A number of senior officials, charity workers and young people from Jersey visited Edinburgh last week to exchange ideas about how services for children should be run with experts including Scotland’s Minister for Childcare and Early Years, Maree Todd.
At a conference during the visit Chief Minister Ian Gorst told delegates that the Island was facing some of the ‘greatest difficulties’ it had ever had but the Scottish blueprint proved Jersey could create a stronger, safer service for children.
Senator Gorst said: ‘The young people I have met have given me hope for the future. We often hear negative reports in the media about young people but the young people who I have met since the [Independent Jersey] Care Inquiry are the opposite of that and what I hear from them gives me hope for our future.
‘For us, we are starting a journey from pain and we are hopeful about where we can get to and for me that hope has grown hearing about the journey that Scotland has been on. Understanding that listening and then changing what we do, because we have listened to each other, has reignited and grown that hope.’
Speaking after the trip, the Chief Minister said that it was ‘crucial that we must not be afraid to learn from others who have been through similar experiences’ and added that the trip to Scotland was a ‘turning point’.
Ryan Williams, a family support worker for Children’s Services, said that the Scottish use of social media to engage and listen to young people was something the Island could learn from.
Deputy Sam Mézec, who was on the trip as chairman of the Children in Care Review Panel, said: ‘We’ve learnt so much and are determined to improve our services in Jersey so that every young person can thrive and feel loved.’
Since the inquiry report was released last July the government has been working to draw up an action plan to implement the eight core recommendations of the panel.
Children’s Commissioner Deborah McMillan, whose job was created following one of the recommendations, said: ‘We have all been very inspired from what we heard in Scotland and at times the stories almost brought us to tears. It made us really think about our role as corporate parents.’
