THE head of a ground-breaking project which helps disadvantaged young people reach their potential has urged the UK Government against making "sweeping generalisations" about youngsters in care.
As this week's Queen's Speech outlined plans to provide greater support to young people leaving care, Iain MacRitchie said the practical steps introduced on the back of the legislation would be critical.
Mr MacRitchie heads up MCR Pathways, a scheme which provides adult mentors for children who have experience of the care system.
He said the announcements in the Queen's Speech were "excellent steps forward for young people in the care system".
"More personalised help and even reference to mentoring is excellent," he added. "The next practical steps will be what counts."
Speaking at the weekend, Prime Minister David Cameron promised "zero tolerance" of state failure around social care and a new covenant for those leaving care.
He said: "This will be a promise, set out in law, to everyone who has been through the care system, making sure that local authorities set out clearly what they are entitled to locally, including housing, jobs and healthcare.
"For too long, whether through misguided notions of what is right or sensitivities about not wanting to cause offence, we have let the most vulnerable in our country down. That needs to change."
But Mr MacRitchie said: "It’s critical that the Prime Minister has highlighted the unacceptable plight of our children and young people in the care system and the radical new approaches needed to help them. After all the state is the parent and what parent would not want to do everything and anything it takes to ensure their child realises their full potential.
"We would caution against sweeping generalisations. These young people are as talented as any other. Adoption may be excellent for some but may not be for all.
"These are individual young people that need our care, respect and attention. They need to be listened to carefully and supported on an individual by individual basis.
"Parenting isn’t general. Our social workers, care professionals and those helping the young people need the time to build quality relationships. Relationships are what bridges talent with opportunity and chance to overcome barriers."
*Can you help a young person realise their full potential and be defined by their talent not their circumstances? The Herald is supporting the Young Glasgow Talent campaign by MCR Pathways in its citywide plan and national ambition.
More disadvantaged young Glaswegians, are signing up for mentors to help them overcome barriers and inequality to be all that they can be. Can you help them? One hour a week and a willingness to put a young person first are all you need. You will make and experience a life-changing difference in helping a young person to find, grow and use their talents.
MCR Pathways will provide all the training and support you need. For more information or to register, please go to www.youngglasgowtalent.org, email info@mcrpathways.org or call us on 0141 221 6642.
MCR Pathways is a pioneering partnership of the MCR Foundation and Glasgow City Council and actively supported by an increasing number of Glasgow’s key organisations including Wheatley Group, Glasgow Life, University of Strathclyde, Santander, The Herald, Glasgow Kelvin College, SECC and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here