Scotland continues parents mental health fund

It is almost £1m of funding for mental health care for parents who have had their child(ren) taken into care in which the Scottish Government is to persist. 
Given that having your child taken into care is a catastrophic event the Scottish Government programme of ‘getting it right for kids’ is intended to transform people’s lives supporting and helping them to develop skills and confidence some have even labelled the scheme ‘life-changing’. 
 
“It is acknowledged that The Promise is guiding The Scottish Government as to how to perform its functions under the act of the Parliament of keeping families together as far as possible,” said Scotland’s health secretary, Neil Gray. “Any action that leads to taking a child into care should be done in the best interests of the welfare of that particular child because such a process is traumatizing to the entire family and it by no means comes to an end. ” 
 
He continued: “It is quite a common tragedy that birth parents are left with no support once their child is taken to care – being alone to struggle to come to terms with that situation, especially when they might be emotionally vulnerable; this or that said, though there is a lot of data and success stories collected by specialists working with birth parents within this program. 
 
The total investment required for 2024/25 will therefore be £900k and will be spread over the following 11 organizations. It will be provided by the Corra Foundation, an organization that assisted the Scottish Government to provide the required services for parents whose mental health had worsened after, at least, one of their children had been taken into care. Some of the clients accessing the programme have multiple losses and have gone through so many unfortunate incidents in their lives. This includes: 
 
Childhood trauma 
Substance misuse 
Mental health issues 
Domestic abuse 
 
The Corra Foundation’s CEO, Carolyn Sawers, said: “The funded services assist birth mums and dads a lot. The organizations offer relational and compassionate support wherein birth parents are secured, appreciated and attended to. ” 
 
Neil Gray concluded: The birth parents who have participated in the programme welcome it and some of them have described it as life changing I am glad that we can go on doing this and express our gratitude to the Corra Foundation and the groups they support and parents.