Aberdeenshire announced as Bairns’ Hoose child support test site area
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Aberdeenshire is one of the areas announced by Minister for Keeping the Promise Natalie Don that will become home to Scotland’s first Bairns’ Hoose test sites.
Supported by £6 million Scottish Government funding, multi-agency partnerships in Fife, North Strathclyde, Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Tayside and the Outer Hebrides will set up pathfinders to provide coordinated comprehensive support for children and young people in the justice system.
Services including child protection, recovery, healthcare, therapeutic support and justice will be available which will provide a blueprint for a full pilot in 2025.
Minister for Keeping the Promise Natalie Don said: “Establishing this network is a major step forward in our aim to transform the care and justice systems for children and young people, many of whom will have been through serious trauma.
"The creation of these pathfinders will also help us to collectively uphold the rights of children and their families to compassionate and effective support in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
“This is a key action in Keeping the Promise and I’m pleased to have marked Care Experienced Week by meeting representatives of this vital project to hear about their vision for the future as one of the first Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinder Partnerships.”
Barnahus founder and Member of the United Nation’s Committee on the Rights of the Child Bragi Guðbrandsson said: “I am delighted that Barnahus is being implemented in Scotland through the Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinder programme led by Scottish Government and working with partners across a range of sectors.
"This important milestone shows that Barnahus can be adapted to different contexts, cultural traditions and legislative structures, but its core concept remains the same – to support children who have experienced trauma, in the best possible way, through multi-agency responses.
"A significant financial contribution from the Scottish Government will help to build on the positive collaborative working between social work, police, health, third sector and other partners to ensure successful implementation and capturing learning to support a wider national rollout.
"I look forward to following the progress of Scotland’s Bairns’ Hoose Pathfinders closely.”
The six multi-agency partnerships have been selected as part of the ‘Pathfinders’ phase of the programme to establish a Bairns’ Hoose in Scotland.
Bairns’ Hoose is Scotland’s approach to the Icelandic "Barnahus", which means "children’s house".
Bairns’ Hoose offers holistic, child-centred support to those who have been victims or witness of abuse and to children under the age of criminal responsibility whose behaviour has caused harm.
It is all about connecting services around the needs of the child by collaborating across agencies and disciplines.
The four rooms approach does this by bringing together child protection, health, justice and recovery services in one setting.
It’s important to reduce the number of times children are asked to retell their stories as this can be difficult and retraumatising.
Instead, trauma-informed practice is prioritised to support the child’s recovery in a safe, respectful, friendly and welcoming environment.
"Barnahus" is based on the Child Advocacy Model adopted in the US in the 1980s and was first implemented in Iceland in 1998, followed by other Nordic countries and is now being widely adopted across Europe.
Bringing the model to Scotland has been a long-standing and cross-cutting policy ambition, as set out in the Programme for Government 2022-2023.
It is key action in the Keeping the Promise Implementation Plan and Best Start, Bright Futures: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022 to 2026, in addition to achieving the Vision for Justice.
