Corporate Parenting Plan 2024-27

Welcome to our Corporate Parenting Plan. We are thrilled to have you read our mission to support and improve the lives of Care Experienced people.

This three-year plan sets out our priorities for fulfilling our vision and promise to Care Experienced people.

We will focus on language and stigma, building better relationships, providing employment and developing opportunities and continuing to engage, evaluate, and learn throughout the lifetime of this plan.

Care Experience 

The term Care Experienced refers to anyone who is currently in care or has been for any length of time regardless of their age.

Corporate Parenting 

Corporate Parenting is when an organisation takes responsibility for providing the best possible care and safeguarding those who are Care Experienced.

AiB are a proud to be recognised as a Corporate Parent. We are accountable to the Scottish Ministers, who have duties placed on them by The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

We know that we all need the same things to thrive: a stable home, strong support and steady loving relationships. It is important to AiB that all children and young people have what they need to thrive in life and Care Experienced people are at the centre of this.

Scottish Government figures show that on 31 July 2023 12,206 children were in foster care, kinship care, looked after at home, in residential care, in secure care or with prospective adopters. It is our duty to ensure they are not treated different or unfairly because of this.

As Corporate Parents, we understand the importance of asking "would this be good enough for my child?"

Through this Corporate Parenting Plan, we aim to build a strong pillar of support for all Care Experienced people, doing what we can to help them achieve their full potential. 

In 2020, the Independent Care Review engaged with over 5,500 vulnerable children, young people and families. Feedback showed an overwhelming feeling of not being loved, lacking safety, and facing disrespect.

To help fix this, the Care Review made a promise to every child and young person in Scotland, to work together to make things better.

The promise sends a powerful and clear message that all children in Scotland should grow up loved, safe and respected.

We believe every person has the potential to thrive, but we know that stigma can impact aspects of life for people with lived experience of care. 

We at AiB are committed to working together to ensure all care experienced people receive the support and care they deserve to thrive and reach their full potential, now and in the future.

We will continue to team up and work with other Corporate Parents and local partners to help deliver the promise in Scotland.

As a Corporate Parent we commit to supporting Care Experienced people, so they can live healthy, independent, and fulfilling lives.

We will achieve this by:

• being alert to matters which might adversely affect the wellbeing of care experienced people
• assessing the needs of care experienced people for the services and support we provide
• promoting the interests of care experienced people
• providing care experienced people with opportunities to participate in activities that are designed to promote their wellbeing
• taking any other action, we consider appropriate to improve the way we work with care experienced children and young people
• collaborating with other corporate parents

It is our vision to make a difference in our community by helping to support the needs of Care Experienced people and giving them more options so they can succeed in school, have good mental health, and succeed at work.

To achieve our vision we will focus on the following areas. 

Language and Stigma

The use of certain language causes feelings of low self-esteem and makes Care Experienced people feel different.

Terms like unit, placement, contact, respite and LAC (looked after child) differs from what their non-Care Experienced peers use.

One Care Experienced employee said "I had teachers and people around me say I was lazy and would never accomplish anything, these words stuck with me and still do."

We want to help get rid of this stigma and challenge the language used by:

• helping AiB colleagues understand how to be a good Corporate Parent in practice and raise awareness about the impact language has
• working with other organisations and stakeholders to change the way we speak, write, and refer to care experience within our business

Building better relationships

We want to ensure we nurture and sustain positive relationships with other Corporate Parents. This will provide better opportunities to support Care Experienced people by:

• continuing to work alongside Who Cares? Scotland, delivering our corporate parenting duties
• staying informed about how Corporate Parenting activities and plans in Scotland impact everyone and the positive outcomes they bring
• engaging with local Corporate Parenting networks to listen to other voices and embed local partnerships

The North Ayrshire Council Corporate Parenting Team said "Accountant in Bankruptcy have been involved in our Promise Champions network, have taken steps to understand and reduce stigma & discrimination for the Care Experienced community, and have participated in an impactful video about their supports for Care Experienced people.

Offering employment and development opportunities

All people deserve every opportunity to be the best they can be, including getting a job, training, and support. We want Care Experienced people to feel supported in the career path whether that is in further education or within the workplace and support.  

To do this we will:

• guarantee an interview to all care experienced people for all vacancies
• work with Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce to support Care Experienced people and school pupils by offering work placements to provide valuable work experience, support at career events and financial awareness sessions
• providing support to care experienced children and young people by providing job application, CV, and interview training

One Care Experienced young person said following a session at AiB "I think I know more about budgeting than my mum now! The ladies were so nice which made me interested to listen, I wish school was like that."

Engage, evaluate and learn

Our Corporate Parenting Plan sets our current vision and our priorities to help ensure care experienced people thrive. We will do this by:

• identifying care experienced people who use our service.
• staying informed about issues that could have a negative impact on a care experienced person
• engaging and evaluating what we do so we can continually learn and improve
• training colleagues as corporate parenting specialists, in partnership with Who Cares? Scotland
• sharing knowledge with staff through office training events and provide clear guidance on our staff intranet

We work closely with other Corporate Parents to create opportunities, raise awareness and educate Care Experienced children and young adults.

Organisations include:

• WHO Cares? Scotland
• North Ayrshire Council
• MCR Pathways

Thank you for reading our Corporate Parenting Plan. 

By prioritising language and stigma, building better relationships, offering employment and development opportunities and engage, evaluate and learning, the plan will act as a foundation for the work we will do.

For further information on our Corporate Parenting Plan, please contact the AiB mailbox.

If you need immediate support or help, please contact:

• Who Cares? Scotland
• North Ayrshire Corporate Parenting Team