Why?
Findings from the Bright Spots pilot in Scotland revealed that children (8-11yrs) in Aberdeenshire were much less likely to see at least one of their parents (62% vs 87% of children in a comparator group).
What?
As a result, Aberdeenshire have introduced training for staff focused on planning, supporting and assessing family time for care-experienced children and young people, with a view to improving this area.
What difference did it make?
In 2024-25, 62 practitioners attended the training, supporting a shared approach to planning and supporting family time. The training has since developed into a regular rolling programme delivered twice yearly, helping to build consistency across teams.
A specific focus on safe and meaningful contact has strengthened practitioners’ understanding of how to support positive relationships between children and their families. There is a clear emphasis on embedding learning into day-to-day practice rather than treating this as one-off training, which helps to sustain improvements over time.
This work forms part of a wider programme of improvement in Aberdeenshire, where feedback from children and young people through the Bright Spots surveys is used to shape services and practice. Overall, the approach is supporting greater consistency in how family time is planned, supported and reviewed, with a focus on improving children’s experiences and maintaining important relationships.
A further 58 practitioners attended the training in 2025-26. This included social workers, family support workers and children’s support coordinators.