Why we cannot abandon children who grew up in care when they begin journey into adulthood
Every young person deserves to grow into adulthood with the support of someone who’s there when they need them
Scotland now finds itself at another juncture in how it supports children and young people with ‘care experience’ and supporting those who have been part of the ‘care system’ is not a one-size-fits-all task.
The newly introduced Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill is a welcome step to progress The Promise – the national commitment that every child grows up loved, safe and respected. But legislation alone won’t change lives.
Real progress depends on what happens in the space between childhood and adulthood – a space that remains underpopulated with the services and supports needed to meet the complexity of that journey.
Stability, safety and belonging
At Dean and Cauvin Young People’s Trust, we’ve been part of Scotland’s care landscape for nearly 300 years. That history brings experience – but also responsibility. We’ve seen how systems evolve, how young people’s needs shift, and how good intentions can fall short without the right support.
While early intervention must remain a national priority, we must also be thoughtful and deliberate about the care needed when young people cannot remain in the family home. The type of care Dean and Cauvin provides – relational, community-rooted and long-term – is not a last resort, but a considered pathway that can offer stability, safety and belonging.
We call this the transition space. It’s the period when a teenager is moving into early adulthood and are navigating identity and friendships, housing, education and mental health – all while trying to find their place in the world. These are the same transitions we all go through – leaving school, starting relationships, finding our footing in the adult world – but for young people with care experience, the journey can be more complex and the support less certain.
Our new strategy puts the transition space at its heart. Because we believe that what young people need most during this time is presence. Services that are there. That exist. That are invested in and supported to create the anchors and stability young people need – not just for a moment, but across time.
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The transition from child to adult
The new Bill offers important reforms: extended aftercare, stronger corporate parenting duties, a statutory right to advocacy and a more integrated approach to planning children’s services. But to make these changes real, we must confront the reality that the gap between child and adult services is often more than a gap – it’s a chasm of provision, resources, understanding and available help.
Young people don’t stop needing care at 16 or 18. Yet too often, the scaffolding falls away just as the challenges increase. The transition space is where risk and opportunity meet – and if Scotland is to get this right, it is where services must be increasingly designed to walk alongside young people, not just hand them over.
At Dean and Cauvin, we’ve developed a model of care that creates the places, spaces and people to offer young people stability and support through key transitions.
This includes residential homes that feel like home, transition flats that foster independence, a Wellbeing Hub providing counselling and peer support outside typical working hours and Scotland’s only dedicated house for young mums and babies – a nurturing space for building safe relationships and parenting skills.
Working together
These services are not just interventions; they are anchors in young people’s lives. And when they work best, they do so through meaningful partnerships.
When we opened our new house for young people in North Edinburgh in 2024, it wasn’t something we could do alone. It happened because we worked with a local housing association, construction firms, developers and others who shared our commitment to the common good. That experience taught us how to pool resources, share knowledge and build something better together.
The Bill lays out the potential for a more joined-up approach to supporting young people. But it’s not just about integration between public services. It’s about how we parent nationally.
Corporate parenting is a legal duty but it’s also a human one. And like parenting, it’s hard to do alone. You need friends, family, neighbours – others who help you do the most vital task of all. In reality, corporate parenting is a co-parenting task. It requires collaboration and shared responsibility.
The Bill gives us the framework but it will be how we work together to parent our most vulnerable young people that will make the difference.
To realise the ambitions of the Bill, investment in the transition space is essential. But it will only succeed with the help of the third sector – the brilliant local services, large and small, that exist across Scotland and are rooted in, created by and for our communities.
That means we need a more honest reappraisal of the relationship between statutory and third sector partners. The reality is that this relationship is still too often one of transaction, not collaboration. It doesn’t open up the space for creativity or the maximisation of each sector’s strengths – the flexibility, responsiveness and innovation of the third sector and the reach, expertise and infrastructure of the state.
We need true partnership. One that recognises the value of local knowledge, relational practice and community-rooted care. One that sees the third sector not as a subcontractor, but as a co-parent in the national effort to support young people.
Scotland has the vision. The Bill gives us the tools. But tools need hands to wield them. The transition space is where we must act. Not just once, but again and again. We must invest in the places, people, and partnerships that make that vision real.
Because every young person deserves to grow into adulthood with support, with stability and with someone who’s there when they need them.
Gary Dewar is chief executive of Dean and Cauvin Young People’s Trust
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