Scotland talks about children’s rights – but what about the people raising them?

This article was originally published by Third Force News on 9 November 2026 as an opinion piece by our Chief Executive Kevin Kane. You can read it there by clicking here.

Kevin Kane: legislation and individual policy initiatives risk becoming fragmented without a coherent understanding of parenting and its importance to children

Scotland has ambitious legislation on children’s rights, carefully worded policies and a longstanding aspiration to be the “best place in the world for children to grow up”.

But are we equally committed to Scotland becoming the best place to be a parent?

The Scottish Government launched a National Parenting Strategy in 2012. It was built on a simple, but powerful recognition, that parents are among our society’s greatest resources and supporting them is fundamental to improving children’s lives.

The strategy sought to champion parenting, improve access to information and support, strengthen family relationships and coordinate services. It recognised different family circumstances and the contributions of fathers, mothers and wider caregivers. It also brought parenting into the political conversation as something to be valued and supported. Few could disagree with its ambitions.

The strategy launched some one-off events, some legislative commitments, and some policy targets.

There have been achievements over those years. Bookbug has helped bring books, songs and stories into family life. The Scottish Baby Box offers practical support to new parent. Parent Club has made online advice and information easier to find. These developments deserve recognition. They demonstrate what public commitment to supporting families can look like.

Fourteen years on, it’s fair to say the overall, unifying sense of purpose seems to have petered out.

We rightly highlight child poverty and educational attainment. But we talk far less embracing the parents and grandparents, kinship carers and others who provide children with love, security and stability.

Shared Parenting Scotland called for a renewed National Parenting Strategy in our 2026 election manifesto because the challenges parents meet in 2026 need new targets, new directions and, if necessary, new legislation. Scotland’s demographics have evolved. The legislative backdrop is different since incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law. GDPR is causing confusion within local authority relations with parents who do not live together but who both have parental rights and responsibilities.

New legislation and individual policy initiatives risk becoming fragmented without a coherent understanding of parenting and its importance to children.

Just as in 2012 we need vision.

We require a renewed, coherent and energised strategy. We need a sustained political leadership, coherent policy and vocal recognition for every family set-up that brings parenting back to the heart of Scotland’s ambitions for children.

In 2012, the Scottish Government acknowledged that fathers could feel excluded from family services, particularly after separation. The Parenting Strategy committed to better recognise the importance to children when both sides of their family are included in policy and practice.

The Parenting Strategy was the springboard for the 2015 Year of the Dad. It established a Fathers Advisory Board for regular stakeholder round table meetings which generated new ideas and scrutinised progress on existing ones. The Fathers Advisory Board, among other initiatives, just faded away.

At Shared Parenting Scotland, we hear from families whose experiences expose the gap between previous ambition and continuing practice. A child may live across two loving houses yet encounter systems designed to support them recognise ‘one address only’ – effectively one parent only. Their lived reality is minimised and, in some cases, effectively erased.

School transport arrangements, clothing grants and aspects of social security administration often fails to reflect shared care.

Administrative convenience determines which of a child’s family relationships is fully recognised?

This is not solely about separated parents. It points to a broader pattern we see through our casework of expecting families to fit existing structures  rather than designing services around the realities of children’s lives.

Children’s rights must mean more than citing the UNCRC in policy documents. They should inform decisions in schools, local authorities, health services, social security systems and family courts.

Invoking children’s best interests should prompt careful examination of evidence and genuine listening to children. It should not close down questions or reinforce institutional assumptions.

One of Scotland’s third sector’s great strengths is that it understands the difference between consultation and meaningful engagement. The original strategy was informed by extensive conversations with parents and practitioners. The sustained dialogue needed to test whether its commitments are working has faded.

A renewed strategy should start with an honest public assessment. What improved? What new targets are needed. How do we support parenting in all its forms in the decade ahead?

It should be shaped with children, parents, caregivers, practitioners and third sector organisations. It should restore coherence across education, housing, health, social security and justice and recognise that parenting cuts across portfolios.

And it should challenge cultural assumptions too. When politicians speak about families, whose families do they imagine? When they say ‘parents’, who gets included? When a child’s life spans two households, do our institutions recognise both? These are not peripheral questions. They test how seriously we take children’s rights in practice.

Scotland can’t become the best place for children to grow up while overlooking those who help them thrive. It’s time our commitment to parents and caregivers matched our ambition on children’s rights.