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Chief Executive Fraser McKinlay reflects on the importance of relationships in this blog to mark this year’s Care Experienced Week.


This week is Care Experienced Week, a hugely important time in the year to celebrate the care experienced community, and I am sending my love and solidarity.

The theme this year is belonging and connection. Whether that’s with people or in a place, this is something that we all need and deserve. None more so than people with care experience.

The Love Rally, organised by Who Cares? Scotland, which will happen in Glasgow on October 26th, is one of the clearest demonstrations to show how important this is.

Children, young people and adults with care experience must feel meaningful connections

In February 2020, Scotland made a promise that, by 2030, all children will grow up loved, safe and respected and be able to fulfill their potential. This promise was made specifically to families, children, young people and adults with care experience. All the changes Scotland needs to make are detailed in a report called The Promise.

This year’s Care Experienced Week comes just as Scotland approaches the half-way point to keeping that promise.

For it to be kept, it’s essential that children, young people and adults with care experience must feel belonging and have meaningful connections. Consistent, loving relationships are crucial for this and in helping children and young people stay safe and thrive.

Some of the most important relationships any of us can have are with our brothers and sisters. The promise is clear that ‘relationships between brothers and sisters will be cherished and protected’. But still, too often, children and young people in and around the care system are separated from their siblings and don’t get the support they need to maintain those relationships. A study by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) found that 80% of the children in this research who were looked after away from home, were separated from their siblings.

Relationships are a key theme of Plan 24-30

This summer, a route map for Scotland to keep the promise was published. It is called Plan 24-30 and is built around the five foundations of the promise, each of which is broken down into themes and actions.

Relationships are one of those key themes. People working with children, young people and families want to develop stable, long-lasting, meaningful relationships but find that hard to achieve in practice. Some of the barriers in place include continual service restructuring, inconsistent thresholds for when a child or family gets support, and limited resources and time to dedicate to building and maintaining trusting relationships.

However, over the years a lot has changed, including reducing the number of children and young people living long-distances away from their community, improved communication channels between caregivers, children, and families as well as enhanced support services.

As Scotland approaches the half-way point of the commitment to keep the promise, there is a pressing need to focus on what matters most to children and families and speed up the pace of change. Because in five years' time there must no longer be any structural, systemic or cultural barriers preventing Scotland’s children build that sense of belonging and connection that many of us take for granted. Making this change is something we can all be part of.

Find out more about what needs to be done, and what you could do at https://www.plan2430.scot/


About the author

Fraser McKinlay - Chief Executive
Photo credit: Sarah Maclean

Fraser McKinlay

Chief Executive

Fraser McKinlay is Chief Executive of The Promise Scotland and sits on the Board of Directors.

He spent 16 years working for Audit Scotland, including ten years as Controller of Audit and Director of Performance Audit and Best Value (PABV). He has been running his own consulting business since April 2021.

As Controller of Audit (CoA), Fraser reported to the Accounts Commission on all matters relating to the audit of local authorities in Scotland. In his ten years as CoA, he produced over 60 Best Value audit reports across all local authorities, alongside many other statutory reports.

As Director of PABV, Fraser was responsible for performance audit across all sectors of public services in Scotland. This work focused on:

  • governance,
  • financial sustainability, and
  • value for money.

Before joining Audit Scotland, Fraser was a public services consultant with Eglinton in Edinburgh and KPMG in London. He specialised in leadership, change management, facilitation and process improvement.

Since starting his own business, he has worked with a range of clients in the public and third sectors, specialising in:

  • strategy,
  • leadership, and
  • change.

He is particularly interested in systems change, and how we use public money more effectively to deliver improved outcomes for citizens, families, and communities.

In October 2021, Scottish Ministers appointed him as a member of the Independent Oversight and Assurance Group for Mental Health Services in Tayside.

Fraser holds:

  • a Postgraduate Diploma (with Distinction) in Strategic Leadership from Warwick Business School, and
  • a degree in Industrial Relations from the University of Strathclyde.

He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.