 Rydyn ni i'n gyn hotelsu'r dyn ni yn cymerodol ceisio'r llifosueth yn ddyfodol SRF14730 yn ddyfodol Gil Paterson yn gweithio'r cyfrifau fawr. Mae'r llifosueth gyda'r mollid ar gyfer cyfar ac mae'n deall whisio'r digwydd o'r ddiddordeb sydd gael i'r cy Lydia Gwlydd o'i ddeswiad y gweithiau'r cyfrifio'r ystafell neu'r cyfrifio'r cyfrifio'r rydych chi'n cyfrifio'r ddiddordeb sydd yn ddydd pant yn oedd, yn amlwyd diwrnodol. I want to say a number of things. Thank you for that. Can I take the opportunity to thank members that, for providing support for the motion and allowing for debate this evening, it's an important evening for it to take place? I would also like to welcome members from the Scottish Coat Death Trust and the Richmond Hope, the UK Science, the Muslin Breivants Support Services, child bereavement UK, seasons for growth, petal support, sans-lodians, parents who were affected and Wilma Currother, who are all in the gallery tonight. If I've missed anyone, I must apologise. There may well be people that I don't know are here tonight. I want to use most of my words but not exclusively as you will hear on some of the recent aspects of the good work done by the Scottish Cot Death Trust. 1 in 29 children in the UK today have been bereaved of a parent, brother or a sister. Today marks the last day of the week-long children's grievance awareness week, which allowed all of us to come together to show our support for bereaved children. When a child dies, most of the focus is usually on the adults compared to the siblings. It is recognised that children react to loss differently, however regardless of this, children require support also in order for them to adjust to change and to understand what has happened. Families who use services of the Scottish Cot Death Trust are often worried about how their children are going to cope. When in this position they need to know and that the parents need to know themselves and they worry about the children rather than the row and grief. The Scottish Cot Death Trust offers a valuable home visiting bereavement support service that enables them to meet the parents and children together for more specialist support for children. Referals can be made to play therapy and for filial therapy, where parents are taught how to offer support to their children through structured play. Often referrals are made to specific support available in a children's home area, which is tailored to their age and as such. The trust works collaboratively with a number of other organisations to make that possible, including the Seasons for Growth, Richmond Hope, Winston's Wish, Child Bereavement UK and Simba Charity. The services that are offered by the trust and all organisations involved are not only vital to the children and families who receive them but also to ensure that the widest support is available. I know that Richmond Hope, who is based in Edinburgh, is about to open a centre in Glasgow, which is very welcome news indeed. If I can digress just a little, it would seem to me that, since there are so many organisations doing the sterling work, perhaps it might be worthwhile for the Parliament to consider a strategy to enhance further the great working practices in this vital sector. It is well known that adults find addressing and explaining the topic of death when it happens, daunting, but it is made even harder when it is a sibling of a child and they themselves are still grieving. The introduction of two particular resources, which I am very proud to be highlighting this evening, not only helps adults to approach discussing death for the child but also to help children who are born into a family who have lost a child. The first of those resources is Rory Star. Rory Star, for me, is like a book that you would pick up in a nursery or in a school, and it is so well illustrated and easy read, I am sure, by children. When this book was produced, there was no other resource available in Scotland for young children when a baby died from caught death. The book aimed at children tells the story of a young girl who has just began to get used to it having a little brother when he passes away. It deals with witnessing grief during this time and attending funeral. It reassures children that it is okay to cry about the loss of their brother or sister. For grieving parents who must struggle to come to terms with sudden death of their child, while still being a good mum or dad to the children and remain and remain, the source is an invaluable one indeed. Money was raised by a mum, a woman character whose son Andrew passed away in 1990 from caught death aged 16 weeks. The trust invested the money in creating the resource. The second book, called Andrew's Rainbow, and here we are again, it's in the same type of vein it's made for children, is so beautifully illustrated like the first one. It was following the launch of Rory Star that Wilma became aware of a gap in sibling support for children born into a family after the death of a child. It is so important that these children, often called rainbow babies, are supported in any grief that they feel towards the brother or sister they knew. There will be photographs of their siblings and other family members and important days in the year that are shared by the family to remember their brother or sister. They will form a bond with their sibling through the family talking about memories and looking at photographs. For them it is important that they know they are not a replacement for the child who had died. Some may wonder whether they would be born if their sibling had not passed. The idea is that the baby is like a rainbow after a storm. Rainbow babies is the understanding that the beauty of a rainbow does not negate the ravages of the storm. When a rainbow appears, it does not mean that the storm never happened or that the family is not still dealing with its aftermath. What it means is that something beautiful and full of light has appeared in the midst of the darkness and clouds. Storm clouds may never hover but the rainbow provides a counterbalance of colour, energy and hope. For young children having an older sibling who only appears as a baby in a photograph is a complex situation. They may tell people they have an older sibling or include the sibling in activities such as drawing family trees. They may wonder what their older brother or sister would look like. Would they look like? Would they share the same interests? The book Andrews Rainbow contains the actual words of rainbow children and was written to help both parents and professionals to explore some of the feelings children have about being born into a family after a loss of a sibling. The book I have highlighted is what prompted me to bring this debate to Parliament. I sincerely hope that this debate will assist in promoting the support and resources available to children as well as acknowledging the work of all organisations involved in highlighting the importance of supporting children as well as adults through bereavement. Finally, I commend the work of all the organisations engaged in this difficult work that has brought of immense importance to us all. I now call on Malcolm Chisholm to be followed by Kenny MacAskill. Four minutes are there by please. I welcome all the different groups to the gallery. I only looked into the two that are mentioned in the motion, the grief encounter and the Scottish Cot Death Trust. Although I would like to thank the Childhood Bereavement Network and Marie Curie for their useful briefings for the debate, I suppose that most people might say that all deaths are equal, but it seems to me that the most terrible deaths are when, on the one hand, a parent loses a child or, on the other hand, when a child loses a parent. The Scottish Cot Death Trust, of course, is perhaps best known for the public in terms of the grief that parents feel when they lose a child. We are told that a baby dies still every nine days of Cot Death in Scotland, so that is an absolutely awful, devastating experience for parents. However, what the motion emphasises today is that it can also be a heart-rending experience for the sibling of the child who has died. I suppose that we can imagine that if we think of having to explain this sudden absence of a new life to a confused sibling. That is what the books that Gil Paterson has described have been seeking to do. An honest and heartfelt way of explaining some of the most profound and difficult questions that a child can ask in such a situation. More generally, the trust seeks to support families but also to educate the public and professionals about how to reduce the risk of Cot Death. I pay tribute to their work. The childhood bereavement network and their briefing emphasise how children need support in grief and also point out the long-term as well as the immediate consequences if we fail to do it. That is something that we have to bear in mind. They also remind us about how many children are affected by this in Scotland each year and say that 5 per cent of children have been bereaved of at least one parent by the age of 16. They emphasise the importance of schools and having sensible and flexible people and systems to provide support. That connects with one of the two recommendations from Marie Curie. They recommend that it should be built into the curriculum for excellence in terms of awareness of grief and bereavement for all in school. They also make the recommendation that there should be a national co-ordinator for childhood bereavement in Scotland. I hope that the Government will reflect on those suggestions. The other organisation mentioned in the motion is grief encounter, which also works incredibly hard to help children to grapple with loss and death and to support the family as a whole in such a situation. They also aim to work closely with professionals in the sector, providing training to counsellors, teachers and company employees who will work closely with children who have experienced loss. They also, as the motion reminds us, organise grief awareness week, which started on 19 November. It was moving to read of the candle ceremony that commences the week's event, which is clearly a very poignant way of remembering loved ones who have been lost. The theme this year is supporting parents and carers supporting grieving children. Grief Encounter also runs a helpline, which currently supports over 300 people annually. In conclusion, I would like to pay tribute to their work, the work of the Scottish Cot Death Trust and the work of all the organisations in the gallery, and those who are not here today as well, who work in this very important field. Many thanks. I now call on Kenny MacAskill to be followed by Nannette Milne. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I join in thanking Gil Paterson for raising the issue and, indeed, for his eloquent speech that narrated the depth and complexity of the issue. It is not high profile, but it is certainly high in its consequence, in its effect and, indeed, in its intensity for many. As we all are aware, it is hidden in many ways, and it is hidden for perhaps two reasons. First of all, because of age, it can be hidden because of the inability for a child to communicate, or because perhaps the reticence and the lack of maturity in the inability to verbalise or speak to others. Indeed, that is compounded by the inability of adults perhaps to address the needs of the child, perhaps to be concerned with their own grief in some instances, or it is just difficult, and those are challenges that multiply the problems that affect everybody when there is a loss. However, it is also a culture in Scotland. We do have a culture of big boys don't cry, and even girls sometimes are expected just to soak it up and get on with it. It is not just Scotland, but the western world. It is not particularly good at dealing with death, and I think that it has probably been compounded over recent years, but it is something that we have passed down through the generations, and the older generation who should be able to address it better are not particularly good at helping those who are younger and struggling to cope with it. It is significant. The statistics that came out in the briefing that Malcolm Chisholm referred to from the child bereavement network are substantial. 2,400 parents died in Scotland, leaving dependent children just last year. 3,900 newly bereaved children last year. Around 3.5 per cent of school-aged children and young people between 5 and 16 have been bereaved at some point, and indeed 5 per cent of young people have been bereaved of at least one parent by the time they reach the age of 16. They go on to narrate the outcomes in terms of health, mental and physical, in terms of effect upon education and employment. Indeed, it also says sadly criminal and disruptive behaviour, because the death of a parent by the age of 26 increases the risk of a criminal conviction for a violent defence, and the statistics here are rather stark. I do recall as the justice secretary challenging the prison service about the difficulties that we have with women offenders who are treated very sympathetically for the loss and trauma that they have often gone through and asking them about the comparisons with young men to which they said, well, often the same difficulties applied with young men, but that culture I referred to of big boys not crying, simply soaking it up, transcends themselves and it not being addressed, never being articulated, but having lifelong consequences that sadly has seen them get into poem at young offenders or indeed the adult prison network. That's not to condone the behaviour that they're done, they do have to address it and face the consequences of their actions, but we do try and require to tackle the underlying effects and manifestations of it, because sadly so often what they will have been doing is trying to address their bereavement and loss by that traditional Scottish method of self-medication through alcohol or drugs and that's why we're required to address it. We are blessed in Scotland by the agencies that Gil Paterson narrated. I'm glad to see Richmond Hope, who are in my constituency, who I've visited. I'm delighted to hear that they're extending their services elsewhere. They do face challenges in the resources that they have. A few people do an awful lot of good work with a large number of young people. We do have to have a strategy, but we do have to have delivery. We are in tight and straight in circumstances, probably compounded by what's been happening in another Parliament elsewhere today, but I would ask the minister to ensure that not only do we have that strategy, but we do what we can to ensure that we have that resource for the outstanding organisations that Gil Paterson narrated that are necessary for every individual and especially for every child who's suffered loss. Many thanks. I thank Gil Paterson for securing a debate on his motion this evening. We've seen many members' debates in this Parliament on various awareness weeks, and I feel that it's particularly important that an issue such as children's grief is recognised here. This week exists to highlight the challenges that are faced by children and affected by bereavement, and those children, wherever they are in the country, should have access to support services to help them to cope and rebuild their lives. I note that this year the week is co-ordinated with Grief Encounter, a charity that was established in 2003, which provides grief services to support bereaved children and their families. I'm pleased that we have the opportunity to discuss this important issue on the very last day of this awareness week, and I understand that a number of activities have taken place across the UK since 19 November, including promoting awareness on social media, such as their thunder clap, which reached over 850,000 people and encouraging supporters to organise events, including training days and workshops, for families. The statistics on how many children and young people face this challenge are eye-opening. Grief Encounter says that one in 29 children under the age of 16 in the UK will suffer the death of a parent. In the briefing paper by the Childhood Bereavement Network, it suggests that up to 2,400 parents with dependent children died in Scotland last year. However, those are estimates because they point out that there is not official data collected, which they argue makes service development even more challenging. The outcomes of bereavement of a close relative or friend to children and young people can be immediate and longer term. When children experience such a sad loss, they will experience a range of emotions. They may be concerned and confused and overwhelmed by all that is going on around them. Even if a child has helped through this difficult period, the effects of such a profound loss can impact on their education later on. My nephew and niece lost their mum when they were children. My niece gave way to her emotions quickly and recovered well. My nephew did not, and I am not sure that he is ever fully recovered from his loss. The Childhood Bereavement Network has research showing that, compared to the non-bereave peers, children who have lost a parent are more likely to suffer from a mental disorder, 1.7 times more likely to attempt suicide in young adulthood, and 50 per cent more likely to die before middle age. However, in relation to children's education, the network notes that bereaved children can score half a grade lower in GCSE exams, and for girls bereaved of a sibling, that can be a full grade. The death of a parent before age 16 is found to increase the chances of the bereaved child be unemployed by age 30. Those statistics are truly shocking and show the need for awareness of this issue. In my own region, we have the highly regarded Grampian child bereavement network, which works to assist children and young people to access appropriate support that they need to cope with bereavement. One of its resources is a book called Muddles, Puddles and Sunshine, which offers invaluable practical and sensitive support for younger bereaved children. The book offers a structure and outlook for many difficult feelings that inevitably follow a loss. It aims to help children to make sense of their experience and reflect on their grief and to find a balance between remembering the person who has passed away and having fun. Society must become more open to discussion of bereavement, and one area that has only received limited consideration is the area of pre-bereavement. In many cases, when a parent knows that they are going to die, the stress of not knowing what will happen can affect the child. NHS Choices has developed an information service for children, which encourages parents to talk about their impending death and has suggested that parents start a memory box to give children the opportunity to keep things that remind them of their time together. That can also be done with other family members after their parent dies. I also welcome the work of the Scottish Crock Death Trust. It is perhaps impossible for any parents and families who have not lived through it to understand the grief experienced following the loss of a child or a baby. Having come close to losing my own son when he had liver failure aged 20, I often wonder just how I and my family would have coped had his liver transplant not been available or successful. I cannot begin to imagine how people can cope with the sudden death of a healthy baby, and I am so thankful for the work that is done by the Crock Death Trust to help parents and children in this situation. Can I ask the minister to take on board the need to include bereavement as part of teacher and support staff training? That would fit with recent legislation to widen the scope of teachers and classroom support staff to meet the emotional and diverse needs of pupils. Finally, I congratulate all the charities that work in this area and again to the member for securing this debate tonight. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would also like to put on record my thanks to Gil Paterson for raising the important issue. I also extend my thanks and welcome to all the groups here tonight in the public gallery. The debate has provided a valuable opportunity to highlight children's grief awareness week, organised by the Charity Grief Encounter. More widely, to put on record, our thanks for the excellent work that has been done across a range of different organisations and settings to provide what we all recognise as much needed support to those including children who have suffered from bereavement. Bereavement is traumatic for anyone at any stage—a point that is recognised by Malcolm Chisholm—but it is particularly traumatic when that loss comes in early life. As Gil Paterson said, the statistics are stark. One in 29 children in the UK have lost a parent or sibling. Given the number of children and young people who are affected and the impact that loss can have on them, it is crucial that we provide free professional compassionate support at a time when children are vulnerable. It is in that context of support that I want to mention getting it right for every child. Because within that approach, that girffec approach, the name person role will be made available to children and young people across Scotland from August 2016 following the passage of the Children and Young People Act last year. The name person has a role to promote support and safeguard the well-being of children and young people. I have no doubt that the pain described tonight will be a useful mechanism by which people can find that support that they need. Families may well use the name person for issues that are affecting their child's wellbeing, such as separation, loss or bereavement, and that name person structure—that getting it right for every child approach—will be, hopefully, a structure by which we can signpost children and families on to groups with specialisms that are able to help. We can take on board the points raised through the briefings that I think have been circulated for tonight's debate and the points raised around what we need to do around curriculum for excellence and to better recognise in a national sense the need to co-ordinate support for families and children at this vulnerable time. I recently spoke with a constituent's niece, Dr Rachel Fairly, who has done academic research on the topic of bereavement. She described to me some of the areas that she believed that we needed to concentrate on within the context of grieving. She described that, for some, in the pre-death period, there is a gap in support and that, for some, it is only post-bereavement where help kicks in. That is a point that has been recognised and raised by Nanette Milne. Her study also described that children are impacted by bereavement may suffer a social death whereby their cubs, their scouts, their sporting events that they used to attend to may end while focus is on the family member who is ill. She also described to me about the need to look at adolescents who may find their own coping strategies and that if effective intervention is not there, that may well lead to criminal or negative behaviour. I think that is a point that Kenny MacAskill raised. We need to make sure that the way in which adolescents are coping with those things is not through self-medication or negative behaviour. We need to make sure that we are acting early to help those vulnerable young people to avoid that route. Gil Paterson and Malcolm Chisholm also described the trauma, pain and hurt of children who suffered bereavement and the books that Gil mentioned that go some way to support the family. His and others comments about the pain felt by siblings who lose a brother or a sister reminds me of hearing an event organised by Youth Cancer Trust about hearing a brother speak about losing his sister to cancer who described feelings of sadness, of anger, but also feeling quite jealous that the focus was always on the sister. That complex wrangling of emotions that he had to go through showcased to me, I think, very eloquently the real need that we have to provide that emotional support to help those young people to cope with the trauma that they are going through. That is why, as well as the legislative provisions that I have mentioned through the Children and Young People Act, the Scottish Government also provides funding to a number of organisations that support families at a time of loss. Those organisations include child bereavement UK, cruise bereavement care Scotland, CHAS and the Children's Hospice Association of Scotland. That is why we need to make sure that that support continues and that we continue to provide the support to those organisations that are well placed and understand the complexity of the issue that we are here to debate tonight. The motion that Gil Paterson has for debate focuses not just on the impact of a child losing a loved one but also on the loss of a child and notes the valuable work of the Scottish Caught Death Trust. I also recognise that miscarriage or stillbirth can also have a huge effect on a family, and there are a number of measures in place to help health boards to provide appropriate training to enable doctors and midwives to support parents at that vulnerable time. Through the work of the early years collaborative and the maternity and children quality improvement collaborative, we are also supporting practitioners to deliver improvements in those services. Both collaboratives aim to reduce the rate of stillbirth and a wide range of work has already been taken to help. For example, increasing the uptake of healthy start vouchers, joining up midwifery and addiction services for vulnerable families and supporting pregnant women to stop smoking. We have seen a positive downward trend in the rates of stillbirth. I would also like to mention the work of Sands, a charity that undertakes work throughout Scotland in working with health professionals to improve the quality of care and services provided to bereave parents and their families. The Scottish Government currently provides the organisation with financial support to help to continue this valuable work and to also work with health boards to ensure that relevant staff receive appropriate education and training to support parents at this vulnerable time. A clear message from this debate tonight is that we need to make sure that training and support is not just there for the professionals who work in the health sector but to ensure that that is there also for those teachers and other people who may come into contact with young people to ensure that the training is adequate and that the support is appropriate. To conclude, I thank Gil Paterson again for bringing forward this important topic. It is an emotional topic, it is difficult, it is complex but it requires us all to ensure that we do truly get it right for every child and recognise the suffering and trauma that these young people are going through and the wider family and that we also need to have and bring about a cultural change to be open about the way we deal with grief, to be open about the way we deal with death in Scotland. We need to make sure that we use tonight not just as a debate that we will go home from and forget about but use this debate as a platform by which we need to recognise the greater need to continue the support for charities and organisations that are helping people to cope with trauma and grief and suffering and pain but also make sure that we work practically together to make sure that that dialogue is on-going so that we recognise where challenges exist, we can work together to overcome them to ensure that we are getting it right for every child and not just some children, some of the time but make sure that these children can go on and cope with that grief and cope with that trauma in a better way that does not diminish their long-term aspirations and hopes and fulfil their ambitions to live without having to suffer the pain that they have gone through. Thank you all for taking part in this important debate. I now close this meeting of Parliament.