This article presents a case study of a young man who participated in the Mission Mentoring Programme - an innovative scheme that supports council employees to become mentors for looked after children - and found it helpful for his transition to adulthood and intended employment.

This briefing is the fifth in a series of evidence summaries on the impact of COVID-19 on the wellbeing of children and families in Scotland, drawing on wider UK and international research where appropriate.

In October 2020 CELCIS convened and facilitated a virtual workshop with the Virtual School Head Teacher (VSHT) and Care Experienced Team (CET) network. Network members were asked two questions for consideration prior to the meeting. This document contains the key themes arising from question two: Did the VSHT/CET network have an impact on supporting you in your role during lockdown? What, if any, impact did being part of the network have for the children and young people that you have responsibility for?

In October 2020 CELCIS convened and facilitated a virtual workshop with the Virtual School Head Teacher (VSHT) and Care Experienced Team (CET) network. Network members were asked two questions for consideration prior to the meeting. This document contains the key themes arising from question one: Why did having your specific role within your local authority make a difference to care experienced children and young people during lockdown?

This report provides an insight into the Permanence and Care Excellence (‘PACE’) programme – a Quality Improvement programme underway from 2014-2020 which engaged with local authority partnerships in 27 of the 32 Scottish local authority areas. The programme was aimed at supporting local authority partnerships across Scotland to reduce permanence planning timescales for looked after infants, children and young people using a Quality Improvement framework.

This report sets out the findings from the most comprehensive study of attitudes towards bringing up children from conception to 5 years ever undertaken in the United Kingdom.

The authors of this study conducted research with 234 care experienced university students in England and Wales to explore their experiences of the journey through care.

"Emergency care rules [in the UK] that snatched away safeguards dating back decades have been declared unlawful, in what has been called 'a huge victory for children’s rights,'" according to this article from the Independent.

Children's Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, "is calling for 'a system which recognises each family's unique situation and responds to the need of every child, wherever they are in the country, with the same standards of protection and support,'" says this article from BBC News.

The purpose of this study was to assess trends in inequalities in Children Looked After (CLA) in England between 2004 and 2019, after controlling for unemployment, a marker of recession and risk factor for child maltreatment.