Beth-Anne, Chris and Dylan are the Promise Development Workers are responsible for making sure that the council and other partner organisations fulfil their promise that care experienced children, young people and their families grow up loved, safe and respected to fulfil their full potential.

There are around 790 young people in North Lanarkshire who are currently experiencing care.

The team was established in March 2021 and has been working alongside council areas such as housing, education, and social work to improve and develop how services can be accessed by care experienced young people. 

Successes

And, in just a short time, they have achieved a great deal. Successes include securing a £50,000 grant from the promise partnership fund to oversee a review of data and improving awareness of the programme.

They’ve promoted key improvements in how a young person’s records are kept - making it a more personal and truer reflection of their life. For example, by writing the young person a letter, instead of a formal report.  

They’ve championed the introduction of memory boxes - including photos - for young people in children’s houses.

The future

Future areas of work include developing guidance and a suite of resources to protect, promote and uphold relationships between brothers and sisters and other “sibling like” relationships. They will also play a key role in the Youth Justice Review and the Children’s Hearing Improvement Partnership. 

They are keen to build on their successes and some of the development workers will be shortly completing the “Promise design school” which looks at the Scottish approach to service design.  

They are looking forward to working with all areas of public services to achieve the Promise.