Policies and plans

Every year, our Chief Social Work Officer reports on our performance.

Their report covers the key activities, challenges and opportunities our teams have faced over the year, with detailed information on:

• staffing
• governance
• finance
• service delivery

We work with Clackmannanshire Council and NHS Forth Valley Health Board to deliver a health and social care programme that:

• puts people first
• ensures services are tailored to meet individual needs

We explain how we'll do this in the Clackmannanshire and Stirling Health and Social Care Partnership Strategic Plan.

Under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, we must provide continuing care when:

• we stop looking after a young person
• this young person is at least 16, but is not yet 21

Our Continuing Care Policy explains how we’ll provide this care, including what happens when a young person moves from:

• foster care
• kinship care
• residential care

A corporate parent is an organisation that has special responsibilities for 'care-experienced' young people. This means a young person who:

• is in residential and foster care
• is in kinship care, which means they live with a family member that is not their parent
• is looked after at home
• has left care, is receiving continuing care or is receiving aftercare

Stirling Council is a corporate parent, which means we have a duty to help and support children and young people in our care. In particular, we must:

• assess their needs
• be alert to issues that could have a negative impact on their wellbeing
• help them use our services and support
• promote their interests
• give them opportunities to take part in activities that promote wellbeing, and make sure they can access these activities

In our Corporate Parenting Plan, we explain how we’ll work with our partners to do this.

As part of our responsibilities, we produce an annual report that rounds up the number of times we've triggered 'duty of candour' within our service.

In some circumstances, our Social Work team might decide to place a young person in secure accommodation.

Our Secure Accommodation Procedure includes information on:

• how we do this, including the rules we must follow
• how you can find our more about secure care in Scotland
• Scotland’s secure care standards, which explain what children in or on the edges of secure care should expect from bodies that provide support

The Children's Services Plan explains how Stirling Council, NHS Forth Valley and our community planning partners will work to protect, promote and defend children’s rights.

In particular, it explains how we’ll provide services that are:

• high quality
• seamless
• trauma-responsive
• preventative and close to home, wherever possible

The plan outlines 5 key improvement areas, which are:

• improving children and young people’s mental health and emotional wellbeing
• tackling child poverty
• improving outcomes for children with care experience
• improving outcomes for children with disabilities
• improving outcomes for children in need of protection

All Local Authorities must provide kinship care assistance in such a way as to safeguard, support and promote the wellbeing of a eligible children in line with the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

This policy sets out how Stirling Council will provide that assistance in line with those obligations. Please note this Policy only relates to Non-Looked After children.