Official Report 378KB pdf
The first item of business—[Inaudible.]
Members: We cannot hear you.
It looks as if the sound is on here.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. The lights are off at the back of the chamber. I do not know whether there is an electrical fault.
We will suspend briefly until we resolve the matter.
14:01
Meeting suspended.
14:03
On resuming—
I have a slight touch of déjà vu. The first item of business is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Amanda Reid, spiritual care and bereavement lead at Children’s Hospices Across Scotland.
Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament, I thank you for the opportunity to offer today’s time for reflection during children’s hospice week.
Across Scotland, there are children whose lives are short and families who live with a kind of courage that is quiet, constant and often unseen. In Children’s Hospices Across Scotland—CHAS—we have the privilege of walking alongside them. At Robin house and Rachel house, and through our teams in hospitals and homes, we meet families at moments of joy, fear, uncertainty and love.
People often imagine children’s hospices as places of sadness, but those of us who work in them know that they are also places of laughter, music, storytelling and deep connection. They are places where lives are lived fully—sometimes in the small moments, sometimes in the extraordinary ones, but always with tenderness and dignity.
In my role as spiritual care and bereavement lead, and as chaplain of Robin house children’s hospice, I meet families who are navigating the unimaginable. What strikes me again and again is not only their grief but their love: a love that is fierce; a love that is patient; a love that endures; and a love that asks us, as a society, to ensure that no family walks this path alone.
Children’s hospice week invites us to pause and recognise the value of presence—the simple act of being with one another. Presence does not fix what is hard and it does not take away pain, but it says, “You matter. Your story matters. Your child matters.”
In the hospice, presence looks like holding a hand, listening to a memory or sitting in silence when there are no words. It looks like staff supporting one another after a difficult day. It looks like volunteers making tea, playing music or tending the garden so that families can just breathe for a moment.
During this week, we also honour the children who have died. Their names are spoken with love and their families carry them forward in stories, in gestures and in the quiet ways that they continue to shape the world around them. Grief does not end, but neither does love.
As we reflect today, I invite us to hold on to three things. The first is gratitude for the children, who teach us how precious each moment is. The second is compassion for the families, who show us what courage looks like. The third is a commitment to ensuring that every child in Scotland with a life-shortening condition receives the care, dignity and support that they deserve. We should carry that gratitude, compassion and commitment well into this session and all that lies beyond.
Thank you for listening and for holding Scotland’s children with life-shortening conditions and their families in your thoughts today.