2 What is Corporate Parenting?

Corporate Parenting and care experience

Corporate Parenting originated as a concept in the mid-1990s and has been part of Scottish Government policy since the 2008 report These Are Our Bairns [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . The report described the challenge for everyone involved in Corporate Parenting as:

“How do you give a child in your care the love, security and chances that any good parent would give their child?”

Children taking part in an exercise class
Photo by Anna Earl on Unsplash

Every college and university in Scotland is a named Corporate Parent under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

This means that they must work to uphold the rights and safeguard the wellbeing of ‘looked after’ children and young people, and care leavers aged under 26 across Scotland.

In this course we’ll generally refer to this group as Care-Experienced people, as this is an inclusive term which they themselves prefer. It covers children and people of all ages, with all varieties of care experience and recognises its lifelong impact. Importantly, it shifts the emphasis, with care seen as something they have come through and learned from rather than simply something that was done to them.

As a staff member within a university, you are a Corporate Parent and have an opportunity to make a huge difference to the lives of Care-Experienced people.

Throughout this course, university refers to one of Scotland’s 19 Higher Education Institutions (HEI).

A Scottish Government priority