Scottish Attachment in Action are passionate about our role in Scotland’s vow to keep The Promise to care experienced people that they will grow up loved, safe and respected by 2030.
Two of our key projects, Wee BREATHERS and Adoption Allies both help to create two of the key foundations needed to keep The Promise, by supporting the workforce, and by supporting the school environment. The Wee BREATHERS programme, which has now been up and running for just over 18 months, does this by providing reflective spaces to education staff supported by trauma responsive specialists. The Adoption Allies project (funded more recently) aims to create a supportive school environment by providing training opportunities to staff to deepen their understanding of developmental trauma, as well as opening up range of ways to improve communication and understanding.
What are we finding?
The team are excited to say we now have emerging findings of Wee BREATHERS from our independent evaluators The Lines Between. SAIA have delivered over 185 sessions across 9 local authorities, with 85% of education staff finding the reflective spaces either useful or very useful, and 83% find them either rewarding or very rewarding. Findings include that 97% of participants now understand that behavioural responses are a means of communication, and 90% now have improved relationships with children and young people. This feedback is even better than we could have hoped for, and shows the power of reflective supervision sessions for education staff.
“It’s given me time to reflect and informed me with more knowledge as to why children may be displaying certain behaviours and how to support them.”
We are also pleased to say that the Adoption Allies project is developing, providing training, open sessions and direct contact with adoptive families to help provide improved understanding and communication between schools, adoptive families and children. The full evaluation of Wee BREATHERS will be available at the end of January 2025, and our Adoption Allies report capturing key findings will be available in March 2025.
So what now?
SAIA are actively working to embed these approaches by developing a business model, engaging with new funders, building partnerships with like-minded organisations, and raising awareness of our findings in the coming months. We are mindful of the challenging financial climate in the charity sector and will adapt our approach to ensure the sustainability and continuation of our projects. As Scotland approaches the midway point to 2030, cross party support to #KeepThePromise is essential. We are pleased that of November 2024, all parties reaffirmed their commitment to Scotland’s children, families and care experienced community in The Scottish Parliament. This is positive news, but we believe that cross-party support must be backed by adequate resources to improve the lives of care-experienced children and young people. We hope that Plan 24-30 can be fully resourced and will keep you updated over the coming months.
Wendy McAuslan, Director of Scottish Attachment in Action
