s joined-up approach. Similarly, justice has been integrated as much as possible within the constraints of Scotland’s adversarial legal system. For example, courts and children’s hearings will remain separate from the Bairns’ Hoose, unlike in many European countries under their inquisitorial legal system. At the same time, improved video evidence from child interviews at the Bairns’ Hoose is aimed at reducing children having to give evidence for a court. And significantly it has been agreed that a live video link from the Bairns’ Hoose will be the preferred method for children to give evidence for a court case.
Negotiating and agreeing on Scotland’s version of Barnahus has been a protracted process, which began in 2018 and was disrupted by the pandemic. Given the extent of the transformative system change and the spectrum of different professional disciplines involved, reaching consensus has been a significant achievement. Part of the success of bringing together different perspectives was from ensuring that the voice of lived experience was front and centre throughout. This was done by adopting the Lundy participation approach and creating a separate and empowered space for children. So rather than asking children or their representatives to join the adult group developing the Standards, we paid 6 children’s organisations to work with different groups of children with lived experience of our protection and justice systems to help draft the Standards.
With buy-in from social work, health, voluntary sector therapeutic support and aspects of justice, we are on the brink of transformative change in how we collectively respond to children who have been harmed and children under the age of criminal responsibility whose behaviour has caused harm. The Bairns’ Hoose will be the key vehicle for upholding the rights of children and families to compassionate and effective intervention and support in line with the UNCRC and Promise principles. It should make a significant contribution to improving the whole experience of children and families of the statutory services responsible for dealing with harm, trauma and justice. As to Scotland keeping its Promise, implementing the Bairns’ Hoose will make a significant contribution.
Now that the Standards have been finalised, the Care Inspectorate will be stepping back from direct involvement in the Scottish Government’s planned test sites and implementation phase. Henry Mathias (Head of Professional Standards and Development) led the development of the Standards and worked closely with Belinda McEwan (Strategic Inspector), who now takes over the lead role during implementation. Jackie Irvine will continue to have strategic oversight of implementation through the Scottish Government’s Governance Group.