 The next item of business is a debate on motion 2624, in the name of Mark MacDonald, on adoption and permanence in Scotland. Can I invite any members who are interested in speaking to press the request-to-speak buttons now? If members are ready, I will call on Mark MacDonald to speak to and to move the motion. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Every child deserves the best possible start in life and to grow up feeling and being loved, wanted, safe and secure. All across Scotland, there are thousands of adoptive families providing the love and security that all children deserve. They make a huge difference to the lives of children whose early lives have often been blighted by abuse and neglect, and I want to thank them all for making that difference for their children. Achieving permanence for children through adoption necessarily involves a process of checks and balances in a system that applies a rigorous approach involving a range of agencies and professionals. That system needs to be proportionate and effective and enable the finding of permanent homes for children. In recent years, we have made much progress in improving the system and the process. The starting point is the 2007 Adoption in Children Act. Its measures have resulted in changes that have been an alloyed good. I want to pay tribute to Labour's Hugh Henry, then Minister for Children and Young People and the Liberal Democrats, Robert Brown, the Deputy Minister for Shepherding that legislation through this Parliament. As Robert Brown said in closing the debate at stage 3, the legislation represented not just a milestone but also a start, and that is what has been achieved. Services have been improved and now function within a more coherent framework. The development and use of permanent orders has helped to provide adoptive parents and adopted children with greater security, more and better support, not just in financial terms but also by way of advice, information and training that is now available. Crucially, it enabled opportunities for more people to adopt, including same-sex couples. However, implementing the legislation and the change that is required has not always been as straightforward as we might have hoped. None of us foresaw nor wished for the demise of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering or BAF in July 2015. In order to carry on its work providing advice, training and support to professionals and organisations, the Scottish Government stepped in with funding to enable the creation of Adoption and Fostering Alliance Scotland, or AFA Scotland, and to enable some of the former BAF Scotland employees and members to continue their work. We now provide £100,000 of funding to AFA Scotland and government supports a range of other charities and organisations doing vital work in this area, including St Andrew's Children's Society, which was established over 90 years ago. The society receives over £160,000 a year to maintain and expand Scotland's adoption register, as well as seeking to recruit more adopters and foster carers. Birthlink provides and maintains the adoption contact register for Scotland. Its work is especially important in enabling the reconnection of those who have been adopted with their birth families through its register, containing tens of thousands of people's details. Adoption UK receives £75,500 to promote adoption policy and good practice and to operate the national adoption advice line. Adoption UK has also taken on facilitating the first adoption week Scotland, which is taking place this week, and rightly it esteemed as a celebration of adoption in Scotland. Across Scotland, events are taking place, including an information session for people interested in finding out more about adoption and a practitioners networking event for those working in the sector to meet and hear input about initiatives regarding adoption and permanence, and also a large celebratory event for adoptive families being held at a soft place centre in Edinburgh. I hope that members would use the opportunity of this week to promote those events and also highlight the role played in their communities by adoptive families. This week, we should be doing all that we can to celebrate adoption. With the Children and Young People Act 2014, we have placed Scotland's adoption register on a statutory footing. The register provides opportunities for children to match with families across Scotland if they cannot be matched locally. By requiring all local authorities to use the register, it is playing an important role in reducing delays in children being matched with adoptive families and finding permanent homes. Since its establishment in 2011, the register has facilitated 320 matches with adoptive families. I recently visited the 300th register match and was impressed with the supportive and caring environment in which the child was now developing, thanks to his new family. The progress that is enabled by the register is not by itself enough. The current rate of matches is good, but it is not good enough. There are still far too many children waiting, growing up while waiting for a family and a home. There are not enough prospective adopters to provide those children with a home. If we are to see the step change in children finding permanent and nurturing homes, we need to see adoption numbers grow over the coming years in the hundreds. We can only get there if we start by reaching out through our collective efforts to the dozens of potential adopters willing and able to help out the hardest to place children and young people. We need to ensure that the system continues to evolve to increase opportunities. The register is playing a big part in this, exploring and developing innovative and child-centred ways of promoting adoption. One such example is adoption exchange days, which feature profiles of children waiting for adoption, including photographs, drawings and letters, which help to improve the adopters to gain an insight into those children. Exchange days began in 2012 and have been held throughout Scotland, resulting in 88 matches to date. Another example is adoption activity days, where prospective adopters can meet a range of children waiting to be adopted and to engage with them in a supported, safe and fun environment. So far, there have been three adoption activity days held in Scotland with positive feedback from those who have attended, including through an independent evaluation carried out on the first activity day, which has been published and is available from the Parliament library. The first activity day was held in October 2015 in Prestwick, with seven matches being made as a result. The second in May 2016 in Perth resulted in two children being matched. The third was recently held in Bathgate on 5 November, and so far there have been 14 notes of interest in pursuing adoption further. The 300 matched family that I visited came about with the help of an activity day. The adoptive parents said that without attending the event, there is a strong possibility that they would not have made such a connection and been matched with their son. Having held three such successful events, I can today announce that from April 2017 adoption activity days will become a permanent feature of Scotland's adoption register. Moreover, I am increasing funding to the register to double the number of events from three to six per year. While we are working to embed an approach that puts children at its heart, we also need to use technology to maximise resources and ensure that prospective adoptive parents can play an active and proactive role. I can therefore announce that we are putting into effect measures that enable adopter-led matching through a secure online system called LinkMaker as part of Scotland's adoption register. That allows prospective adopters to look for matches directly, while also enabling social workers, practitioners and agencies to seek placements for children by considering the profiles of prospective adopters. While many registered adoption agencies throughout the UK are now using LinkMaker effectively and securely, adding it to our adoption register will provide consistent access across Scotland. Of course, making the process more child and parent-centred and more efficient will not by itself improve adoption rates. One of the biggest challenges is to reduce the drift and delay that still often permeates parts of the process. Our work to address this is centred on the Permanence and Care Excellence programme, or PACE, which supports improvement projects in 10 local authority areas, with plans to add a further four by March 2017. We funded the Centre of Excellence for Looked After Children, Celsus, since January 2014 to implement PACE. Its Care and Permanence team works closely with individual local authorities and their partners to make improvements to their decision-making systems. By providing intensive system-wide support, the Celsus team and the local authorities they work with put early intervention into action, streamlining decision making processes, creating concurrent planning by all the agencies involved in an adoption process. While local areas are identifying and taking forward the actions right for their locale, which will lead to improvements, we are monitoring and evaluating their impact with a view to sharing what works more widely. I have recently had the opportunity to see first hand some of the outcomes that have been achieved in relation to PACE projects in place in a number of local authorities across Scotland. I think that the work is very encouraging. Moreover, it is an example of where practitioners have been and feel empowered to take the best course of action in order to deliver the best outcomes for the children in their local authority area. The PACE project across Scotland gives us a route map for the future. If we can ensure that all parts of the system are involved and committed to improvement, professionals and practitioners have the tools, skills and knowledge that they need to effect change, that we continue to adapt those tools to meet needs and interests and that, crucially, we increasingly involve prospective adoptive parents and children in the process. We will continue to achieve more adoptions and more permanence for children. I want to conclude where I began by thanking those working and volunteering in the adoption system for the commitment that they bring to this vital work and thanking all those adoptive parents and the ones still to come for giving some of Scotland's most vulnerable children a home, a family, security, care and, crucially, love and hope. While we are grateful to all those who currently adopt children and those who are registered as prospective adopters, I recognise that we have more to do to encourage more people to come forward as prospective adopters. Part of today's debate is about celebrating the work that is on-going currently to provide those safe, stable home environments for children in need of permanence. Part of it is also to serve as a rallying call to others who may be considering adoption to look at the benefits that it can bring not just to the children who are then adopted and achieve permanence but also to the prospective adopters and the benefits that can be brought to them as a result of becoming an adoptive family. I can confirm that we will be accepting the amendment from the Labour Party today. Although I would make just a couple of notes, the one is that we don't operate a priority system based on background or status. Children should be given support based on need. However, I believe that the spirit of the amendment is about ensuring that adopted children get whatever support they need and are not forgotten about at the point at which they leave the care system. In that spirit, I think that we can accept the Labour amendment today. I think that this has the potential to be a very consensual debate. I am glad that we were able to accept the amendment in that respect. There is more to be done to ensure that more children and young people benefit from a secure, permanent and nurturing family environment at the earliest opportunity. As we pause this week to celebrate adoption and the difference it makes, let's resolve to get on and make sure we continue to do just that. I move the motion in my name. I now call on Monica Lennon to speak to and move amendment 2624.1. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate and the motion in Mark McDonald's name regarding the issue of adoption and permanent solutions for looked after children in Scotland. Scotland's first ever national adoption week, which takes place this week, is certainly a cause to celebrate. This is a great opportunity for people who are interested in adoption to find out more about the process, perhaps to engage with and speak to those who have already adopted about their experiences and also for organisations involved in the adoption process to encourage and raise awareness about adoption. I hope that professionals in those interested in adoption will be able to make the most out of this week and that it will be a success that can be repeated in the future. I am pleased that we have been able to allocate this time in the chamber to celebrate national adoption week and to engage in broader discussion about the situation of adoption and long-term care solutions for children in Scotland. For children who are unable to live with their birth parents, we know that adoption and other long-term care solutions lead to the best possible outcomes for that child's development. The statistical evidence and real life stories, which I'm sure many of us are aware of, tell us that adoption can be hugely transformative for the lives of children and their families. The acknowledgement from the minister regarding the success of existing measures on adoption over the past decade, including the Adoption and Children's Scotland Act 2007 and the introduction of the Scotland Adoption Register is welcome. We have made a lot of progress over the last few years in encouraging adoption by making it more accessible to all potential adoptive parents and providing better access to the support that they need to go through the adoption process and making it easier for authorities to place children with prospective adoptive families. Despite that welcome progress, we also know that there is much work still to do to improve the situation of Scotland's looked after and adopted children. The Government's acknowledgement that we must consider doing more to speed up decision making and reduce drift and delay in the system is very welcome. On that basis, on that commitment, the Scottish Labour members will be supporting the Scottish Government's motion and I'm very grateful that our amendment has been accepted and the spirit was intended. When a child can no longer live with their birth parents, it's of course right that authorities exhaust every possible avenue to reunite that child with their family before deciding to put the child forward for adoption. We also must make sure that the rights and needs of the children are always at the centre of decision making and we would welcome moves to expand the use of the parallel process model that is used in Glasgow to explore more than one option for a child at the same time to reduce delay in the system. When speaking recently to foster and adoptive parents, one parent told me the story of a newborn baby that had been placed in their care at just a few days old and was only eventually moved on at the age of three and a half. This type of delay in permanent planning for a child is unacceptable and, wherever possible, should be prevented from occurring for the sake of the wellbeing and development of the child. Certainty and stability is the gold standard and I welcome the reference in the motion regarding the rollout of the Permanent and Care Excellence programme to all local authority areas to ensure that children benefit from a secure environment at the earliest opportunity. Supporting permanent long-term solutions for children's care wherever possible has the best possible results for the child's long-term wellbeing and development. However, the evidence and stories from authorities and professionals involved in the care of looked-after children as well as the experiences of adoptive families tell us also that adoption is not a magical fix. Adoptive families are an incredible asset to Scotland's looked-after children and our society as a whole, but they can also continue to face challenges after a child's adoption. National adoption week should be the opportunity for us to give voice to those challenges and to show support for Scotland's adoptive families and the continuing challenges that they can face. The reality of adoption in Scotland is not that we know the mythical and old-fashioned image of an unwanted newborn baby being taken in and supposedly rescued by a usually affluent couple. Most children are adopted from care and adoptive families in Scotland are parenting some of Scotland's most vulnerable children, a significant proportion of whom are suffering from the long-term effects of developmental trauma caused by neglect or abuse. Research from Adoption UK shows that one in four adoptive families are at risk of breaking down because of the lack of available support. This has led organisations like Scottish Adoption and Adoption UK to back the campaign a fair deal for adoptive families in Scotland, which calls for the expansion of support to every adoptive family who needs it and priorities support to be given to adopted children who need additional support in school and in child and adolescent mental health services. I hope that the minister and colleagues right across the chamber will today support the amendment in my name, which deals with some of the issues and acknowledges the needs for the changes to be made in relation to the support available to adopted children and their families. A child with developmental trauma who is adopted on a Friday does not suddenly no longer require the support that they were receiving as I looked after child come the Monday and yet in many cases adoptive families describe hitting a wall when it comes to accessing support and occasions when services and authorities are understanding for the first few months or years after adoption and then that understanding slowly slips away. Just this week, I was made aware of a case of a single adoptive parent who lives in Bellshill in Lanarkshire in the region I represent who was matched for adoption with a child with a diagnosed learning disability and developmental difficulties. This child was termed as hard to place because of their needs and the adopter had to secure an adoption allowance from the placing local authority. A circumstances meant that she would need to give up work to meet the needs of her child during the first few years of placement. Once a child was placed with her, they began to meet developmental stages that previously thought to be beyond their abilities, making it clear that their experience of early neglect had been partly to blame for their delay. With the support of adoption allowance enabling the parent to meet the child's needs, the outcome met was life changing for them. The parent is now meeting the challenge of getting the right support in place for their child and their school placement. They have been thriving at nursery and the environment there and she is keen that the transition to primary school does not cause any regression in her child's development. Ensuring the right support in schools is in place for adopted children is vitally important and I therefore welcome moves from the adoption organisations like Adoption UK to work with the Association of Head Teachers and Deputies in Scotland to make all schools attachment aware. Adoptive families can often find education to be one of the biggest challenges, with the worst case scenarios resulting in turning to home education as the best solution for their child, due to not having the child's needs met by their teachers. The attachment aware campaign is a welcome action and I hope it is something that more schools and local authorities can get behind. There are, of course, many examples of good practice across Scotland when it comes to support for adoptive families. For instance, schools in East Lothian are currently taking part in a project through the Education Attainment Fund, which focuses on improving the relationship between teachers and children who might have attachment issues, particularly those who are adopted. The project aims at improving communication using one personal folder to ensure that information is not lost in changes between teachers and support staff and aims to introduce attachment ambassadors to each school who can act as a single point of contact and support to families who require it. We can learn so much from those models of good practice and should be striving to ensure that access to support is comprehensively available across the country, not just in patchy areas. The vital role of local authorities in caring for looked after children and placing children with adoptive families cannot be underestimated. They need to be properly resourced to carry out the role. It is important that we use all the available powers of this Parliament to ensure that social work departments and local authorities right across the country have the resources that they need to look after Scotland's children. Because looked after children are Scotland's children, it is all our responsibility to ensure the best life chances for children in care and ensuring that our system of placing children with permanent adoptive families is robust and supportive as part of that responsibility. Adoptive children and their families should be able to receive the support that they need to thrive. I hope that colleagues across the chamber will be able to support that sentiment today. I move the amendments in my name. I welcome the motion in the name of the minister and the amendment by the Labour and the Conservatives will be supporting both of them today. As we have heard today, this week is Adopting UK, our sponsored adoption week, and we welcome and support its aims off this week going forward. There are 14,440 looked after children in Scotland today. Last year, 500 children were adopted, so clearly the gap is still between those who are looking perhaps for adoption and those who are being adopted is still large. We have still a long way to go in Scotland to reach and help the most vulnerable. However, we recognise that this Government and previous Governments have tried to do this and we welcome the moves that have happened in the past and look forward to new initiatives coming forward in the future. We need to encourage a diversity of those who are looking to adopt different types of backgrounds, different types of couples, different types of individuals who will be willing to put themselves for adoption. We need to get rid of some of the myths about what you have to be or who you have to be or what type of person you require to be to go ahead and adopt. I hope that this week, from what has gone out in the media and what is happening within this chamber, we will see a positive message that yes, adoption can be hard but it is fulfilling and helpful and something that we want to encourage families and individuals to think about. I welcome what is happening in regard to Scotland's adoption register. I pay credit to the Government for that. I pay credit that the system is now online, that local authorities can log into it and it has given a much more flexible system. I think that adoption days are proving very successful where prospective parents can go and meet social workers and find out at least the bare bones about children looking to be adopted. I think that there is an issue at that point. It was interesting that I was talking to a constituent here in Edinburgh who went along just a few months ago, a while ago now, to one of these days. They were matched with a child out of that but they are still awaiting to adopt because the process has taken so long. I think that we have moved a long way in regard to the legal process but it is still complicated, consuming and often takes from matching and approval to adoption a very long period of time. I would welcome a Government to look at whether we can speed up that legislation and whether we can do things to help both the birth family and the adopting family to get the process. Mark McDonald. I am grateful to Jeremy Balfour for highlighting the point. Obviously I cannot comment on the individual case in the chamber that he cites but if he wishes to write to me with the details if he has not already done so I will be more than happy to look into that and see what the issues are and whether it is something that applies particularly to that case or whether it is something within the system that we perhaps need to give some consideration to. Jeremy Balfour. I think that we just need to look at sometimes meetings are arranged by social work and we do not fit in to the family or the cancer that is short noticed. Yes, we need to look at the best interests of the child and we need to keep the process moving forward but we also have to remember how hard it is for the birth mother, the birth family sometimes to give up their children and perhaps we also need to look at what support we need to give them as they go through that process as well. Once the adoption process has happened there are many issues that families will face. We know roughly a third of the adoption cases will go very smoothly and well. A third will be rocky but they will come through that and a third unfortunately will often end up with further issues and difficult issues in those. Clearly the issue that has been highlighted already in regard to attachment is important. Children, young children often face attachment issues whether they are adopted or not having stood outside a playground at a P1 for the last four months you can see that but often adopted children do have greater attachment issues and I think that we need to encourage, as has already been said, head teachers, local authorities to put in the appropriate resources so that teachers can be aware of these issues and how to deal with these issues. We need to look at secondary schools at how teenagers start to become more aware of themselves start to ask questions. Again that happens with any teenager but a teenager that has been adopted will have questions about where have I come from? What was my birth mother like? Where do I belong? Will I turn out like my birth parents? These are good questions and fair questions and we need to make sure that the appropriate support is given to children as they go through that. We also have to acknowledge that adoption can lead to educational issues as well. Yes, we are making progress but 14 per cent of looked after school leavers still receive no qualifications in our schools. That figure is simply too high. We need to work to make sure that those that come through the system that have been adopted are given the education that meets their needs and the support that they require. We are talking about the most vulnerable in our society but the good news is that adoption does work, that children do help. Let me quote from adoption UK a lady in her older years wrote back and said what people seem to not understand is that a family does not have to be blood, loyalty, faith, kindness or what makes a family and that is why we can make this true in thousands of life. Throughout my life I have learned this very important lesson that love is the most precious thing in the world to me. That is what we want to say to every child within our society today, that love is the most important thing. We need to do that by supporting the parents who go forward with the adoption process. We need to do that by supporting the families that put themselves forward. We need to make sure that local authorities, schools, social work and national legislation are all working towards that. I am happy to support the motion in the name of the Government. We now move to the open speeches. I have some time in hand so time can be given for interventions. Around six minutes, please. Jenny Gilruth is followed by Liz Smith. I have friends who have adopted children themselves. It is one of the most selfless acts that any human being can commit to do. Taking on the legal responsibility as a parent, providing a child with a loving home and a secure environment in which to grow up. I note Labour's amendment today in the name of Monica Lennon, in particular the cognisance given to the provision of mental health services for adopted children via their education. I am sure that members will already be tired and hear of my teacher rhetoric, but nonetheless it is worth emphasising today again the centrality of health and wellbeing to curriculum for excellence. That is one of the eight core curriculum areas. In addition to the overall importance that it has as underpinned by the getting it right for every child framework. I know that Monica Lennon has been a passionate advocate for how we work to improve and support mental health education. Indeed, I welcome to her contribution during my members' debate on the topic in September. Children who have been adopted often experience trauma and therefore a recognition that their mental health needs be met in parity with their peers is certainly welcomed from those benches. As the minister stated in his opening speech, the Scottish Government set up the Scotland's adoption register in 2011, and today over 300 families nationally have children have been matched through Scotland's adoption register. Going forward, it is imperative that the Government work to deliver permanence more quickly for looked after children and young people. I am delighted to hear the minister today commit to do exactly that. Permanence, however, isn't just about adoption. It can include a supported return to a child's birth parents where that is the most appropriate way to support them. For vulnerable children, permanence is of vital importance. Those are the children who are often marginalised before they even reach the school gates, who live in chaotic households who may never have known love. Those are the children whose schools traditionally set home because they didn't have a tie-on, who teachers like me told off for not bringing a pencil to school. Those are the children who are far too often in the system, whether that be care or education, failed. In 2014-15, almost three quarters of looked-after school leavers were aged 16 and over, compared to over a quarter of school leavers generally. 35 per cent of looked-after children leave school with one or more qualification at SQF level 5 compared to 85 per cent of all people generally. The rate of exclusions among looked-after children is also much higher than in the general school population, although it should be said that the figure is improving generally. Nonetheless, the figure shows that being able to achieve early permanence is a significant indicator when it comes to attainment and achievement. Permanence can include remaining at home through a permanence order, a kinship care order, or via adoption itself. The legal certainty that permanence brings often cements a home which loves and cares for the child in question. Last December, the Government announced a strengthening of the partnership with Celsus, or the Centre for Excellence, for looked-after children, to offer the Permanence and Care Excellence programme. In March of this year, the Government committed to fund Celsus with more than £580,000 a year to support the improvements for helping looked-after children to find a permanent home. That has now allowed for a further six new advisers to be appointed to work on pace and to provide support to local authorities. Today's motion supports the roll-out of the PACE programme so that more children benefit from the secure, permanent and nurturing family environment at the earliest opportunity. Fife is the third biggest population of looked-after children of any local authority in Scotland. I met the Celsus last month and I know that they are already proactively engaged across the authority to support improvement and partnership working with the Scottish Government. The Government published its looked-after children and young people strategy in November last year which builds on existing improvements and calls on the sector to commit to improvement. The strategy priorities include support for families early to prevent children from becoming looked-after through early engagement. Help for children to have a safe, secure, nurturing and permanent home through early permanence and making sure that every child receives the best care and support to improving the quality of their care. It should also be said that the picture is not one of doom and gloom for Scotland's looked-after children, but rather it is one of improvement. The proportion of looked-after children with at least one qualification at SCQF level 5 increased from 15 per cent to 35 per cent. The proportion of looked-after children in positive destination has also increased from 40 per cent in 2009 to 69 per cent last year. In closing, I would like to encourage members to read the blog by Fiona Aitken on the Celsus website which looks to dispel some of the myths around adoption. It is not all about babies. The people I know who have adopted did not do so with young infants. They nonetheless gave the children that they adopted, the love, support and the nurture which those children would not or could not have received from their biological parents. No adoption journey is the same, but for everyone involved, adoption is ultimately about family, compassion, hope, happiness and acceptance. Today's motion reflects the importance of all of these vital aspects in the adoption process. Liz Smith, to be followed by Fulton MacGregor. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I think that this has been a very good debate and it's very good that it's taking place in a very special week. The four preceding speeches have all been excellent and very considered. I think that that's just a measure of how important this debate actually is. The minister mentioned in his opening remarks about two previous ministers, Hugh Henry and Robert Brown. I think that we do owe a lot to them, but it's reminded me just how long this issue has actually taxed, particularly the education committee of this Parliament. Today's motion and amendment make clear the nature of a very consensual approach rightly so, but, as the minister said, that should not encourage any complacency because it remains abundantly clear that a child's life chances are largely dictated by the early years of his or her life and, as such, it is just so crucial that we establish that permanency and consistency that has been spoken about in the previous speeches. Throughout the study of the previous education committee, the statistics could hardly be more blunt. Looked after children have the odds stacked against them from the start with poor academic attainment and less chance of progressing towards a positive destination in education and work. It was a deep-rooted problem that the education committee looked at, which has yet not been fully tackled. I think that all of us in this chamber have a duty to ensure that changes are forthcoming because it simply isn't good enough that more than one in 10 young people living care in Scotland experience some form of homelessness within two years. Jeremy Balfour has made very clear that we do acknowledge and complement the Scottish Government on the progress that has been made, but we welcome further moves from the Scottish Government to speed up the adoption process and allow more placements for exactly the reason that Jeremy Balfour has laid out. The 2011 report by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration showed that it takes on average two years of adoption from the first involvement with state services. In some extreme cases, it can take up to 10 years. The minister is right to say that there has been good progress, but as his intervention on Jeremy Balfour indicated, there are issues that, perhaps with specific cases, could provide some learning experiences not just for the Scottish Government but for all of us as to how we go forward. It is important that that adoption process should become as simple as is possible with the limits of checking and assessing and the compatibility of children with the parents. Perhaps a measure that can be learned from some other Governments in this respect. In order to achieve that permanent adoption placements, we require sufficient stock of adopters across Scotland on the adoption register. Currently, 800 foster families are required to fulfil the pressures on that system. I noted what Robin Duncan, manager of Scotland's adoption register, pointed out in terms of the work that has to be done there in order to ensure that we have enough adoptive families in Scotland for all the children who need placements. He also noted that we are particularly struggling sometimes to find families for children who are as Jenny Gilruth has rightly said, just that little bit older and perhaps have more complicated needs and perhaps some greater learning difficulties. Many adoption agencies are carrying out recruitment campaigns to attract new adopters, and they should rightly be warmly congratulated on the efforts that they have taken to raise the profile of adoption. I hope that this week and indeed this debate can further that process. We believe that that work can be helped perhaps by the creation of an adoption czar that can be a voluntary post supported by small logistics and campaign and office budget appointed by Scottish ministers and tasked with co-ordinating and encouraging efforts to raise the profile of adoption in Scotland, so we look forward to moves in that direction. Permanence is so vital for a look to after children. Since 2010, more children have been in placements that lasted over five years, and that's very welcome. However, for shorter term placements, the length of care times have remained more or less the same. 22 per cent of adoption placements were less than six months in duration, which can have obviously a significant impact on the emotional and intellectual development of children, particularly when it comes to narrowing the attainment gap. We all know that when we try to narrow that gap, it is clear that looked after children are underperforming academically and, as I say, the previous education committee in this Parliament spent a very great deal of time under the stewardship of the previous chairman to look at exactly why this is and what it is that we have to drill down on to. I think that Stuart Maxwell has some good suggestions to make. Although those figures are showing some signs of improvement, I think that they remain significantly worse than the average when it comes to all school leavers. That's obviously an issue of very considerable concern as youngsters want to move on to college or university or into the world of work. I would urge the minister perhaps to concentrate some effort on looking at what we have to do to help that process, because I think that it would be a very difficult situation if we allowed youngsters to go out into the world without perhaps the support that they have even after they've come through perhaps a difficult time in their life. Can I finish my own remarks on saying that this debate is hugely significant? It has been a long time in this Parliament where it's been a focus but I think that we do welcome every effort that's being made by the Scottish Government just now to hasten the process of the progress that we all know and we all want to achieve when it comes to supporting our youngsters and ensuring that they have really the best start in life but also the crucial aspect of a supportive family around them and the trust that that engenders about the way that they can see their future so we are very happy both to support the motion and the amendment. Have Fulton MacGregor to be followed by Iain Gray? Thank you, Presiding Officer. It gives me great pleasure in speaking this debate. This is an area that I have some experience in and I hope to use that to contribute to a positive cross-chamber discussion although I have to say that based on what I've heard so far I think that the contributions have been excellent and much of what I'll be saying will be echoing what other speakers have said. I'll also be following in the footsteps of Jenny Gilruth and continuing to talk about my experience before becoming an MSP we are told that eventually you do forget but we'll see. I spent eight years working with children and young people as a social worker much of this in the front line of child protection often I had to manage situations where children had to be looked after away from home usually with family members and other times with temporary foster carers and trust me when I say there are very few things more emotionally challenging than when assessing if a child should remain at home or not many times children who are removed is of course what everyone wants however other times concerns and dangers are too great for this to happen and many children remain looked after and accommodated and that means that their care and support as others have said is reviewed regularly by their local authority it has been well documented in this discussion and in others that the outcomes for children who are looked after and accommodated are not always what we would want looked after children can often fear worse in terms of a number of outcomes including education health and involvement in the criminal justice system and that is why I think that everyone in this chamber will fully welcome the First Minister's recent announcement of a route and branch review of the care system to deliver better outcomes for those that we are looking after as a nation one of the ways that outcomes can be improved is through deciding on permanency at an earlier stage which of course includes adoption as well as permanent orders which were introduced in the 2007 act that demonstrated that when sound, informed and speedy decisions are made about where a child should live the child is more likely to be settled, happy and the outcomes and life chances are improved and that is why I would agree with Monica Lennon's amendment part of the amendment where she describes adoption and permanency as having transformative benefits I thought that was a very good phrase unfortunately, as has been said this process to permanency can often take a long time and there are usually good reasons for this and such of those are as Jeremy Balfour mentioned in his speech giving the parents every chance to get things right and assessing other prospective family members such as grandparents can I just say that I think that is one of the biggest challenges that social workers and others involved in the permanency arrangements face because many times you do have parents who respond well initially and then unfortunately it goes the other way at a later date but I think that everybody that I have ever known in social work would want to give the parents every opportunity to make sure that they get things right but inevitably in doing that there has to be time given so that would be one of the reasons that permanency can often take a bit longer issues can also arise with the assessment of prospective carers as come up as well the mountains of paperwork referred to in social work as the forum Fs and the forum Es some people may be familiar with them and there is often deep consideration as to whether children should be placed with their siblings and if not what contact arrangements might be best for them going forward and again that can be a very very complicated process because you can have one child who has got one set of needs with another and permanent environments need to be taken into account as well so there's a lot of things to be taken into account in that respect and of course most importantly taken into account the views of the child often when a child is adopted they may be too young to contribute fully or at least verbally however when a child is older a permanent disorderist's view should be at the centre of any decision and I'm sure that that is almost always the case I'm sure that everyone in this chamber recognises these challenges that I've outlined and understand that moving to permanency and adoption is far from a simple and straightforward process and that's why I fully welcome the adoption week and the Scottish Government's commitment to this area as demonstrated in today's motion by the minister it's important that we use this focus to make progress in this area and what must be done to speed up the process of prospective adoptive parents and foster carers going through the checks that have been approved or rejected as quickly as possible and I think that the motion and the amendment have recognised that and the steps that we are taking as a Parliament and a country we should recognise that the excellent steps have been taken and in 2015-16 as has been mentioned by a couple of other speakers over 300 in children were adopted from care in Scotland and on top of that the Scotland's adoption register moving on line giving social workers and adopters a more immediate and direct involvement in the process and bringing down delays I took the privilege of speaking to an ex-children and family colleague who's now in the family and placement and adoption team just yesterday I know that I was speaking in this debate I took the opportunity to speak to her about that move and I know that she and her colleagues are very excited about that and they believe as well that that will be another significant move forward in this area of work On the issue of wider permanence I welcome the increased funding from the Scottish Government in this area with the commitment of £580,000 to support improvements in the process and helping looked after children find a permanent home and as I made mention to earlier the commitment of the Government to making progress in this area was made clear when the First Minister outlined in the programme for government priorities for this session of Parliament The First Minister, as we've heard has confirmed the Scottish Government will implement the getting it right for looked after children's strategy in full by continuing the national roll-out of PACE programme with aim to have it in all local authorities or the majority should I say by the spring the change to adopt a lead matching from next autumn will also see vast improvements in the system again leading to children being placed with the family much quicker than would previously have been possible and as I've mentioned by others as well improving outcomes is also dependent on the right support being in place to help a child deal with their circumstances emotionally many therapists now seek to do this work involving the permanent carers and actually advise against starting it while in temporary care as much of the focus is around building the bonds of attachment to quote the title of one relatively famous book something that many of us take for granted for ourselves and for our own children but often are looked after children have not had this is yet another example of how the progress made by this Government and this Parliament as a whole will directly benefit this group of young people so Presiding Officer to conclude having witnessed firsthand how happy a child and adoptive parents can be when they start their family life together I am so pleased that this Government is making this area a key focus of its early agenda and I look forward to working with the Scottish Government to ensure that children and adoptive parents thank you Iain Gray to be followed by Rona Mackay Thank you very much Presiding Officer most speakers have commented I think on how consensual and positive this afternoon's debate has been too often we tend to use that as if I think for dull but I think I think that's not the case today I think the key today is that today's debate and topic much goes to the heart of some pretty profound and fundamental human needs and desires common to us all the importance of nurturing and parenting as adults and the need for security, love and attachment to a parent and childhood are really at the emotional core of the human condition and in modern days and most speakers have mentioned this attachment theory has researched and described the importance of all this in a very formal way but it's something I think we all know and feel pretty instinctively to but that doesn't mean that we all benefit from it or that we get it right and far too many children in Scotland today for one reason or another are denied that unconditional love of a parent or parents in their birth family we've talked often recently of the importance of corporate parenting for those looked after children and we are beginning I think to accept and understand what is meant by the obligations of that role the First Minister herself has promised to take her role as corporate parent seriously and to seek to improve the ways in which we discharge that obligation and that is very very welcome but today's debate begins with the knowledge I think that the permanence of a placement with a family is a better outcome and for many if not all children an adoptive parent is going to be so much better than a corporate parent no matter how good or well meaning they might be it is not necessarily an easier outcome though it's certainly my view that trying to be a good parent is perhaps the hardest thing that most of us ever try to do and for children too living with parents even in the love and security of the family can be at times a challenge how much more so then for adoptive parents and adopted children apart from anything else a child leaving care for adoption is almost certainly already profoundly hurt and hurting after all thankfully we no longer see children given up for adoption for example simply because they were born illegitimately but that means an adoption UK tells us that it means the majority of children who are adopted suffered from abuse or neglect prior to care and adoption adoption UK say that the likelihood of children who are adopted not being affected by prenatal domestic abuse substance abuse or alcohol abuse is slim indeed Jenny Gilruth made the point that adoption is not just about babies and indeed the average age of adoption is around two and that means that a child who has lived the first two years or more of their life facing abuse and neglect will almost certainly suffer from attachment disorder having failed to form normal attachments in their early years instead having learned a lack of basic trust through abuse and separation from those who should have provided care. How could it be otherwise that lack of trust has been learned by direct experience and the reality of their life so if parenting is hard then adoption adoptive parenting must be harder still and Jeremy Balfour was right to say that if there are 14,000 or more looked after children and we place only 500 children a year and only half of that 500 in stranger placements then that does show that we have a very long way to go to meet the need. The 2007 review and legislation which followed that tried to help with that I think and the minister has acknowledged that as streamlined the process it led to the introduction later of the adoption register and the act recognised importantly for the first time that families come in many diverse shapes and sizes and they are all able to provide the kind of love and care that we want for adopted children. It opened the doors to many more people becoming adoptive parents who had previously been excluded. The adoption activity days which the minister talked about is one of the latest ways in which we can try to move towards closing that gap between need and what is provided. Yet spice figures do show that that figure of placements has remained unchanged since 2011 so we have to acknowledge that progress has been slow and Dr Robinson's evaluation of the adoption activity day gives a snapshot of 149 children seeking a placement but only 61 families so the gap is there and we do have much work to do so the government is to be congratulated on their efforts on adoption week and the motion of exchange days and activity days and their efforts to try to raise the numbers of successful adoptions. That is only half the story though because adoption UK also tell us that one in four adoptive families are at risk of breaking down due to a lack of post adoption support. They say families are desperate for help help with parenting and support for children facing the challenges of moving on in early life trauma. I guess in the same way as one does not stop becoming a parent when your children become parents themselves but you take on a new and different role of being a grandparent we as corporate parents do not stop being corporate parents when a child is adopted we still have a role and an obligation though it may be different and I am delighted that in my constituency we have a project in North Berwick cluster schools trying to find ways to improve the support adopted children get from teachers and from schools but that as Monica Lennon said is something that all adoptive families and adopted children should be able to expect wherever they go to school as is additional support from other children's services not least CAMHS. The minister spoke of starts and milestones on this critical journey that additional support for adoptive families has to be part of that journey and that is what Labour's amendment this evening makes clear and I'm pleased that the minister will be able to accept the amendment this evening. Rona Mackay, followed by Alison Johnstone Thank you, Presiding Officer I'd like to start my contribution to the debate today on a happy note Two close friends of mine who are in their same sex marriage have just gone through the adoption process and are hoping to welcome their new arrival to their home within the next few months. Everyone who knows them are in no doubt that they will make fabulous parents and their child will grow up in a household of love and safety. In my view, this indicates two things. Firstly, that we've moved on vastly as a society from the days when it was thought that only the traditional nuclear family model would work as a framework for adoption or permanence. Secondly, the single most important thing is that children are brought up in a safe, happy and loving home with parents who nurture them and give them the tools to be well rounded decent adults. Presiding Officer, like everyone in the debate today I welcome the first ever Adoption Week Scotland which is taking place this week. The Scottish Government's aim is for Scotland to be the best place in the world for children to grow up regardless of their background or what circumstances they're born into. Make no mistake, the ideal place for children to grow up is at home with their natural parents but, as we all know, for many children and for many different reasons this is not always possible. One of the saddest things I experienced during my years as a children's panel member was witnessing a mother with an addiction problem read out a letter of thanks to her toddler son's foster mother who was sitting next to her. With tears streaming down her face she spoke of her gratitude that someone had offered her little boy the chance of a better life and that she knew she could not give him. Everyone in the room could see that that child was thriving due to being nurtured in a family home. That's why it's vital that there are effective confident professionals who can support children into alternative care placements whether through adoption or a permanent order. As the minister outlined more than 300 families have now adopted children through Scotland's adoption register but sadly there are more than twice as many children on the register needing a family than prospective adopters offering one. This month's Scotland's adoption register has moved to an online system which gives adopters and social workers direct involvement faster and it will reduce delays and find the best possible matches between children and families. Presiding officer deciding to adopt is a life changing event and is never a decision taken lightly. It can be a long and sometimes stressful process for prospective adopters who put through rigorous checks and stringent suitability tests. That is simply because we have to get it right for every child. The Scottish Government is constantly striving to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the adoption and permanent order process including the introduction of adopter-led matching this year as has been previously mentioned. We are providing hands on expert support to local authorities to help children to achieve permanence through the permanence and care excellent programme known as PACE. It brings local authority agencies and professionals the children's hearing system and health services together to improve and speed up processes. Presiding officer, the agency Scottish adoption has this year been awarded top marks across the board by the care inspectorate and this is just one of the many valued agencies and volunteers supporting people through the adoption process. A fitting way to conclude would be to listen to the experience of one adoptive parent who said, with the support of Scottish adoption we have been able to parent one child therapeutically to help him develop from an anxious frightened child to a loving, caring, funny and charming young man. He is still only very young but thanks to the support that we have received we now realise that we as parents have what it takes to support him on his journey to greatness. Adoption has been far more challenging than we could ever have realised when sitting in the room at that first information meeting but by far is the best thing that we could ever have done in our lives. Presiding officer, this is proof if it were ever needed that the rewards outweigh any challenges and that loving and nurturing a child whether biological or not is beyond compare. I am happy to support this motion and the Labour amendment. Alison Johnstone, followed by Tavish Scott. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I too will be supporting both the Government's motion and the Labour amendment at decision time this evening. It's true this afternoon that we are enjoying a consensual debate and rightly so and I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to that debate. To truly meet our goal of providing the best start in life for every child we must ensure our looked after children have a smooth and quick journey into a stable and nurturing family environment. I welcome the opportunity that the first adoption week Scotland brings us to raise awareness of the needs of looked after children and the positive life changing opportunity that becoming an adoptive parent can be. However, we know that getting children into permanent adoption or long-term fostering placements is no simple task. Lack of information on a child's individual journey through the care system can be a barrier to finding that permanent home and carers must be fully supported and resourced to provide that loving home. We have seen success in lowering the numbers of looked after children over the last three years. However, the percentage of those children and young people needing to be accommodated in care placements outside of their family home has risen by 18 per cent over the past five years. Often, children and young people in this position face a long and uncertain process with multiple placements with foster carers or in residential homes. As noted by Strath Clyde's University Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children, the clock on a child's childhood never stops ticking. It is our responsibility to ensure that decisions on permanent homes can be made as quickly and effectively as possible so that young people can begin to build the normal everyday childhood experiences that will support them into their adult lives that will offer them memories and help develop resilience. That is why I too welcome the roll-out of the PACE programme across Scotland by improving local authorities' ability to make informed decisions about a child's route to a permanent home through better data recording and information sharing. More looked after children can be settled quickly with minimum disruption to their lives. Where PACE has been trialled in Aberdeenshire there has been marked reductions in decision making times. In 2013 to 2014 the majority of decisions took over 20 weeks to be determined but from April 2015 to April of this year all of the decisions have taken place in 20 weeks. That is a very positive difference and it is also crucial that once children have been adopted or placed in long-term foster care adequate support services are in place for their families and carers. Iain Gray made this point very well. The Scottish Greens support calls by the fostering network for a national minimum fostering allowance ending the disparity in financial support currently provided by local authorities. Edinburgh council PACE foster carers a standard allowance off of just over £100 a week but that varies across Scotland with allowances ranging from £77 to £205 per week. The Welsh Government for example have a national minimum allowance to end this discrepancy in fostering allowances and I'd be grateful for the minister's comments on this issue when summing up. I raised when a councillor in Edinburgh from 2007 to 11 if Edinburgh's allowances are mid-range yet it's housing costs are some of the highest in the country that financial cost can be a barrier to many people who would be very interested in fostering or perhaps adopting but it's not only foster, it's not only financial barriers that exist. The myths that Jeremy Balfour referred to we have to really expose these myths and take positive action and I'm pleased that is occurring. There's a growing awareness that people from all walks of life with all sorts of homes and all sorts of jobs can provide the homes that looked after children need. There's positive action happening too when Edinburgh leisure have a looked after and active membership providing free swimming, gym and fitness classes to look after children and their carers supporting adoptive families not only ensures that young people have a stable place in life but supports the wider community that the child is part of by reducing disruption in school and behavioural problems that could impact their classmates. I'm sure that you all have received a great deal of correspondence this week but I've been contacted by adoptive parents living in the Lothian region ahead of this afternoon's debate and they've requested that the Scottish Government provide a support package similar to that received by adoptive parents in England and one of their key asks is that their child's teachers are understanding of their additional needs and have the confidence, the support and the capacity to provide extra learning support as required because we know that children who've been looked after are more likely to be excluded from school more likely to leave education at the earliest opportunity and teachers have a crucial role to play in providing children's confidence to do well in school. Since the beginning of this session my parliamentary green colleague Ross Greer has been highlighting the falling numbers of additional support for learning teachers in our school and the crucial role they play in closing the attainment gap and Liz Smith referred to that attainment gap in her speech so this is an area of concern. I note with concern too that the number of looked after children entering further and higher education fell last year and while the reasons behind this have yet to be drawn out the role of teachers in supporting children to take those first steps beyond school cannot be underestimated. A report by the Rease Centre on the educational progress of looked after children in England highlighted the importance of teachers as role models for young people helping them to build skills and aspirations for their adulthood and having a disrupted start in life to prevent our young people aiming for success in their future and additional support for learning staff can be a vital source of encouragement encouraging young people to aim high. The Celebrating Success report commissioned by the Scottish Government in 2006 spoke to 30 looked after children and found that those who had gone on to achieve success in adulthood had been encouraged to have high expectations by their teachers. We all appreciate the decisions that have been well informed and made without unnecessary delay and I welcome the roll-out of pace to give the positive results for looked after children that we all hope for. In summary, I too thank all those who provide a secure, stable and nurturing home for children and young people who have suffered neglect and trauma. Finding that right fit can be very challenging and even when we found that fit many challenges remain and on-going support for the whole family is essential. I would ask that we come back to this issue on a regular basis. As corporate parents, we have a responsibility to look after our youngest and most vulnerable citizens. Tavish Scott, to be followed by Gillian Martin. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Everything that needs to be said has already been said but since no one was listening everything needs to be said again which actually strikes me as a very unfair quote to use in a debate like this and I thought that that was my way of doing the Yngre when we have consensual debates and sometimes everyone thinks they're dull. Actually, I've learned a lot by listening to a variety of members across the chamber this afternoon but I did want to thank Mark McDonald in his opening remarks for his observations about Hugh Henry and Robert Brown by the powers of Facebook. I let Robert Brown know that he'd been commended in a debate by an SNP Minister for the work that he'd done in a previous ministerial life and he was suitably impressed. Mark McDonald will probably get a Christmas card this year one of many, I know it out but I do want to reflect and listen to that too that there was an awful lot of work that's gone into this area over much time involving many politicians of many different hues in a genuine attempt stronger and more positive ways forward in a challenging area of public policy. We've all, as others have said, got friends and family who have adopted our adopted parents or have been through the adoption process and I'm going to take this opportunity to say hello to my first cousin Will and his partner and their fantastic daughter Monique. Although they do live in Canada so I'm not quite sure it's that far, I hope not in many ways but they did tell me the last time I was in Canada staying with the family what that adoption process was like and I wish I'd taken a few notes because it might have been useful today. I take the minister's point that he made in his opening remarks about adoption activity days and the range of activities that have been introduced they strike me as constructive sensible and indeed hopefully have the ability to inspire many because adoption week across Scotland and this debate are important signals and indeed symbols but Parliament must challenge signals and make the measures that have been to some extent talked about today very tangible for children and young people desperately in need of our help. As others have said, adoption provides a stable family life for children who for whatever reason would not necessarily have that life for parents who cannot or choose not to have children themselves adoption is a way of building that loving family and for the majority of those families adoption is successful and helps children to thrive as any parent knows raising a child always has its challenges in cases of adoption these challenges can be even more difficult to overcome given the support services or rather the lack of support services that members have mentioned this afternoon available once the formal adoption papers have signed and I take the minister's point that he's reflecting on that and there's clearly more that needs to be done and some of that was reflected in Monica Lennon's speech and indeed in the Labour amendment research illustrates that up to a quarter of adoptions are at risk of breaking down which by any standards must be pretty worrying statistic and in Scotland here that equates to some 125 children each year that's 125 children that are returning to the care system for older children it is a system that they thought they had left forever so we must certainly seek to understand why that is and take the necessary actions to challenge that worrying case adoption breakdowns can of course be caused by a variety of matters adoption UK has noted that its members are in desperate need of those support services ranging from guidance for parents to more help for children within schools if these services are not being provided we need to ask whether we are content to let some of our most vulnerable children move through life without the support they need simply because they have ceased to be the responsibility of the state and that cannot be right where support is available there is a view from parents and sadly the authorities that to ask for that support is at times a sign of weakness one family sought support for one of their children many years after the adoption had been finalised only to be told that if they took the request further all three of their children would be temporarily taken from them that adoption not unsurprisingly subsequently broke down so adoptive parents must be given the assurances that seeking help is not in any way a sign of being a bad parent after all we all do it in every walk of life on the contrary it signifies that they are trying to do the best for their child often families adopt without a full picture after all of the child's background no matter how good all the reports can be so coping with unknown challenges can and is of course immensely difficult and we need to reflect on that in how these matters are taken forward we know that looked after children tend to leave school earlier and with fewer qualifications a point that Alison Johnson has just made teachers are very alive to the importance of monitoring that attainment of looked after children and this is right however teachers may not always be aware when a pupil is from an adoptive background and we do need to strike the balance here there can be fewer adoptive parents who wish to see their child continually monitored and treated differently from their classmates to say nothing of the child themselves that would undo much of the work to create a normal family life but we need to make sure that adopted children do not slip through any unenforced cracks providing guidance through teacher training and professional development programmes for qualified teachers could start to address this challenge children spend upwards of 30 hours a week in school so it cannot be right that the needs of adopted children are not formally assessed and taken into account by their teachers adoption UK's pilot project in North Berwick that's already been mentioned includes providing attainment training and support staff and if we are going to create a better learning environment for adopted children the people we trust to teach them must be properly equipped to do their job I am conscious as others of the weight of requests we make of teachers I'm reading papers for tomorrow's education committee and it is up to here with teachers making representations as I'm sure Liz Smith has read as well on the workload in the context of education Scotland and the SQA so here we are in another context asking teachers to yet take forward yet more requirements on their time when they challenge pretty strongly by the day job as it is of course this whole area has to be part of the day job but it's that balance that has to be struck the First Minister rightly my view is focused on the need to improve the lives of children within the care system this year's week's adoption week has demonstrated the importance of making sure that adopted children and their families are supported too the least we owe of these children our children is the reassurance that we will work together through the agencies, government and parliament to give them a stable environment to grow up in that's the very least we can do Gillian Martin followed by Miles Briggs thank you I want to start my contribution to today's debate by recognising the achievements of Aberdeenshire council in achieving their aims that are to early permanence for children in need of a caring, stable home and family the Aberdeenshire peace groups aims states this each child will live in a stable, safe, secure and happy home where they know they will stay until independent and where they can make lifelong connections but they actually went further than that they set themselves a measurable target which was this 90 per cent of children will be accommodated before their 12th birthday and will have a permanence plan within 9 months they met that target in January 2016 and are working hard to sustain it and improve on it for future years and last week their achievements were recognised when Aberdeenshire council won the Herald Society's young people's project of the year award and at the 2016 quality improvement awards they won the outstanding contribution to improving outcomes for children, young people and families some of the things that they did to achieve those awards was around the idea of support which many people have mentioned today it's not just enough to put a child with a family you need to give them that support to make sure that the adoption flourishes and does what it should for both the parents and the child they have programmes for peer support from other adoptive parents who best to know what newly adoptive parents are going through than those who have been through it themselves they have training and coaching opportunities for prospective adopting parents and they are available as many times as prospective adoptive parents need them to answer any questions they may have and provide support they've also got support groups for adoptive children and I want to mention one group the WIPOC group who are the young people's organising and campaign group in Aberdeinshire who do many of the things that Tavish Scots just been mentioning there I don't think it's just incumbent upon teachers to know how to train and learn how to work with children who have been in care I think it's really important that those children who have been in care take ownership of their situation within a couple of weeks so we'll see how that goes the WIPOC group they've produced materials for teachers to know how they feel when they're in meetings or to know the issues that they face and they've also produced and I would highly recommend you to look at their fantastic DVD that they made themselves to highlight some of the issues that they face in school a society should be judged on how they treat their most vulnerable that's a variation on that quote about and their arguments as to who first made it but it's so relevant here there's no one more vulnerable than a child without a loving caring protector the longer children experience uncertainty in their life the more damage is done the sooner children can be settled in a permanent home with their new family the higher their chances and a couple of months ago I had the privilege to spend an afternoon with Laura and Shadell from Who Cares both of these exceptional women had been what we call cared for children but they had two vastly different experiences Shadell and her little brother had been badly neglected by their birth mother but they'd been given a new permanent home early and were able to grow up in a loving stable environment and it was by no means plain sailing Shadell and her foster mum Hazel who she calls mum still had to cope with her childhood trauma an unsettling sporadic unwanted contact from her birth mother was very difficult at points but she and her brother had a loving family who were there for them no matter what and the confident bright compassionate Shadell is living proof that early permanence can make a world of difference to a young person contrast had experience with that of Laura who moved from foster carer to foster carer to children's home to even to a secure unit where she was locked in at night supposedly for her own protection lack of early permanence was the start of a downward spiral for this young woman and she told me this which I'll never forget these words she just wanted someone to claim her I'll never forget that cos I think that's what it's about she said, I just wanted someone to claim me works in all difficulties in all she needed someone just to take her on board all of us here I imagine get into politics to make a difference and of course people throughout the whole country give money to the children and need whatever but I'm reminded of a conversation I had with a social worker that I know who said the biggest difference any single person can make is to give a child a loving and a secure home a child for whatever reason has a risk to their wellbeing in their birth home is confused, scared and vulnerable and it will become more vulnerable the more transient temporary and numerous their moves are from place to place I'd urge anyone who's been watching this debate to look at the work that Who Cares does and have a look at the recent documentary that was on STV called Who Cares the strongest voices are those that have been through the care system and two of those voices are Laura and Shadell's the two of them are ambassadors for looked after children and their message is simple vulnerable children need to be loved and feel secure as quickly as possible so that they can start their journey towards being ordinary kids with ordinary but safe and happy lives early permanence through adoption is key to that and I fully support the Government's prioritising at that goal and the strategy that takes new approaches in line with the recommendations made by those who know the situations best the adoptive parents and the looked after children who have been through this whole system before Miles Briggs followed by Elaine Smith Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer I'm pleased to take part in today's debate and as we mark the first ever adoption week in Scotland I want to start my comments by paying tribute to those individuals and couples across the Rolothian region I represent who do foster and adopt children children who are some of the most vulnerable members of our society and often in considerable distress the contribution they make is a great one and we should be acknowledging this commend their efforts and look at every possibility and every way we can to help support them children need stability and routine in their home lives to allow them to have the confidence to flourish, establish friendships and make progress in education and we want to see more people become fosters and adopters, more fosters go on to becoming adopters and adoption made easier and less bureaucratic I very much share the concerns about the length of time it takes to secure an adoption with the average time now more than two years from initial contact this must be reduced and I welcome the Scottish Government's recognition of this in the motion today many individuals and families who want to adopt working to ministers to deliver the improvements that are required and for these changes to be brought forward at the earliest opportunity Scottish Conservatives welcome the creation of Scotland's adoption register and we are pleased that the investment has been provided to bring the services fully online which will hopefully speed up matching of children with adoptive parents and we believe that the time is right for the guidance to local authorities now to also be looked at as it's five years since that was drawn up and refreshed to identify any delays local government policy is potentially bringing to the process Alison Johnstone outlined the fact that we've received a number of emails from constituents in the last few days who have raised specific issues around foster care allowance while many constituents have emphasised the fact that they do not foster to make any financial gain it's appropriate that these concerns are actually looked at and I hope if I write to the minister forward in terms of variation in costs which many foster parents find especially living in more expensive communities like Edinburgh both the fostering network and adoption register have spoken out publicly about the lack of foster and adoptive parents in Scotland and I hope today we can all unite in sending out a message that we would encourage many of our constituents and more of our constituents to consider fostering and adopting in Edinburgh an extensive advertising campaign has literally placed this issue on the streets with billboards being placed in communities across the city to encourage people to consider fostering and I welcome any insight on ministers on how this is being developed and how more public information campaigns can be brought forward as well as how effective is the advertising currently being used for example it was suggested to me that the regular information sessions in supermarkets and shopping centres may actually help individuals and families who may consider fostering to give them an opportunity to actually discuss these issues informally it's also been put to me that perhaps every council tax bill should include information on fostering personally I'm not sure that we delivered the exact desired outcome we all want to see but it has been suggested and one of the issues which I've raised in this chamber a number of times now is how social media is changing how people access information and I think there's a great opportunity for Facebook for example and the geographical advertising they can undertake to try to get them on board with a lot of this so we can try to advertise the opportunities and what a great opportunity it is for many families to adopt children and I hope that some of the minister will take on board as the minister said many hundreds of foster and adoptive parents are needed to give homes to look after children adopting and fostering can be incredibly rewarding opportunity for parents of all ages and all backgrounds and we need to require them to come forward as adopters and fosters are especially needed for children in their early teens and children who have complicated needs including physical and learning disabilities this is something which I think we also need to try to see how we can better develop our advertising around sadly it's the case that the older children become the harder it is for them to find adoptive families to take care of them and we need to look at how we can ensure teenagers can benefit as well as younger children and babies as well as local authorities fostering and adoption services we should also recognise the important and very valuable role of the voluntary sector in this area both in terms of local and national charities and independent charitable fostering and adoption agencies Ian Gray who I think left the chamber at the moment outlined the importance of on-going support for families Tavish Scott has mentioned a quarter of adoptions break down sadly and so I think we need to look at how the work is on-going in these areas but Ardors Scotland offer effective training to help new adoptive parents as they step into their roles and on-going support after children have been placed including group meetings organised by their own social workers these meetings are attended by potential adopters who are waiting for a child and in Edinburgh we have St Andrew's Children's Society who also hosts the adoption register who have a long standing and high reputation of excellence Scottish adoption can also do first class work in this area and they were commended recently by the Care Inspectorate being awarded top marks across the board and winning praise for the range, variety and accessibility of the post placement support that we provide post placement support is really important as it's the sharing of knowledge, tips and experience among experienced fosterers and adopters and those looking to foster and adopt for the first time and to conclude Deputy Presiding Officer I'd like to once again welcome the fact that we've got this debate and the consensual approach which we've all taken and look forward to progress being made so that more children in care are potential to be fostered and adopted and I'd just make one final point which I hope ministers will take on board and that is regarding teachers and their ability to identify children in their class who ever adopted but also those who are young carers because I know from attending a young carer conference this is one issue which was flagged up to all the MSPs who attended that and I haven't really seen anything since that in how we can move that forward so finally Deputy Presiding Officer is that these children are all our responsibility and we must make sure that we work to build the best possible life and future for them, thank you. Thank you Mr Briggs, I call Lane Smith we're followed by Bob Doris, Smith Smith please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I again, like others, by welcoming the first adoption week in Scotland is something that is much needed to raise awareness of the specific issues of those children that those children who adopted face when adding new members to their family but it's also a chance to celebrate adoption. There can be nothing more important than caring for our children and those who are foster carers kinship carers and adoptive parents contribute immensely to our society so it's absolutely right that we take the opportunity today to thank them all. Today the main focus is on adoption and it's an example of the kind of generous compassion that not only helps the family and the adopted child but the whole of society as well. We should of course thank the voluntary organisations who work in the field as the minister did at the beginning of the debate the ones that he mentioned but there are also others such as the Margaret's Child and Family Care Society in Glasgow and of course all the NHS local authority and public sector staff involved too who deserve thanks. We all know the problems that young people can face before their adoption and sadly that's often something that can continue afterwards also. Although we don't have comparable data for Scotland, we know that the majority of children adopted in England have suffered from abuse and or neglect prior to adoption. By increasing the chances that a child will stay with their adopted family and feel welcomed into the everyday structures that many other children take for granted like school, sports, friendship groups, then we can ensure that they are given the best chance to flourish even when they might not have had the best start in life. That would then I think be the fresh start that they very much deserve. We should reflect on the problems that children in care face too and recognise the advancements that have been made in assisting them in recent years particularly I think with increasing the age limit to stay on with families but a great deal more does need to be done. We know for example that children in care are four times more likely to suffer a mental health difficulty and as such a welcome the Scottish Government's indication as mentioned by Fulton MacGregor earlier that they will carry out a routine branch review of Scotland's care system and I hope that that will include the experiences of children who have gone through care at the heart of it and perhaps in the summing up the minister could give us a bit more detail as to the nature of that review and when it is going to begin. Unfortunately of course we know the state has not always been a great guardian for many children and we know that children in care are less likely than they appear to do well at school and some have experienced further neglect and abuse whilst in care so any future review of the care system Scotland has got to take those issues into account and reflect on the reality that getting as many kids into adopted families as possible is a beneficial outcome for all. After all we know that children adopted from care do very well compared with those who remain in care and that was something specifically included in the adoption UK briefing that we received for this debate. If we look after children well and we build up their opportunities we will construct a solid foundation in which Scotland and its children can flourish so I'm pleased to support the amendment proposed by Monica Lennon and I'm also pleased that the Government has indicated that they will be doing so too and this more broadly reflects some of the specific reforms that we should be pursuing in order to improve the lives of families who adopt. To achieve this I think if we achieve this adoption is going to have to be seen as a more appealing prospect to families and hopeful new parents and by increasing the support provided to those who adopt from care I'm sure that we will gradually see numbers of children being taken out of care and into welcoming permanent homes where they can feel that they belong. As we know only 500 children were adopted in Scotland last year and I think to improve this we need to focus on three things my common admonica Lennon first of all giving every adoptive family the right to support when they need it secondly giving every adoptive child the right to additional support in school and taking into consideration what the minister said in his opening statement giving every adoptive child quick access to child and adolescent mental health services I think parity with looked after children presiding officer is important now I know that this is essentially a consensual debate and many members have made that point however I think it is important to take note of the reality that local authorities are having to face local government funding is being cut again this year on top of cuts in previous years and we've only very recently seen the announcement of an end to the time year council tax freeze so with this in mind local authorities finding further extra money to support adopted children and families will be no easy task and that is a reality that I'm afraid can't be ignored but local authorities need to be properly resourced and taking forward improvements we should learn from the process in the last parliament in which policy was informed by those who had experienced care and we should do the same for those who are adopted I would imagine that very few of us know first hand about the unique experiences of those who have been adopted and or were in care and that's an expertise that needs to inform the way forward since the people who understand adoption on a personal level resource for us I'm just coming to a conclusion but I would like to mention two cases if you wish to call them that I know about when I was a young kid I personally witnessed a young child being told by other children that they were adopted and I was personally affected by that I can remember it very very well because that kind of thing can have a real on-going negative effect and it shows the need for support for families and explaining to children to access their own support as needed on the other hand I personally know of an adopted child from a Catholic family who felt special and was delighted that they had been specifically chosen by their family and the reason I mentioned from a Catholic family is because they said that they felt lucky to have three mothers and they said this at a very young age the birth mother, the real mum so that was obviously a much better experience so in coming to a conclusion I think we can be in no doubt that family life can be greatly enhanced by adoption both for the child and the parents and I believe that the state has a duty to make that as easy as possible for them and in turn this will benefit all of society thank you very much Ms Smith I call Bob Doris you follow by Maurice Corry Mr Doris please thank you and I welcome this debate being held during this first-ever adoption week in Scotland I also welcome the consensual points that have been raised in relation to the benefit of the adoption in Children's Scotland Act 2007 the benefits of the adoption register in Scotland and over 300 families now seeing a real benefit and more important the children seeing a benefit from that and of course the new monies announced by the minister today will be very welcome indeed The Scottish Government's looked after children and young people strategy was published in November 2015 it's worth noting these priorities in Parliament this afternoon that is to support families early to prevent children becoming looked after in the first place early permanence when required as previously been referred to by a number of speakers in this debate and to make sure every child receives the best care and support required I'd like to set a slightly different approach during this debate on the strategy and all they do to prevent children becoming accommodated in the first place and they need easing pressures and adoption services as a consequence The kinship care that I have made across my constituency of Mary Helen Springburn and beyond I have to say do exceptional and vital work in particular I want to mention the group Kinship for the North who previously were run by Jesse Harvie a formidable wonderful lady and currently by Sadie prior to another sterling job happy and privileged to work with them over a number of years of course I thank them for all that they do however they don't actually want my thanks they wish appropriate support help and assistance not for them but for the children they care for a successful kinship care arrangement saves a significant financial outlay given the alternative expensive residential options that councils have to pay for otherwise the life outcomes of young people kinship care is also far better on average compared to looked after and accommodated children that is crucial, happier healthier and greater life chances that's what it's all about for all of us ahead of my election in 2007 I made a commitment to kinship care with regard to financial support and fighting for parity with foster carers the Scottish Government over a number of years staging it in work towards that goal and finally fully realised that ambition in 2015 with a £10 million commitment I thoroughly welcomed that and of course we're proud to achieve that but this is not 2015, this is 2016 of course and kinship carers as well as foster carers and adoptive families quite rightly have a fresh set of asks at my most recent meeting with kinship for the North and Postal park we discussed how peer support for kinship carers and peer advice needs to be better supporting I am well aware of the children first advice line for kinship care and I welcome it however say to discuss with me a national volunteer led model of advice and peer support for kinship carers that along with the Scottish kinship carer alliance kinship carers that I work with are keen to develop I understand minister that your officials may have had some initial representations in relation to this initiative but I would actually like to extend an invite to you to come out and meet the kinship carers for kinship for the North group in Postal park meet the carers talk to them about their needs talk to them about the potential of a national network of peer support advice that they're happy to be involved in on a volunteer basis they would love to see you in our constituency clearly one way of easing pressure on adoption services is by having young people less likely be needing to be adopted in the first place as I said at the outset kinship carers front and centre in realising that ambition I was actually struck moving on from kinship carer I was actually struck by the contribution by Monica Lennon in connection to on-going support for adoptive families young people don't stop having significant needs simply because they become adopted that's not how it works also Ms Lennon noted calls around a fair deal for adoptive families in relation to school and adolescent mental health services and a variety of wider support needs all powerful points of course those key asks have been long-term campaign goals for kinship carers also and I'm sure the minister will consider the points raised by Ms Lennon but look at it in the round to make sure whether it's foster carers, kinship carers or adoptive families that there's equity of service for all groups because it's not about those caring for the young people with needs themselves the final contribution that I would like to make was in relation to the idea of early permanence and I was actually struck by something Fulton McGregor said in relation to that early permanence needing sound, speedy and informed decision making the role of an MSP is you sometimes only see families when they come to you when they're in need and that also means families that engage with the social work system that are desperate for children whether it's at home or identifying a kinship carer placement there's a perception and I'm sure it is a perception that when social workers have made an initial decision in relation to a family they can become entrenched within that position and it can rule out the prospect of children returning to the birth family or rule out kinship carer range because of a closeness between the birth family and the grand or whatever but I do accept the need for early permanence for the best outcome for vulnerable young people but I just reinforced that comment Fulton McGregor has got much more experience and I have in relation to this that it has to be sound it has to be speedy but it also has to be informed and informed by making sure that we don't needlessly rule out other potential options Fulton McGregor, Maurice Corry followed by James Dorn and James Dorn will be last speaker in the open debate Mr Corry, please Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer May I declare my interests as a local councillor, as a Garland butte council and also I'm a member of their corporate parenting board and I'd just like to say that we look after over 200 looked after children and I must agree with the Ingrays comment about the responsibilities we have as members of that board and monitor children once they leave us and go into adoptive care or kinship care it is something we have discussed our last board meeting very seriously in Lockgillpad and we do have issues relating not just to municipal areas but certainly the islands and the rural areas that are in our our unvines for a child in care being brought into a loving environment and in family it is one of the greatest gifts that they will ever receive and for a family receiving a child to raise at home and parents is the most important task that they will ever undertake the benefits of a child being adopted or fostered for the state for the state are as many as well the cost of keeping a child in residential care equates to over £150,000 per child per year although such financial benefits are welcome what is more important is the positive impact that adoption has on a child's life children in residential care are less likely on to further education employment or training compared to those not in residential care only 77% compared to the national average of 93% they are more likely to experience homelessness more than one in ten young people are likely to end up homeless within two years of leaving care what's more they are more likely to end up in prison a worrying statistic in that UK-wide 25% of the adult prison population have been in care compared to just 2% of the overall adult population getting a child adopt can lead to much more positive life changes and chances for that child and this benefits everyone in society in the end such are the benefits to the child the prospective family and the state that all work undertaken to promote an encouraged adoption and fostering must be welcomed permanence in adoption is a very important aspect for a child the long-term placement of a child particularly in early childhood is beneficial not only for their speech and vocabulary in their early years but lays the foundations for better mental health and academic attainment later on into primary and secondary school if we are going to tackle and narrow the attainment gap we must include those children who are adopted the longer that a child has a stable family environment the better they should perform at school making sure that these children have an equal opportunity in life are those who are not adopted should be the responsibility of us all and I would like to refer to a documentary recently that was Bond Bulgaria and which told us a story about where they were 20 years ago to now and they have adopted a situation of these large institutions of children who were left by their parents couldn't afford to keep them were put into state homes and now they're moving to small family units with the view to putting them out to adoption into the bigger environments of the country and I had the privilege some years ago when I was a member of NATO forces in the Balkans of visiting and dealing with a wonderful children's home in Hungary in the place called of Hungary where I saw and demonstrated to me the love and care that that care home gave to those children again those 15 years ago looking to put them into smaller units and in particularly into families who stepped forward most notably some poor families but were given help by the state at that time so the creation of a Scotland's adoption register was a welcome step in the right direction towards securing a good home for all children in particular a decision to bring the services online will make the service radically simpler which would dramatically help speed up the process of matching up families and parents as a Scotland's adoption register online was a Scottish Conservative policy I am delighted to see that the Scottish Government once again has taken our lead and is putting our ideas into practice speeding up the process should be a key aim of policy on adoption in Scotland it is taking over two years on average to secure an adoption from a family's first involvement with the state services this is too long it's unfair on both the child and the family there are even extreme cases where it's taken up to 10 years to secure an adoption the adoption process to register as an adopter or foster family needs to be as simple as is possible whilst of course staying within the safe limits of checks and assessing compatibility of child and parents new ways of speeding up this process need to be found and we and our corporate parent are continually discussing that very subject it is a very very important fact of our work for example refreshing the guidance which was issued to local authorities in 2011 so that it follows in line with the 2014 act this would allow a review of the guidance which sits alongside that new registration to take place hopefully that would lead to any blockages and the local government processes which slow down the process being identified and dealt with accordingly efforts to make families aware of the possibility for the option of adopting and fostering should also be encouraged where adoption agencies are already doing the work effectively as has been noted by Robin Duncan the manager of Scotland's adoption register there simply aren't enough families for children needing to be adopted and in particular children who have more complicated needs such as learning difficulties it is clear that more work needs to be done to simplify and improve the system but I am sure that working together we shall get there in good time and finally I'd like to pay a particular tribute to all those families in my West Scotland region who adopt and foster children and provide kinship care we are all immensely grateful to them for giving this help to give these children hope and a future and above all love thank you thank you very much Mr Corry call James Dorn and then move to closing speeches Mr Dornan please thank you very much at the recent SNP conference along with many others I think about 3000 I was deeply and profoundly moved when the First Minister addressed the issue of care experience kids in Scotland and the same fair and equal opportunities as every other young person across the country and it's not often in politics that we talk about love but the First Minister was absolutely right and we've heard the word a few times today but the First Minister was absolutely right when she stated that these young people deserve to be loved there's no denying that when the young people in the audience raised those red paper hearts that they agree completely that being loved is something which has been for years so deeply missed by some care experience kids however in order for these young people to be loved and for drastic change to be made in their lives we must look at the facts and the statistics of young people living in care are indeed deeply shocking as many have already mentioned nearly half of 5 to 17 year olds living in care are diagnosed as having a mental health disorder 7 per cent of young people in care go from high school to university compared to nearly 40 per cent of other young people 50 per cent of prisoners identified as having been in care at some point in their life and 85 per cent of young people in care leave school before the age of 16 As particularly distressed by that last statistic because 85 of these young people leaving education before the age of 16 what chance does that give them to move on and make that life that we're all entitled to the Government has been challenged with closing the attainment gap for all young people and no specific group should be left behind while leaving school early and entering apprenticeships indeed the workplace is the right path for some young people many of those leaving schools should be going on to further and higher education in order to reach their full potential The motion that Bill would present more stability for the lives of care experienced young people which in turn would drastically reduce this horrifying statistic of 85 per cent No-one in this chamber can argue with that or the benefits that would bring to the young people and indeed society In my short time and my role as convener of the Education and Skills Committee it's been my pleasure to work with and her discussions with the charity Who Cares Scotland which was mentioned by my colleague Gillian Martin they've now been to a number of the education and skills events and been in front of the committee and what being done by the staff and by the young people themselves is deeply touching I spoke to one young lady that said thanks to Who Cares Scotland she's now looking forward to going on to further education and is so keen to be part of the changes in young people's lives that she can see herself entering into the field of politics something she'd never have imagined for herself just a few short years ago We need to see more of this In the Who Cares Scotland manifesto they made a commitment to challenge the First Minister to enter the terrible outcomes of care experience young people I believe the adoption register will go some way to accepting that conflict that was thrown down to the Scottish Government As has already been said over 300 families have now adopted children after being matched through the adoption register with 69 per cent of the children aged under 5 and it's worth noting that a key aim of Scotland's adoption register is to increase the number of adopted children who are the most difficult to place which takes us back to those care experience young people I believe that the register is bringing families closer together and reducing the amount of time that potential adopters and children are waiting for a placement I have got some experience of this where a few years ago my partner and I had thought about fostering or adopting and we looked into it and part of the reason why we didn't go ahead was the complexity and the length of time it was taking particularly around fostering to be fair to to move forward with it and eventually I suppose it was more my doing than hers but we decided not to go ahead with it but the Children and Social Work statistics Scotland has shown a further decrease in the number of looked after children for the third consecutive years and this is welcome news along with 4 per cent reduction of the number of children in the child protection register supported by the 19 per cent annual increase during 2014-15 in permanence orders and orders with authority to adopt to build in these achievements I'm delighted the Scottish Government is working towards making the register available online in order to streamline the process even further All those positive indicators and steps will go some way to providing a strong stable loving family environment that will lead towards attaining at school interacting with children and peers that will equip themselves for a successful adulthood and whatever they wish to achieve in their life The looked after children strategy reaffirms the Scottish Government's commitment to this vision of a stable loving childhood that prepares children for fulfilling adulthood by improving the outcomes for looked after children The strategy calls in this sector to accelerate progress by supporting families through early intervention that leads to a nurturing home providing early permanence with the benefits of the best care and support possible thereby increasing the quality of care The previous speaker who's no longer in the chamber talked about Bulgaria I was over in south Sudan a number of years ago and saw for myself the importance of somebody taking responsibility and care for people for kids that had nobody it's where the Civil War was it's where the child soldiers were it was just on the border with Uganda and there was one woman had 16 children none of them hers they were all orphans from that war but it really was that the village makes a family everybody just sort of mucked in together felt like there were one family pretty much what society used to be like but has become less over the years but what it did was it showed the importance of somebody taking responsibility and showing care and love for those children and the children benefited hugely from it many of them were going to the schools and the colleges that we were over to visit because we'd helped the charity I was with had helped part fund them so anyway this bill not only benefits the young care experienced people of Scotland but the wonderful potential parents across the country there's been much talk across this Parliament about making Scotland a fairer place to live and thrive and we can only really accept that fairness has been achieved if no child is being left behind the statistics which have been discussed during this debate are truly some of the most shocking I've ever seen and that's why I'm delighted but not surprised that the whole chamber should be absolutely committed to this motion and the amendment and supporting these young people to having the best start in life only then can we expect to see them flourish into happy successful adults and become that integral part of Scottish society which they're all capable of being thank you thank you very much just before I move to closing speeches I'm disappointed that Mr Corry is not in the chamber for closing speeches I've had no notice no request not to be in so perhaps that'll be conveyed to him by the Conservative team to my right we have some time in hand so I can give Daniel Johnson an extra minute Mr Johnson to wind up for the Labour Party up to eight minutes please thank you very much deputy much has been made this afternoon about the positive consensual tone just bear with me a minute I'm sorry I've also failed to name Miles Briggs who's also not in the chamber so no doubt that'll be conveyed to him as well thank you not at all although you have slightly broken up the pace of my humour but that's always difficult I'm sure you can recover it you're a stylish gentleman so let me stumble through that again there's been a positive consensual tone of this debate but perhaps if there's been a different tone it's perhaps because we're pleased not to be debating Europe and Brexit as we've become used to doing on a Tuesday afternoon however I think if there's a reason that the issue of adoption was bound to strike a different tone not only is it an important issue but it has a different impact so certainly I welcome the motion that we have before us today from the Government highlighting the first ever adoption week and again I'd like to just echo Mark McDonald's initial comments thanking the people and the agencies involved with making adoption work in Scotland I think they do massively important work I'd also note his announcements on adoption activity days and pace I think everyone in this chamber would welcome every effort that is made to improve adoption including placement with families for children who are seeking adoption but also supporting those placements thereafter and indeed I think Liz Smith in some ways summed it up best by saying that there may well be consensus but there must be absolutely no complacency so I hope that adoption week will be an opportunity to talk about the successes of adoption especially for those who have only recently become allowed to adopt I hope it will be an opportunity to dispel the myths that sometimes surround adoption and I hope that it will be also an opportunity to put adoption into the context of looked after children as a whole and talk about the placement stability it offers and finally I hope it will present an opportunity for the Government to look at support for families after child adoption I welcome the fact that they are backing our amendment this afternoon and the calls from the campaign and Scottish adoption for a fair deal for adoptive families I want to commend adoption UK and Scotland's adoption register and the Scottish Government for putting together the document reality of adoption Scotland it's not often that I get emotional preparing for debates but I think the stories that were contained in that document are powerful and important because I think that if we are to improve understanding of adoption it's bringing out those important stories to improve that understanding I was particularly struck by the stories of the two LGBT couples who have adopted since the act of 2007 allowed same-sex couples to adopt for the first time they spoke of their apprehension as they went through the process the pride of parenthood and one couple saying it was the best thing they have ever done so I was pleased to hear Mark McDonald acknowledge the work of Hugh Henry and Robert Brown indeed it was the Labour coalition Government that made these new families possible when they introduced their bill in 2006 however there does seem to be some way to go in this regard compared to the situation in other parts of the UK 1,690 adoptions to same-sex adopters have taken place in England compared to just 67 in Scotland in the last year that means one in 12 adopters for the same sex in England one in 13 in Wales compared to just one in 23 in Scotland I would therefore be interested in the Government's take on this trend and whether a cultural shift is needed to bring things in line or indeed whether new legislation or guidance is required the message from this week should certainly be to amplify those voices but also bust the myths that surround adoption on age on sexual orientation on marital status, disability, income or on nationality adoption is open to all indeed we heard from Monica Lennon and others about the stereotypes of the unwanted baby being taken in and rescued by usually affluent people but we know that adoption can be an option for children of all ages adoption is open to couples and single people, affluent or not and it is important this week and in this debate we seek to dispel those myths and not further them Jeremy Balford did a very good job of bringing to life the gap there is between the number of children seeking adoption and the placements made it is worth noting that adoption is rare in comparison to the total number of looked after children in Scotland we have 15,000 looked after children in this country 4,000 children ceasing to be looked after each year with adoption being the destination for just 7% of those young people so while we very much welcome the increased attention that adoption gets this week as a problem when we must put adoption in context it is not the usual final destination for children in care I also would thank Fulton MacGregor for his comments this afternoon because he shed some light on the experience of actually working with the system the complexities and the judgments that have to take place in terms of balancing interests but I think we must always seek that the system and those processes are carried out as efficiently as possible another set of professional experiences that we heard from Jenny Gilruth I think that she did an excellent job of highlighting the long-term impacts in particular educational impacts experienced by many people coming from care and being adopted indeed I think that permanence is an issue that has been highlighted by a number of people throughout this debate Alison Johnstone described that the child who clock never stops ticking and indeed the academic research into multiple placements for looked after children only serves to underline the importance that permanence plays there is a large body of evidence that links multiple placements with problems with behaviour, mental health educational difficulties employment, social relationships financial management and housing placement instability further reduces the opportunity for children to develop permanent secure attachments leading to transitory relationships which can amount to greater confusion and lack of social identity so of course adoption isn't the only way to reduce placement instability long-term fostering kinship care as Bob Dorris pointed out and residential care can all achieve that but adoption is an important and transformative way to provide the permanence and reduce the number of placements I think Ian Gray did an excellent job highlighting the importance that the on-going support that is required to adoption and indeed other speakers highlighted those issues too and it's important to recognise that need that is required of continued on-going support for those adoptive families Monica Lennon spoke on our amendment on the subject at the beginning of the debate and as she said a child who has come from a traumatic background and is adopted still needs support the day after adoption it doesn't mean permanence but it doesn't mean that there should be added barriers to support that put up it is right therefore that priority support should be given to those adoptive families who need it with an education and a mental health services in conclusion Scottish Labour very happy to back the Government's motion today marking the beginning of adoption week and we hope that members will also consider backing our motion to recognise that families with adopted children do face challenges Thank you very much Mr Johnson, I call Ross Thompson to wind up a Conservative Party up to 10 minutes please Thank you very much Deputy Presiding Officer I would like to start by declaring an interest as Aberdeen City councillor and therefore as a corporate parent and in starting I would like to echo the comments of previous contributors who have welcomed this debate the positivity in this debate and the unanimity of this debate the Scottish Government have rightly recognised our system of care is in need of radical reform and the launch of a routine branch review which seeks to ensure that love is at the centre of that system that every child in care is loved feels loved is very welcome for far too long we have let the most vulnerable in our society is my colleague Morris Corry highlighted in his remarks more than one in ten young people leaving care in Scotland with homelessness within two years 14 per cent have looked after school leavers receive no qualifications but only 8 per cent receive one or more qualification only 4 per cent of care leavers go on to higher education although we have seen improvement in positive outcomes in destinations for care leavers since 2009 we have since 2012 seen the number of positive outcomes stagnate with very little improvement those are not somebody else's children they are all of our children which is why this Parliament this Scottish Government its agencies and our society needs to step up to ensure that our care leavers get the very best opportunities to succeed to be what they want to be and to make the most of their potential for those in care we have work to do to ensure that children have a family love and most of all have a childhood if we are going to improve outcomes then we must work to reduce the time it takes to find a permanent and stable placement the evidence which we have seen at the education and skills committee shows that in terms of educational attainment those children in more permanent places with fewer moves achieve better therefore it is important that greater weight is attached to permanent adoption that is in the best interests of the child to provide a permanent solution and a better outcome Deputy Presiding Officer to transform the system to deliver the best possible outcome for our children and young people will take work the number of adoptions of children from care in Scotland has remained broadly flat in recent years in fact the most recent figures show that the proportion of children leaving care for adoption dropped from 7.2% to 6.9% between 2014 and 2015 further in 2012 the number of children who are living with prospective adopters was 1.6% of all children in care yet two years later in 2014 the number was 1.7% so no real progress achieved no real change achieved as my colleague Liz Smith highlighted in her own contribution it is astonishing that it takes more than two years to secure an adoption and we have had some extreme cases where it has taken up to 10 years therefore a key objective of the Scottish Government should be to speed up this whole process to ensure that it is as simple as possible whilst properly assessing compatibility to register as an adopter or foster family now my colleague Maurice Corry alluded in his own remarks to the comments of Robin Duncan the manager of Scotland's adoption register when he warned that we still don't have enough adoptive families in Scotland for all the children needing placements first of all we need to congratulate the hard work that is being carried out by adoption agencies to recruit new adopters and in order to help support this work and attract those new adopters we on these benches believe that an adoption czar should be created by a policy post appointed by Scottish ministers their task would be to co-ordinate and encourage the effort to raise the profile of adoption in Scotland so that we can make real progress in attracting the new adopters we need as there are too many children still waiting for that loving family further we still have work to do to change perceptions and attitudes particularly to foster families where too often it is viewed in challenging these perceptions we can work towards improving the supply of foster parents which in turn helps to make placements last longer and therefore result in more positive outcomes in turning to the contributions which have been made during this debate my colleague Jeremy Balfour recognised and welcomed the efforts of the Scottish Government and previous executives and we welcomed the extension of activity days this is great news and welcomed the comments made this afternoon he made an important point about myth-busting around adoption and the need to encourage people to come forward for something which is in his own words hugely fulfilling as well as highlighting the challenges in the system because in the cases that he brought forward in relation to his own constituents it can be complicated and it can be slow my colleague Liz Smith talked about the work of education skills committee believe Tavish Scott referenced that too and how they looked at the challenges round about educational attainment and what work could be done to help improve those outcomes for leavers from our care system and we need to warmly congratulate the work of agencies who still continue to do all that they can to recruit new people and to launch new campaigns and to urge the minister again to look at all school leavers to go out into the wider world Monica Lennon in opening for labour touched on a very important point which was about the one in four families at risk of breaking down due to that lack of support in fact you used that quote of families hitting a brick wall and I think that Tavish Scott particularly touched on that very point when he spoke about the challenges of adoption breakdown and how it is upon us to try and understand the reasons and causes for this so that we can ensure that support is available and that those families who do seek support in that natural and normal way do not feel stigmatised or ashamed for doing so Jenny Gilruth well I know you made the comment about people being tired of hearing your rhetoric as a teacher I never do and I always think that it is a welcome contribution to our debates on a really important point which is how we deliver the best entertainment for our young people and children and in the best ways of supporting them in that educational environment and in ensuring that that stable and secure home, that permanent adoption place that we can actually work towards securing that Fulton MacGregor actually made a terrific contribution in speaking about his own direct experience in this area that is incredibly valuable and talked about the importance of taking into account the views of the children and young people themselves and that they have to be at the heart of the decision making process Ian Gray talked about the vital role of being a corporate parent which needs to be taken very very seriously and that we cannot forget our role when it comes to a child who has left our care always have that role as a corporate parent and that very real responsibility but he touched on something else that was not mentioned elsewhere in the debate which was actually the number of children who suffer from that prenatal substance and alcohol abuse so before a child is even born a lot of their life chances are being decided for them and that has a huge and significant impact on their quality of life and that is a very important point to make I really do welcome Rona Mackay and her own case where we have a wonderful story in a same sex couple adopting for the first time I think that's absolutely wonderful and we need to see more of that because any home which is a loving one and a safe one is something which we should be promoting and supporting Alison Johnston and Gillian Martin both touched on the great success of being in Aberdeenshire with the PACE programme where we've seen real improvements in that particular area and a real reduction in the decision making time as well coming in under 20 weeks I think that lessons could be learned in other local authorities from what has happened in Aberdeenshire Elaine Smith in her own remarks touched on how we ensure that the views of children are actually taken into account as we go into this route in branch review and I look forward to hearing from the minister as well how the Scottish Government intend to achieve that and to ensure that the voices of young people are heard My colleague Miles Briggs in his own contributions talked about how we can as MSPs in our own regions and in our own constituencies can work to encourage our own constituents to become involved and to become adopters It was interesting to learn about what's been happening in Edinburgh and what the city council has taken forward in relation to their advertising campaign as well as how we could potentially use social media more to inspire more people to come forward Deputy Presiding Officer In making adoption easier and reducing the barriers we can attract more people to register so that we can bring children and adopters together so that our living environments where children and young people can reach their full potential prosper, have a childhood and most of all feel loved I'm so glad I gave you the extra minute you squeezed the juice right out of it Mark McDonald to wind up the debate for the Government Minister till 4.59 please Thank you very much A number of members have spoken today about the consensual nature of today's debate I think that's a fair point to make however there is still rather a lot from today's debate that I feel I need to respond to Today's debate was framed on adoption and permanence for a very important reason because while much of the debate has rightly focused on adoption with this being adoption week there are other routes to permanence that are available four legal routes to permanence are identified adoption to return home permanence order which could result in a foster or residential placement and a kinship care order across the piece in this debate I think that we've heard a number of speakers reflecting on those different routes to permanence I think that it's important when we talk about this debate that we recognise that all of those routes to permanence will deliver and can deliver substantially better outcomes for young people at the beginning Monica Lennon rightly spoke about the issue of support for adoptive families I think that it would be important to reflect that there is support available out there I met with adoption UK last month and I've agreed that the Scottish Government will work in conjunction with them and with other stakeholders to review what therapeutic support is available and crucially to ensure that that is clearly signposted the adoption in Scotland act 2007 which I referenced in my opening speech requires local authorities when requested to include adopted children and those who haven't adopted child to carry out an assessment of need for adoption support services where such assessment identifies a need for support services local authorities are under a duty to provide them so following an assessment of need some of the support available is information advice guidance and signposting counselling opportunities for adoptive parents mediation of contact with birth families mediation services where an adoptive family is at risk of disruption a point that has been highlighted by a number of speakers financial support, basic life story work and short break care where no therapeutic input is provided so there are a number of support mechanisms that can be accessed I think that the question is whether or not those are readily identifiable by adoptive families and that's work that I've agreed with adoption UK there is some more detail there was a number of points made regarding the disparity of numbers in terms of number of children seeking adoption and number of prospective adopters as of today there are 140 children on the adoption register and 132 prospective adopters now clearly there is a disparity there but it's not perhaps the gulf that might have been suggested by some of the remarks in the debate today clearly we want to ensure however that we do more to encourage more people to come forward as prospective adopters I think that Jenny Gilruth brought forward important examples linking the work of curriculum for excellence the health and wellbeing aspects of that and also dispelling the myth about adoption often being seen about being about babies but often these are young and sometimes older children who require to be adopted Turning to some of the contributions from the Conservative benches Liz Smith highlighted the timescales as a consequence of the SCRA report in 2011 what I would say is that obviously one of the guiding principles behind permanence and care excellence was to reduce those kind of unacceptable delays within the system in terms of achievement of permanence I'm not sure that an adoption is what is needed I think that we have a lot of very good work being done out there to highlight and promote adoption but perhaps it would be something to take up in a bit more detail but I'm happy to take a brief interview Liz Smith I think that in relation to his previous comment about the need to publicise the facts about this it could be very helpful suggestion he's quite rightly pointed to some of the fact that it's not easy to publicise all the facts that we need to know and that's one reason where I think it might be quite helpful I'm happy to either receive more detail or perhaps discuss this further with Liz Smith a later point to understand exactly where the Conservatives feel there would be benefit in terms of that approach Fulton MacGregor I think brought very important personal reflections from his past experience as a social worker and I think underlined the point that that delay which we hard being spoken about is driven by the best of intentions to ensure that that child has every opportunity to remain within the family structure where that then eventually proves not to be possible then permanent orders can sometimes be required but I think he quite rightly put some of that into perspective for us in terms of the Root and Branch care review which Fulton MacGregor mentioned and which Elaine Smith asked for more details on the care review department work is under way to ensure that we get this right in terms of the scope of the review but also how we ensure that the review is taken forward in a way that is driven by the views and experiences of care experienced young people which was a very firm commitment that the First Minister gave on launching the review Ian Gray touched on the issues around corporate parenting responsibilities and the fact that those do not simply dematerialise when children move into adopted placements. One of the things I've been quite keen to look at is how best we ensure greater understanding and awareness of corporate parenting so one of the things that I'm going to do is in the new year at an early point I'm going to set up a couple of sessions for MSPs to essentially discuss what corporate parenting is and how best we as MSPs can support both the work that corporate parents do in local authority areas but understand better our role in terms of corporate parenting. I'm also keen to look at how following the local elections in May next year we can ensure that appropriate advice, support, training and guidance is given to newly elected and re-elected councillors regarding their corporate parenting responsibilities. I think given the current climate we're operating in and the focus that there is on looked after children's experiences now would seem a very opportune time to discuss some of the thinking in relation to that. Ian Gray also mentioned some of the numbers in terms of the activity days that we have seen and the mismatch perhaps between the number of families and the number of children. Those are obviously quite new approaches being taken and my hope and I hope everybody's hope on that would be that as this embeds we will see that being addressed as part of that. Rona Mackay highlighted her own experience in the children's hearing system and I decided one of the things I wanted to do as a minister was to sit in on a children's hearing and so I sat in on a couple of children's hearings in Aberdeen. I walked in and the gentleman sharing the children's hearing was my former school headmaster which I don't think was the school reunion either of us had envisaged previously but one of the things that brought home to me was one of the issues that was highlighted was that sometimes the decision making processes between children's hearings and the court system are not as aligned as they should be which results in interim decisions having to be taken in children's hearings and families often having to come back on repeated occasions to a hearing before a decision can be taken and that obviously adds to some of the anxiety and trauma that can be created as part of that. Can I ask you to speak to the microphone please? Apologies Presiding Officer. Gillian Martin highlighted excellent work being done by Aberdeenshire Council in relation to the PACE programme and the awards that they have won. I should just be a representative of the city of Aberdeen as well as the minister highlighted that the award the Herald Society award was won in conjunction with Aberdeen City Council in relation to their PACE work combined and I have had the opportunity to meet officials from both local authorities to look at the work that they are doing there. She also mentioned the young people's campaigning group in Aberdeenshire who have taken the step of providing guidance to the education authority in relation to the kind of approaches that they think would work best for them. I think that that is a very encouraging approach to be taking. It ensures that, as essentially what we want to see through the care review of young people's experiences driving the improvement agenda that is being done in Aberdeenshire. I thought that Tavish Scott's points were very important in terms of ensuring that we get the balance right in terms of what we are asking teachers to do. Although I did find it interesting that a meeting tomorrow at the education committee to discuss teacher workload they have quite a mountain of paperwork to get through on the education committee. I am sure that the irony of that will not be lost on many. Miles Briggs made some very sensible suggestions around how best we can get the message out about the benefits of becoming a prospective adopter and that there are a number of encouraging points that we can take forward in relation to that and I am happy to look into that further. Alison Johnstone mentioned the possibility of a minimum fostering allowance and asked about financial support more generally in this area. Government has committed to reviewing kinship and fostering allowances to create a national scheme and I am pleased to say that I have decided that within that I will also include adopters and support as well. Details will follow but I will be happy as part of that review to consult with Opposition spokespeople and hear their views as part of that process. Just to touch on a couple of final points before we come to decision time. On Bob Doris's point he raised the work being done by kinship for the north and having recently completed a consultation on the future direction of our nationally commissioned support services for kinship carers I will be happy to meet Mr Doris and kinship for the north in order to hear first hand what their issues are and how best that could be captured as we look to go out to tender on those services. Finally on Elaine Smith's point Elaine Smith said that what we needed to do in this was to have cognisance around local authority budget areas particularly in relation to social work. The Audit Scotland report on social work in Scotland identified that since 2010-11 social work spending across local authorities has increased by 3% in real terms but beyond that part of the work being done around permanence and care excellence is that by driving forward early permanence you actually can potentially reduce some of the pressures that are faced by social workers from having caseloads being essentially exacerbated by cases that are difficult to achieve permanence for. The Parliament has consistently put party politics aside on this agenda and I am grateful that we have been able to do so again today. The positive developments that I have outlined today will go some way towards ensuring that more children benefit from a permanent caring home. I would urge members to think about how they could get the message across in their constituencies about the benefits of adoption and also the benefits of achieving early permanence so that we can have more potential adopters coming forward and we can achieve better outcomes for all of Scotland's children. I thank the minister that concludes our debate on adoption and permanence. The next item of business is consideration of a business motion in the name of Joe Fitzpatrick on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau sitting at a rise in business programme. If any member wishes to speak against the motion please press your request to speak button now. I call on Joe Fitzpatrick to move the motion. That is motion 2668. No member has asked to speak against the motion. I will put the question to the chamber. The question is that motion 2668 be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. There are just two questions as a result of today's business. The first question is that amendment 2624.1 in the name of Monica Lennon who seeks to amend motion 2624 in the name of Mark MacDonald on adoption and permanence in Scotland be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. The final question is that motion 2624 be agreed. Are we all agreed? We are agreed. That concludes decision time. We will now move to members' business and we will take a few moments just to change seats.