For some looked after young people residential care is the most appropriate placement and local authorities should make sure that they have a range of provision to meet the needs of individual young people.
Allegations of abuse in residential care homes
Allegations have been made of abuse at residential institutions in Scotland over the last 40 years. The First Minister made a statement in Parliament on 1 December 04 giving a sincere and full apology on behalf of the people of Scotland to those who had suffered abuse.
In addition, we have taken the following actions:
We have appointed an Independent Expert, Mr Tom Shaw, to investigate and report on the systemic factors which may have allowed abuse to take place in children's homes and residential schools in Scotland across the period 1950 to 1995.
- We have, through the Health Department, established a short-life working group to look at the services available to survivors, particularly counselling services.
- We are in discussion with In Care Abuse Survivors group (INCAS) regarding the types of support, including financial, that we may be able to provide them.
- We made the information we hold on residential children's homes and List D schools public in January 2005 and we have encouraged others to follow our example in opening up their files. A link to the information we hold can be found here.