Scottish government sets out child protection measures

Child protection professionals in Scotland will benefit from a series of government initiatives announced today as part of a national review of child protection procedures.

The initiatives, announced at a child protection conference in Edinburgh, include the development of new guidance on protecting children with disabilities, as well as the creation of a national risk assessment toolkit for professionals. The government hopes the toolkit will promote common practices and more consistency across agencies.

The Scottish government has also revised the “pink book”, which contains specific child protection guidance for health professionals and pledged to fund more research into the link between mental illness and child protection.

Scotland’s new scrutiny body, the Social Care Social Work Inspection Service (SCSWIS), will take on new inspection arrangements for child protection and children’s services when it takes over social care inspection in April this year.

“These initiatives aim to help strengthen the skills and training of professionals and improve the advice and tools available to them in assessing, managing and minimising the risks faced by some of our most vulnerable children and young people,” said Scottish children’s minister Adam Ingram.

The initiatives announced today build on a review of children’s services in Scotland published last month.

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