Fife chosen as one of Scotland's first Bairns Hoose test sites

Fife has been chosen as one of the first Bairns Hoose test sites in Scotland.

It's one of six locations across the country, with the other test sites in Tayside, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, North Strathclyde and the Outer Hebridies.

Bairns Hoose is a Scottish Government policy to transform the lives of children and young people who are victims of crime.

It will allow them to get all of the help and support they need in one place, including from the local health and social care partnership, council and the police.

Services include child protection, recovery, healthcare, theraputic support and justice.

The test will be used to help blueprint a full pilot in 2025.

Natalie Don, minister for keeping the promise, visited Glenrothes today to make the announcement. 

She says a service like this will stop children being re-traumatised from re-telling their story to multiple people.

She added: “Establishing this network is a major step forward in our aim to transform the care and justice systems for children and young people, many of whom will have been through serious trauma. The creation of these pathfinders will also help us to collectively uphold the rights of children and their families to compassionate and effective support in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

“This is a key action in Keeping the Promise and I’m pleased to have marked Care Experienced Week by meeting representatives of this vital project to hear about their vision for the future as one of the first Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinder Partnerships.”

Bairns' Hoose is supported by £6million in Scottish Government funding.

Dougie Dunlop, Fife partnership's child protection committee independent chair,  said: “All agencies involved in the Children’s Services partnership in Fife are delighted that we have been chosen as a Pathfinder site for the development of a Bairns’ Hoose facility.

“This provides Fife with an opportunity to build on the strengths of our existing partnership arrangements to further develop our approach to supporting children and their families where they may have suffered harm.

“It will bring all key services together within one child centred facility that will make it easier for children and their families to get the support they need in what can be very difficult circumstances.

“It will be a very important addition to our range of responses and will be a significant benefit to the children involved.”

More information is available online.