Peter MacLeod: Children in care deserve equal chance

Children in care can be viewed as trouble when they are in fact just troubled.

They are children who have ended up with the family support most of us take for granted. They end up isolated and have to cope with the trauma of having no-one to look after them, while being denied the opportunities that should be theirs by right.

That’s why Who Cares? Scotland, the Scottish Government and my organisation, the Association of Directors of Social Work, have come together to launch a campaign to end this discrimination. “It’s Time To Listen” launches today in Edinburgh.

We want everyone to listen to children in care, to make them feel included and help them succeed.

Social workers and carers are committed to support such youngsters, and are not prepared to accept that these young people are more often homeless, imprisoned or ill than other youngsters not in care. It is within the power of each of us to change their life stories.

And we want to do that now. This will require a massive change in attitudes from everyone in Scotland, but it is possible. Look at community care in the 1990s, when thousands of people with learning disabilities were moved out of long-stay hospitals and institutions and moved into communities where they were cared for in their own homes or in more homely settings.

They were given the chance to live the lives they wanted. Social work in local authorities led this work and together with the Scottish Government and Who Cares? Scotland, we can do it again.

Looked-after children have hopes, dreams and ambitions. They should be recognised for their resilience and supported to contribute, not be excluded because their lives have been more challenging than ours.

It’s time to stand up for Scotland’s looked-after children and against the discrimination they face.

Airson clann na h’Alba. For Scotland’s children.

• Peter MacLeod is president of the Association of Directors of Social Work.