Constitution, Law ana Courts DirectorateCivil Law Division
The-ScottishGovernment
T:0131-2443322 F: 0131-244 4848E: Claire.McDermott@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
Mr Jimmy Deuchars22 AIness CrescentGlasgowG521PJ
Our Ref: 2009/00137360R 6Th June 2009
Dear Mr Deuchars
Thank you for your letter of 27 April to the First Minister, Alex Salmond. He has asked me tothank you for your letter and respond on his behalf. Your email of 20 May to Jim MatherMSP has also been passed to me to respond.
I can appreciate the upset caused to the individuals involved in the cases detailed in yourletter but as you know the Scottish Government cannot comment on or intervene in these.This government believes that it is usually best if a child can have the loving involvement ofboth parents and wider family in his or her life, as long as this is safe and in the child's best
interests.
As you know the Scottish Government greatly valued the input made by stakeholders suchas yourself to the development of the Charter for Grandchildren, which was widelydistributed to a range of outlets. The Charter for Grandchildren was designed to be a non-legislative complement to the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006. It is a document aimed athighlighting the important role grandparents and the wider family can play in supportingchildren, particularly through difficult times. During the passage of the Family Law Billthrough the Scottish Parliament, the issue of grandparents' rights was discussed and it wasagreed that giving grandparents a legal right to contact with their grandchildren might not bein their best interests in every case. Anyone with an interest in a child such as a grandparentor other family member can apply to the courts for contact with them. In making a decisionthe court will hold the welfare of the child as its principal concern.
The Scottish Government firmly believes that, if a child cannot live with their birth parents,the first option should be to consider the ability and capacity of kinship carers in the widerfamily to provide the child with a safe and permanent home. You may be interested to knowthat we will shortly lay the new regulations relating to looked after children at the ScottishParliament, The new regulations cover planning for all looked after children and set outwhat has to happen when a child is looked after at home, placed with a kinship or foster
carer or in a residential establishment. They also cover the assessment and approval ofkinship and foster carers and the role of fostering panels within local authorities.
The overall aim of the regulations is to improve the planning and decision making process forall looked after children and their carers. The regulations will mean that, for the first time,kinship carers of looked after children will have a formal statutory role. There will be a rangeof responsibilities and duties on both the local authority and the carer to meet the needs ofthe looked after child. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the regulations will come into forceon 28 September 2009. We have also commissioned The Fostering Network and the BritishAssociation for Adoption and Fostering to jointly develop a detailed guidance package toaccompany the new regulations. A training programme will also be rolled out across all localauthorities in Scotland to help them implement the new legislation.
In cases where adoption is considered to be the best option to provide that child with apermanent safe, secure and stable home, an adoption agency must undertake a thoroughassessment. This assessment takes in the wider family circumstances and will considercontact arrangements where these are in the best interests of the child. However, the fina!decision on what arrangements for contact between the child and their natural family,including grandparents and siblings, is a matter for the court to decide in considering anadoption application and all the evidence presented.
Yours sincerely
Claire McDermottFamily and Property Law
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and yet step parents are now being given contact rights , surely as biological relations we should also be considerd for these rights. after all as with ourselves grandparents are not all just grandparents on a sunday, many of us have looked after them on a daily basis , often the granchildren have lived with the grandparents for many years . so surely losing contact with grandparents is not of lower importance than losing contact with a step parent . the reasoning behind these decisions seems totally outdated.
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