Chamber and committees

Child abuse and neglect have significant detrimental effects on children and young people’s emotional, physical and mental health, social development, education and future employment.

Scotland’s approach to child protection is set within the “Getting It Right For Every Child” (GIRFEC) approach to planning and providing support and care to children and families. The GIRFEC approach supports prevention of child abuse and neglect by driving forward a multi-agency approach to working with and supporting children and young people.

The National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021, updated in 2023, provides information to support practitioners to identify and respond to cases of child abuse and neglect. We are also developing national multi-agency training on inter-agency referral discussions (IRD), which are the start of the formal process of information sharing, assessment, analysis and decision-making following reported concerns about abuse or neglect of a child or young person. This will further support practitioners to prevent and intervene early so risk and harm to children and young people is recognised and acted on quickly and effectively.

We continue to learn from good practice both in Scotland and internationally to deliver positive action to reduce child abuse and neglect including initiatives like Scotland’s baby box, the Best Start Grant, Best Start Foods, Parent Club and universal free school meals for children from primary 1-5.