Getting it Right for Every Child

The Scottish Government has a vision that every child in Scotland has a right to be:

• a confident individual
• an effective communicator
• a successful learner
• a responsible citizen

Getting it right for every child is how the Scottish Government will achieve this vision. This policy aims to help every child achieve their potential through:

• earlier intervention
• changes in the way services and agencies work in partnership with families, children and young people, and
• changes in the way services and agencies work with each other.

All services for children in Scotland now need to work this way.

In Aberdeenshire, our vision is that:

‘Every child will be valued and helped to realise their potential'

Aberdeenshire Council, NHS Grampian and Grampian Police are working together to fulfil this vision. We have written an Integrated Children’s Services Plan for 2008 – 2010 which sets out how we are going to work more effectively together to provide better services for children - Getting it Right for Aberdeenshire's Children.

The Integrated Assessment Framework (IAF)

The IAF aims to bring about change in the way services work together and with families to achieve the vision of Getting it right for every child. The IAF includes:

• a clear process for assessment, planning and review for use across all children's services
• making sure children, young people and their families are kept at the centre of this process
• standardised models of assessment , planning and recording
• a process when suitable services and agencies can join together, as one integrated team, to effectively meet the needs of individual children
• a consistent approach to information sharing between agencies and services

Awareness raising events for the IAF were held in each of the 17 Community School Networks in Aberdeenshire during 2008. They were attended by 656 professionals and practitioners from:

• the Education, Learning and Leisure service
• the Housing and Social Work service
• Grampian Police
• NHS Grampian
• Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, and
• representatives from the private and voluntary sector

The second phase of the implementation is now in progress and is to make sure everyone within children's services across Aberdeenshire understands this is the way they need to work.

Further information

You can download our leaflets which explain the Integrated Assessment Process in more detail:

• Leaflet for everyone working with children, young people and their families in Aberdeenshire on the integrated assessment framework (pdf 146kb)
• Leaflet for parents / carers on integrated assessment for children / young people (pdf 146kb)
• Young person's guide to the integrated assessment framework (pdf 3,011kb)

Further information about the Integrated Assessment Framework in Aberdeenshire is also available on Hi-Net.