Getting It Right For Every Child

 

GIRFEC & SHANARRI

G – getting

I – it

R – right

F – for

E – every

C – child

What is GIRFEC?

 

It’s a consistent way for people to work with all children and young people. It’s the bedrock for all children’s services and can also be used by practitioners in adult services who work with parents or carers.

The approach helps practitioners focus on what makes a positive difference for children and young people – and how they can act to deliver these improvements. Getting it right for every child is being threaded through all existing policy, practice, strategy and legislation affecting children, young people and their families.

What Getting It Right For Every Child means

 

For children, young people and their families:

• They will feel confident about the help they are getting
• They understand what is happening and why
• They have been listened to carefully and their wishes have been heard and understood
• They are appropriately involved in discussions and decisions that affect them
• They can rely on appropriate help being available as soon as possible
• They will have experienced a more streamlined and co-ordinated response from practitioners

For Practitioners:

• Putting the child or young person at the centre and developing a shared understanding within and across agencies
• Using common tools, language and processes, considering the child or young person as a whole, and promoting closer working where necessary with other practitioners

SHANARRI

 

The wellbeing of children and young people is at the heart of Getting it right for every child. The approach uses eight areas of wellbeing in which children and young people need to progress in order to do well now and in the future. These eight areas are set in the context of the ‘four capacities’, which are at the heart of the Curriculum for Excellence

The four capacities aim to enable every child and young person to be a successful learner, a confident individual, a responsible citizen and an effective contributor.

The eight indicators of wellbeing:

Safe    Healthy    Active   Nurtured    Achieving

Respected    Responsible    Included 

These are the basic requirements for all children and young people to grow and develop and maximise their full potential. They are shown in the diagram (above) which we call the Wellbeing wheel.

The Wellbeing Indicators are used to record observations, events and concerns and as an aid in putting together a child’s plan. The My World Triangle and the Resilience matrix are used to gather, structure and help with assessing and analysing information.

Children and young people will progress differently, depending on their circumstances but every child and young person has the right to expect appropriate support from adults to allow them to develop as fully as possible across each of the wellbeing Indicators.

All agencies in touch with children and young people must play their part in making sure that young people are healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible, included and, above all, safe.