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| Fiona Duncan: ‘We want to put love at the heart of Scotland’s care system’ | Fiona Duncan: ‘We want to put love at the heart of Scotland’s care system’ |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Perhaps it should be, but “love” is not a word automatically associated with politics or policy-making. And so it felt significant when Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, announcing a “root and branch” independent review of Scotland’s care system in October 2016, said: “Every young person deserves to be loved”. | Perhaps it should be, but “love” is not a word automatically associated with politics or policy-making. And so it felt significant when Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon, announcing a “root and branch” independent review of Scotland’s care system in October 2016, said: “Every young person deserves to be loved”. |
| Eighteen months later, the chair of that review, Fiona Duncan, has just completed the “discovery phase” of her inquiry, asking more than 800 children with experience of the care system, alongside another 800 paid and unpaid individuals who work with them, about the word “love”. | Eighteen months later, the chair of that review, Fiona Duncan, has just completed the “discovery phase” of her inquiry, asking more than 800 children with experience of the care system, alongside another 800 paid and unpaid individuals who work with them, about the word “love”. |
| “In conversations with children and young people about love, we’ve been trying to figure out what that feels like and if the system was a loving system what would be different. We’ve been having conversations with the people responsible for delivering the system about how they would see themselves loving the children that they care for.” | “In conversations with children and young people about love, we’ve been trying to figure out what that feels like and if the system was a loving system what would be different. We’ve been having conversations with the people responsible for delivering the system about how they would see themselves loving the children that they care for.” |
| Ultimately, says Duncan, how can you ensure that “those travelling through what is a really complicated system come out the other end with a capacity to love”? | Ultimately, says Duncan, how can you ensure that “those travelling through what is a really complicated system come out the other end with a capacity to love”? |
| Duncan, 50, who is chief executive of the philanthropic grant-giving foundation Corra, (formerly called the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland) has been visiting residential homes and secure care settings across Scotland as part of the review and insists that she wants these conversations to build throughout the sector. “The thing that will make this [review] stick,” she argues, is that it will be a “consensus of thousands”. | Duncan, 50, who is chief executive of the philanthropic grant-giving foundation Corra, (formerly called the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland) has been visiting residential homes and secure care settings across Scotland as part of the review and insists that she wants these conversations to build throughout the sector. “The thing that will make this [review] stick,” she argues, is that it will be a “consensus of thousands”. |
| The review takes places at a time when only 4% of children who grow up in care in Scotland go to university, almost half will have mental health problems, and close on a third will become homeless. Sturgeon described these statistics as “simply unacceptable” when she appointed Duncan to the job. At the same time, horrors are being revealed at the ongoing Scottish public inquiry into historical abuse of children in residential care in the country including at the notorious Smyllum Park orphanage. | The review takes places at a time when only 4% of children who grow up in care in Scotland go to university, almost half will have mental health problems, and close on a third will become homeless. Sturgeon described these statistics as “simply unacceptable” when she appointed Duncan to the job. At the same time, horrors are being revealed at the ongoing Scottish public inquiry into historical abuse of children in residential care in the country including at the notorious Smyllum Park orphanage. |
| Duncan says brilliant practice is going on across Scotland, but “there’s also practice that isn’t making a positive different to children and young people’s lives, that could stop”. Examples include multiple placements, or brothers and sisters being separated, “something that has a massive impact at the point of going into care”. | Duncan says brilliant practice is going on across Scotland, but “there’s also practice that isn’t making a positive different to children and young people’s lives, that could stop”. Examples include multiple placements, or brothers and sisters being separated, “something that has a massive impact at the point of going into care”. |
| The early stages of the review have also identified “things that work in most settings, but need rocket fuel”, as well as “gaps in evidence where we want to do tests and pilots”. (The references to tests and fuel comes from the children Duncan is consulting, in a deliberate effort to demystify the process.) The next stage of the review will explore the issues that have been identified as requiring more in-depth study, including how to prevent children on the edges of care from entering it; what happens at the end of their time in care; and how the system is best inspected. | The early stages of the review have also identified “things that work in most settings, but need rocket fuel”, as well as “gaps in evidence where we want to do tests and pilots”. (The references to tests and fuel comes from the children Duncan is consulting, in a deliberate effort to demystify the process.) The next stage of the review will explore the issues that have been identified as requiring more in-depth study, including how to prevent children on the edges of care from entering it; what happens at the end of their time in care; and how the system is best inspected. |
| Duncan herself experienced the care system when she was a child, a fact that she is happy to acknowledge but unwilling to expand on. “The place that I’ve settled on is that my job is to listen and to understand, and possibly I’m more able to do that in an empathetic way because of my own life,” she explains. “But this review is not about my life, it’s about figuring out what should happen for the next generation. If I talked about myself there’s a risk that that would be what the story would be about, so it’s a very deliberate decision.” | |
| One professional admirer, of whom there are many, describes how Duncan “fills the room with positivity and humour”. But her seriousness and drive are also evident. As well as spending “huge amounts of time on beanbags”, Duncan has conducted a rigorous data analysis. “This is the most important thing I have ever been asked to do and the conversations I have had with children and young people are a huge privilege. They are trusting me and the review to listen properly. There’s learning in every single story. I intend to honour them all.” | One professional admirer, of whom there are many, describes how Duncan “fills the room with positivity and humour”. But her seriousness and drive are also evident. As well as spending “huge amounts of time on beanbags”, Duncan has conducted a rigorous data analysis. “This is the most important thing I have ever been asked to do and the conversations I have had with children and young people are a huge privilege. They are trusting me and the review to listen properly. There’s learning in every single story. I intend to honour them all.” |
| So what does a good outcome for this inquiry look like in five or 10 years’ time? “At the moment the system works in silos, rubbing up against one another and creating delays, barriers, stigma, and the child is often ricocheted around this operating structure,” says Duncan. She is unequivocal about the solution: “Everything should be focused around the child, and the system should be supportive and loving towards the child. So a total and utter reversal of where the focus is now.” | |
| To take part in the review go to https://www.carereview.scot/get-involved/ | To take part in the review go to https://www.carereview.scot/get-involved/ |
| Curriculum vitae | Curriculum vitae |
| Age: 50. | Age: 50. |
| Lives: Edinburgh. | Lives: Edinburgh. |
| Career: November 2014-present: CEO of the Corra Foundation (deputy from Aug 2013), formerly called the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland; 2006-2013: Consultant to the voluntary sector with THINK Consulting Solutions; 1999-2006: Capability Scotland, latterly head of external affairs; 1998-99: Head of development at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama; 1992-98: Established WaterAid’s office for Scotland and Northern Ireland. | Career: November 2014-present: CEO of the Corra Foundation (deputy from Aug 2013), formerly called the Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland; 2006-2013: Consultant to the voluntary sector with THINK Consulting Solutions; 1999-2006: Capability Scotland, latterly head of external affairs; 1998-99: Head of development at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama; 1992-98: Established WaterAid’s office for Scotland and Northern Ireland. |
| Public life: Member, Comic Relief’s UK Grants Committee. | Public life: Member, Comic Relief’s UK Grants Committee. |
| Interests: Family, friends and food. | Interests: Family, friends and food. |
| Social care | Social care |
| Interview | Interview |
| Children | Children |
| Scotland | Scotland |
| Young people | Young people |
| interviews | interviews |
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