Children in Need and Hunter Foundation commit £2m to help families in Dundee and East Ayrshire

The Hunter Foundation (THF) and Children in Need have committed £2 million to help families in need across Tayside and East Ayrshire.

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The funding will support the first phase of delivering the Scottish Independent Care Review’s Promise – a blueprint of more than 80 specific changes that must be made to transform how Scotland cares so that all children grow up loved, safe and respected.

The investment will be released in partnership with each of the local authorities.

Sir Tom Hunter rides alongside presenter Matt Baker and rickshaw rider, Josh/Emma during the BBC Children in Need Rickshaw Challenge in 2019.Sir Tom Hunter rides alongside presenter Matt Baker and rickshaw rider, Josh/Emma during the BBC Children in Need Rickshaw Challenge in 2019.
Sir Tom Hunter rides alongside presenter Matt Baker and rickshaw rider, Josh/Emma during the BBC Children in Need Rickshaw Challenge in 2019.
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The funding will build on work already undertaken with Dundee City Council and East Ayrshire Council on ‘What Matters to You’, where families and young people determine their needs and the system offers that support in response.

The funding will help enable a multi-agency approach capable of working with children, young people, parents, and the third sector to support families.

The idea is to bring together all agencies across the scope of care, social work, education, health, and criminal justice, with a view to stopping families falling through the cracks if they are working with more than one agency.

The scheme targets families who are most in need and, by consulting them, looks to find out where there is need for greater partnership and sharing of information between agencies.

The aim is to bring together services which help families in need, taking in the views of the service users themselves.The aim is to bring together services which help families in need, taking in the views of the service users themselves.
The aim is to bring together services which help families in need, taking in the views of the service users themselves.

Sir Tom Hunter, founder of THF, said: “We want to play our part in turning the ambition for Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up in, into the reality that it is.

“The Care Review and subsequent Promise is not the vision of a committee. It’s the reality of 5,500 voices – half of whom are care experienced. We owe it to them that their voice is heard, enabled and delivered upon.

“Whilst this is a relatively small commitment, it builds on our existing investments in this area and we hope to make further substantive commitments going forward.

"Scotland spends an inordinate sum on this system. That shows we care, but it also shows we need to change as the outcomes are still far from acceptable for those young people touched by the very system that should be supporting them.”

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Simon Antrobus, chief executive of BBC Children in Need, said: “We are delighted to be supporting this crucial work, in partnership with The Hunter Foundation.

"This £2m commitment will enable us to continue the work we have already started in Scotland, by listening to the voices of children and families and helping them flourish with their communities."

Fiona Duncan, chair of the Care Review and the Promise, said: “I am delighted at this news and so pleased to see funders investing in the work of change required to implement the conclusions of the Care Review.

"With their support, more initiatives to support children and families will happen and flourish across Scotland. We will only #KeepThePromise made to children and families by working together across organisations, sectors, geography and beyond. The care community demanded change – we all have a role to play to deliver it.”

Both BBC Children in Need and THF will each commit £1m in the investment, with funding from THF coming from a donation pledged to BBC Children in Need last year.

The funding will be delivered against need and aimed at systemic change.

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