The Promise is that Scotland's children and young people will grow up loved, safe and respected. We work hard to respect that promise.
It is important you always know what to expect when working with us, and your views are listened to and acted upon when that is possible. If you feel this is not happening, you have a right to ask us to do this and we must consider it.
The Angus Promise
Your Voice
We will listen to you. We will create opportunities and environments for you to talk to us and recognise you as an individual.
Your Family and Relationships
We will support you to stay with your family, if it is safe, as it is the best place for you to live. Where you can’t stay with your family, we promise to support you to keep and develop relationships with the people who are important to you.
Your Rights and Opportunities to Learn
We will understand and respect you and your care experiences and the impact that these may have on your learning. We will ensure you get what you need to thrive in education by identifying and breaking down any barriers to your learning and being included in school and in the community.
Your Mental and Emotional Health and Wellbeing
We will ensure you have access to a range of different services, so you feel supported to manage your trauma and loss. We will recognise the importance of one key relationship to support you with your wellbeing.
Your Right to Move on to a Bright Future
We will support you, when you are ready, to move on from care. We will behave like good parents by supporting you to be independent whilst also being there for you when you need us.
Keeping our Promise to you!
To keep these promises to you, we need to work together. We will ensure our policies, procedures and importantly our actions are joined up so the Angus ‘scaffolding’ (the people and services) supports your needs.
Where this does not happen well enough or fast enough, we will challenge each other and work together to improve and learn from our mistakes. We will bring everything we do back to what difference does it make for you. We will support the workforce to understand the importance of caring and respecting you making sure we do not make you feel different from your peers by our language or actions.
What to do if you don’t feel that The Promise has been kept for you.
Meet the Angus Promise Team
The team is made up of members from:
- Angus Council
- Angus Independent Advocacy
- Who Cares? Scotland
We make sure that we stick to The Angus Promise
We are really committed and passionate about keeping #ThePromise to you.
We will work closely with you to find out how we can keep on improving!
If you have any suggestions, email promise@angus.gov.uk.
What we are doing to keep the promise
Providing support
Residential House Visits
Brambles – Rowan House and Logan House
An advocate has been visiting both houses on a monthly basis since May 2022 checking with the young people to see if there are any advocacy issues they would like to raise and reminding the young people of ways they can get in touch with the advocate between house visits. The young people have contact cards and leaflets with the advocates details and the team also have copies of these for the young people who do not have their own personal mobile phones. The advocate has ensured that any Who Cares? Scotland opportunities and information was communicated to the team to be shared with the young people.
Strathmore House
The advocate has been visiting the house on a monthly basis. There is a poster of the advocate on the notice board in the house with contact details, as well as a supply of leaflets/contact cards left at the house for the young people to take away with them. Visits have included relationship building with the young people and spending their free time with them in evenings. The advocate has explained their role to the young people and staff who continue to promote the service. The advocate continues to promote Talking Mats as an opportunity for those who are non-verbal in Strathmore House.
Supporting Young People in Interviews
The Angus Promise Team got the young people in Rowan, Logan and Strathmore House to be involved in interviewing for Senior Care Officer positions to work in their houses. The young people were supported to come up with questions they would like to ask the candidates and what qualities they felt were important to them for the candidates to have. The young people also gave their feedback on each candidate to the interview panel which informed the decision to appoint the positions. The young people really enjoyed being a part of the interviews. This will now continue to be part of our interview process.
Hangout Group
The Hangout Group meets on the last Tuesday of the month and is the first group in Angus for care experienced young people in Angus (because they live here or have been placed here) to come together. Around 20 young people come each month and we have a lot of fun.
Some young people choose to use the space as a place to ‘hangout’ (hence the name, picked by our young people!), play air hockey, make friendship bracelets, sing on the karaoke machine, or play pool.
Some of the young people get involved with current projects such as the children’s book and promise packs and love getting the chance to input their thoughts and ideas.
We have had visits from our local fire brigade which was very popular. The group has also had regular visits from one of the Children’s Reporters in Angus and a Review Officer which the young people found very valuable. This has encouraged more young people to come to their meetings as they now know the people they’ll be meeting.
To find out more email promise@angus.gov.uk
Promise Packs and Children’s Book
The Angus Promise Team has created a “Promise Pack” for children in Angus who come into care. The idea of the pack came from young people who had since left care but spoke about items that would have meant a lot to them when they began their care journey, and remembering that sometimes their own belongings were moved between placements in a black bin bag.
In August 2022 a company named Madlug kindly sponsored the Promise Packs and donated 300 holdall bags to Angus with the promise of their continued support, meaning that all children in care in Angus will receive their own holdall bag.
The packs will also consist of knitted teddy bears from the Rotary club, and items such as a personal journal and toiletries.
The team are also in the process of developing and writing a children’s book which will be included in the packs. Young people across Angus told our team they did not understand the language used by professionals when they came into care, the different types of meetings, and all the professionals involved in their care. The workbook will explain all of this and provide a space for young people to write down who are important to them, such as their brothers and sisters. The book will also contain important information such as contact details of their family information on their rights and how to access advocacy services in Angus. The young people of Angus have helped contribute ideas for the book and have been involved in the design process.
Opportunities Through Who Cares Scotland – John Lewis Fund
The John Lewis partnership has made a long-term commitment to being the ‘employer of choice’ for young people who are care experienced. “We want to support young people leaving the care system into meaningful, long-term employment at the John Lewis Partnership or with other employers. Raise awareness of the inequalities faced by those who are care experienced, empowering them to tell their own stories in their own words’’. Due to this wonderful partnership, the team were given the opportunity to bring some Christmas fun to our care experienced young people in Angus, bringing them together for fun, friendship and connection.
Raising Awareness
Presentation/Input to Arbroath Rotary
The Angus Promise Team gave a talk to the Arbroath Rotary Club in September 2022 about The Promise and the team explained the role of advocacy and an overview of Who Cares? as a service. The night was a great success and Arbroath Rotary club has decided to support The Promise in Angus, donating a very generous £1200 to help us deliver The Promise in Angus. This money was used to support the Hangout group with equipment and to fund projects. A member of the rotary also kindly donated knitted teddy bears to be included in the Promise Packs for young people coming into care in Angus. Feedback from a member of the Rotary club was that the evening “was indeed very thought provoking, and a few tears were verging’’.
Delivering Promise Input to Leadership Forums across Angus (May 2022)
The Angus Promise Team shared The Promise in Angus to the council’s leadership forums over three different sessions. Each session included an overview of the Angus Promise and things that were happening to promote the Promise. The leaders heard about corporate parenting and what the role of a corporate parent is to our looked after children and young people, and information on Who Cares? Advocacy service in Angus with examples of advocacy cases.
Development Day with Child Protection Committee (Oct 2022)
The Promise Team supported five young people in Angus to take part in the Development Day with the Child Protection Committees Scotland to help design a campaign based on keeping children safe. The young people worked with the team to discuss what they thought the campaign should look like and what it should say.
The young people shared their ideas and after a full day of discussions the young people chose to do a TikTok campaign as they felt it would get more attention of younger children.
During the day the young people also took a tour of the family rooms in Bruce House, and they shared their views on how to make it more welcoming for families using the rooms.
The young people also gave their input to the Brothers and Sisters group and looked at “My Plan” templates and gave feedback on how these could be improved. The busy day was finished off with a fish and chips by the sea and the young people involved were given a £20 gift card to thank them for their amazing work and contributions.
Fun Stuff!
Rowan and Logan Christmas Parties
The children in Rowan and Logan cottages were asked to come up with ideas for Christmas activities and they wanted to have a Christmas party. Using the John Lewis Fund, they bought lots of fun Christmas games and craft activities along with a Christmas buffet and had two nights of fun and lots of party food! The young people had a great time together.
Hangout Christmas Group – Eden’s Garden
Again, thanks to the John Lewis Fund, the team were able to pay for Eden’s Garden to visit the Hangout group in December 2022 and buy lots of yummy Christmas snacks. The young people absolutely loved handling all the different animals including snakes, rabbits and chinchillas and had a great time learning about how to care for the animals. They also bought special Christmas baubles for the young people to make and personalise. Each young person got a piece of string which was measured with their height and a little message attached with their name and the date along with a special Polaroid picture which were put inside the bauble. The young people loved showing their families and carers their special Christmas baubles and lots of memories were made at the group that night.
Monikie Fun Day (July 2022)
The first Summer Fun event for care experienced people in Angus was held at Monikie in the Summer of 2022. Over 65 care experienced young people across Angus came with their families, carers, friends and workers to have some fun and take part in lots of activities that were on offer. Popular activities included a circus performer, smoothie bikes, visits from the local fire brigade (with the chance to help put out a fire!), face painting, storytelling and feeding the ducks before everyone tucked into a BBQ for lunch. It was an incredible day out and lovely to see families and young people across Angus making special memories together. Due to the success and amazing feedback that was received, the fun day is looking set to be an annual event. The Promise Team received some lovely feedback about the day.
Reports and publications
Angus Promise Progress Report 2021 to 2024