Scotland's Children's Commissioner - Policy Priority Consultation 2005

We propose that improving support to families would be the most effective way to meet the needs of vulnerable children and young people and in particular the needs of homeless children across Scotland. In this paper I will describe the way that we use support to families to make changes to homeless children.

For seven years our Shelter Families Projects in Edinburgh and South Lanarkshire, and for three and a half years in Glasgow have provided practical and emotional support to homeless families. This support is based where the families are living and is therefore accessible. The support we offer includes direct support to both parents and children with Child Support workers offering therapeutic support to children and Support workers offering support to parents. The families to whom we offer support often have multiple difficulties, poor mental health, ongoing experience of violence and abuse from within the home and from outside in the community, difficulties with drugs and alcohol, ill health and financial problems. They have low self-esteem and real difficulties with forming and maintaining positive and supportive relationships.