Policy Influencing at Shared Parenting Scotland

Shared Parenting Scotland is proud to create strong local and national partnerships and build policy influence. We are steadily making the case for children’s rights being better served through shared parenting to improve their lives and so Scotland can keep up with other jurisdictions. While our helpline and group support for mothers, fathers, and grandparents remains at the heart of what we do, this summer has also been packed with policy and public affairs engagement. Below is only a snapshot of how we have been amplifying the voices of separated parents and prioritising the welfare and rights of children in Scotland.

Speaking up in the Scottish and UK Parliament

In May we gave oral evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Equality, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee Inquiry on Legal Aid, alongside Scottish Refugee Council, Scottish Women’s Aid and The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland. This included two written submissions informed by our casework.

CMS reform

We have had meetings with the senior official from DWP/CMS to contribute our insight from casework to the forthcoming legislative changes to CMS. A bill is expected in Westminster next spring.

Challenging unfair policies

In June we responded to the Scottish Government’s review of its 2021 Travel to School Guidance, calling for an end to the ‘follow the child benefit’ policy used by some councils to exclude some children from the help the scheme was designed to provide.

We are in the process to responding the Scottish Government consultation on Scotland’s census 2031. Census statistics are expected to provide an accurate picture of Scotland’s population including its size, distribution, and demographics. Statistics inform policy making, enabling government agencies to make decisions regarding future design and funding for services like healthcare, housing, education, and transport. So, it is essential co-parenting of children who live across two homes is recognised better in the census questions otherwise this significant group will be rendered invisible in policymaking.

We attended the Dad Strike demonstration at Holyrood protesting UK’s poor system of paternity leave. Full involvement of fathers in the early months is a predictor of full involvement throughout a child’s life.

Raising awareness through new media

In July we launched our new CHILD video, putting children’s rights and wellbeing front and centre of what we do, and reflecting that across our website, fundraising pages, and on Instagram, Facebook, Linked-in and our new TikTok and Bluesky pages.

Cross-party recognition

In September, Central Scotland Labour MSP Mark Griffin lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament recognising our work with separated families and veterans. Support for shared parenting gained support across all parties represented at Holyrood for the first time ever, backed by 16 MSPs from Scottish Labour, SNP, Liberal Democrats, Scottish conservatives, independents, and Scottish Greens.

Influencing national strategy

We remain active members of the Child Welfare Reporting Working Group and the UNCRC Strategic Implementation Group. We are exploring new opportunities with the Scottish Parliament’s Participation and Communities team. We recently shared our thoughts on World Suicide Prevention Day, highlighting that we never know what we will hear when we pick up a helpline call. We are often the last line of defence against desperation. Although not a dedicated suicide prevention charity, we are contributing to Scotland’s wider effort to reduce loneliness, strengthen the resilience and capacity of individuals and communities and ultimately, prevent suicide.

We welcomed a policy and research intern to our team via the University of Glasgow’s Find a Solution programme. The intern will focusing on the lessons to be learned from the experience of other countries who have already incorporated  UNCRC into their domestic law. This is crucial at time when Scotland is embedding the principles of the UNCRC into our legal and social systems with the potential to transform, for example, our current approach to family justice by shifting the focus more firmly onto the rights, voices, and long-term welfare of children.

Shaping professional practice

This November we will be speaking at the Scottish Family Law Association (FLA) Conference, sharing how the legal community can better support families, highlighting opportunities for training and collaboration and alternatives to costly court action with a focus on our Love, Loss and Living and New Ways for Families courses. Interest in our training continues to provide valuable support to parents and broader interest in these courses gathers pace from around Scotland and further afield in the UK.

We look forward to connecting with international partners at The Seventh International Conference on Shared Parenting in Lisbon on December 3 – 6, exploring the theme “Shared Parenting in Practice: Challenges and Opportunities”.

Cross-Party Group (CPG) on Shared Parenting

As the CPG Secretariat, we are preparing for the November meeting. This will help shape our manifesto asks in the run-up to the Scottish Parliament Elections in 2026.

Direct to the decision makers

We are calling for political recognition of the realities thousands of family’s face when going through separation in Scotland and acknowledgement of the children living across two homes and the need for services in every local authority to meet their lived reality.

We wrote to the First Minister calling for a refresh of the Scottish Parenting Strategy and public acknowledgement of the value of parenting throughout Scottish life. We asked for a review to identify and address the embedded administrative disincentives to shared parenting where parents do not live together but share the parenting of their children.

Social Media

Our increased social media presence is drawing interest and engagement from a wide range of opinion formers and decision makers.

Building the movement

Shared Parenting Scotland’s casework continues to inform our policy priorities, ensuring the lived experiences of separated parents and children are heard at the highest levels.

Our regional and thematic WhatsApp groups continue to be used for information sharing and peer support.

Thank you to all the staff and volunteers that joined us for fundraising quizzes and Kiltwalks in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh this year. We are grateful to the growing number of solicitors and firms who join us to provide pro-bono advice to our clients as part of our monthly group meetings around the country.

Stay tuned for more updates as we head into Autumn. If you are a supporter, partner or policymaker let us collaborate and make change together.