Questions from the Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group:
Carers, stability and permanence
Moves between homes: How do stability, wellbeing, and longer-term outcomes differ across caring environments (foster care, kinship care, residential care, at home (including distinctions between formal and informal kinship care arrangements)), after accounting for children’s needs, and how does this vary depending on the age, stage at which entry into the care system occurs, and number of moves between homes experienced?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Moves between homes: What factors influence decision-making between kinship care, foster care, supervision at home, and private law arrangements (including Section 11 orders), and how consistent are these decisions across Scotland?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Carers, stability and permanence
Moves between homes: What are the main reasons for moves between homes among children experiencing care, and how commonly are these moves deemed ‘avoidable’? How does this differ across caring environments?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Section 11 orders (Kinship care orders): What support (financial, practical, therapeutic) is provided to Section 11 kinship carers in practice, and how does this vary across areas? What unmet need exists?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Section 11 orders (Kinship care orders): To what extent are Section 11 arrangements used as an alternative to the ‘care system’, and what are the implications for children’s rights, support and outcomes?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Section 11 orders (Kinship care orders): What pathways lead families to Section 11 orders rather than formally ‘looked after’ kinship care, and how consistent is decision-making across local authorities?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Section 11 orders (Kinship care orders): How do outcomes (including education, health, stability and poverty) for children subject to Section 11 orders compare with those formally ‘looked after’ in kinship care, foster care, and those living at home with parents?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Prevention and family support: How well aligned are current family support practices for families at risk of involvement with the care system with the principles and commitments of The Promise, and what barriers to alignment remain?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Prevention and family support: Which forms of early help do families describe as most effective in reducing the likelihood of children requiring statutory intervention or being separated from their families, and how does this vary across stages of childhood?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Prevention and family support: What are the conditions across local areas that enable early preventative help? How does this vary for families experiencing different (although not mutually exclusive) difficulties that may escalate to involvement with the care system?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Prevention and family support: What characteristics, experiences, or circumstances are most strongly associated with children entering care in Scotland, how do these risk factors vary across the child’s life course (including pre‑birth, early childhood, and adolescence), and how do these differ by age, ethnicity, local authority, and family composition?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Prevention and family support: How can linked administrative data be used to identify patterns of unmet service need among families who later experience involvement with the care system (for example across child protection, health, education, housing, or justice), and what does this evidence suggest about the types and timing of targeted support most likely to prevent escalation to care?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Understanding trends and use of administrative data: How should the declining number of children entering care be interpreted when considered alongside other key contextual factors, demographic trends and policy interventions e.g. child poverty rates, families experiencing or at risk of homelessness, declining birth rates, declining parity (number of births per woman), declining births to teenage mothers, increase in maternal age at first birth, roll out of FNP (family nurse partnership)?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Understanding trends and use of administrative data: What indicators could be used to interpret changes in rates of entry into care, including distinguishing between changes in underlying need and potential unmet or unaddressed need prior to care entry?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026
Supporting children to stay with their families
Understanding trends and use of administrative data: how should the declining number of children entering care in recent years in Scotland be interpreted when considered alongside trends in referrals, assessments, child protection activity, and service capacity?
Scottish Government The Promise Data and Evidence Group, 2026