Celebrating Fife Council's recognition by the Scottish Government
Scottish government response to the Reimagining Secure Care report highlights Fife MST as an example of effective multidisciplinary working.
The Scottish Government commissioned the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) to lead a project designed to create a comprehensive understanding amongst stakeholders of what is required to support secure care services to meet the needs of all children who may require them in the future.
CYCJ published the "Reimagining Secure Care: A Vision for the Future" report (“the RSC report”) on 27 September 2024.
The RSC report outlines a bold and transformative vision for the future of secure care, and broader children’s care, in Scotland. Central to this vision are innovative proposals which offer the potential to radically reshape how we avoid or minimise children reaching a crisis, and also intervene effectively in those cases where crisis point is reached.
As well as the creation of “flex secure” - a flexible, responsive model of secure care that moves away from the traditional, static model of locked secure accommodation facilities, and the establishment of “multi-disciplinary teams” (MDTs), it also proposes the creation of “community-based hubs” (CBH) - localised, multi-functional centres that provide early intervention, crisis support, and ongoing care within the child’s own community.
The Government's response then highlights the work of Fife Council's MST programme.
"Fife Council – Multisystemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect
Fife Council is developing MST-CAN (Multisystemic Therapy for Child Abuse and Neglect), an intensive, evidence-based intervention designed to support families facing complex challenges such as trauma, neglect, and substance use. Building on 15 years of success with MST, this model aims to improve outcomes, reduce risk, and enhance collaboration across services. The multi-disciplinary MST-CAN team works intensively with families in the community to address underlying problems, tackle practical issues and help parents/caregivers to develop the skills to enable children to remain safely at home. The development of the MST-CAN team is underway and is expected to be operational this year.
By learning from existing local authority and regionalised multidisciplinary models, Scotland could develop a network of community-based hubs that provide effective, rights-respecting alternatives to secure accommodation.
The Scottish Government agrees with this proposal in principle. Further exploration will be necessary with COSLA – and wider partners - regarding the scalability, impact and value of this model."