Scotland’s New Children’s Care Act in Practice: guidance, care duties and how to deliver them
Tuesday 08th December 2026
The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Act 2026 is now law, but the real test will be delivery. It changes the law around children’s care, care experience, children’s services planning, aftercare, advocacy, kinship care, foster care, residential care, continuing care and the Children’s Hearings System. It is explicitly part of Scotland’s attempt to keep The Promise after the Independent Care Review.
Councils, health boards, children’s services, corporate parents, care providers, hearings partners and third sector organisations now need to understand what must change in practice.
This conference will examine what public bodies and partners should prepare for as guidance, commencement and secondary legislation develop. It will consider care experience, corporate parenting, aftercare, advocacy, kinship care, foster care, residential care, Children’s Hearings reform, services planning and accountability.
Implementation will reach well beyond children’s social work. The conference will help delegates think through what the Act means for all relevant services and policy areas. These include education, health, housing, employability, corporate parenting, scrutiny, provider regulation and the wider network of services that shape the lives of care-experienced children, young people and adults.
Bringing together government, councils, social work, children’s rights bodies, care-experienced voices, providers, hearings organisations, education, health, housing, scrutiny bodies and legal specialists, the conference will help delegates understand what is coming next and what they should do now to keep The Promise in practice.
This online conference will focus on three themes:
- The Act, the guidance and the implementation challenge
- Corporate parenting, aftercare and support
- Hearings, residential care and accountability
Topics the conference will explore
- Understanding the Act, the guidance and the implementation challenge
- Focussing on The Children’s Care Act 2026 - what now changes and what guidance is coming?
- Defining care and care experience and what public bodies need to understand
- Hearing about costs, workforce and deliverability in order to make the Act real locally
- Taking action on corporate parenting, aftercare and support
- Addressing corporate parenting guidance and turning duties into everyday practice
- Discussing aftercare, advocacy and support beyond age 18
- Considering the role of kinship care, foster care and family-based support
- Reflecting on hearings, residential care and accountability
- Planning for children’s hearings reform - what SCRA, CHS and partners need to prepare for
- Meeting the challenges in residential care, profit limitation and provider regulation
- Reviewing children’s services planning, IJBs and accountability for outcomes
Who should attend
This conference will be relevant to:
- children’s services planners and managers
- council education, social work and family support teams
- corporate parenting leads across public bodies
- NHS boards, IJBs and children’s health services
- Children’s Hearings Scotland, SCRA and panel-related partners
- advocacy, rights and participation organisations
- kinship care, foster care and residential care providers
- throughcare, aftercare and leaving-care services
- colleges, universities and Skills Development Scotland teams supporting care-experienced learners
- housing bodies and employability services working with care-experienced young people
- third sector organisations supporting children, families and care-experienced people
- scrutiny, regulation, complaints and accountability bodies
- legal, governance and policy professionals working on children’s care, rights, services planning or public duties
Speakers
Katrina Gallacher
Care and Justice Participation Lead
Youth Justice Voices - Staf
Sandy Mayhew
Executive Director of Community Services
Kibble
Kay McKerrell
Chief Executive
Who Cares? Scotland
Agenda
Tuesday 08th December 2026
09:05 Chair's opening remarks
Session 1: The Act, the guidance and the implementation challenge
09:10 Keynote speaker: The Children’s Care Act 2026 - what now changes and what guidance is coming?
- What the Act is intended to change
- Where guidance and commencement matter most
- How implementation should keep The Promise
09:30 Question and answer session
09:40 Defining care and care experience and what public bodies need to understand
Kay McKerrell, Chief Executive, Who Cares? Scotland
LinkedIn
- Making definitions meaningful in practice
- Avoiding narrow or inconsistent interpretation
- Helping services recognise care experience properly
09:55 Costs, workforce and deliverability - making the Act real locally
- Funding duties without hollow promises
- Supporting social work and care capacity
- Prioritising implementation under pressure
10:10 Question and answer session
10:25 Comfort break
Session 2: Corporate parenting, aftercare and support
10:40 Corporate parenting guidance - turning duties into everyday practice
- Updating corporate parenting plans
- Making duties visible across services
- Holding corporate parents to account
10:55 Aftercare, advocacy and support beyond age 18
Katrina Gallacher, Care and Justice Participation Lead, Youth Justice Voices - Staf
LinkedIn
- Improving support after leaving care
- Making advocacy accessible and trusted
- Reducing cliff edges in adult services
11:10 Kinship care, foster care and family-based support
Sandy Mayhew, Executive Director of Community Services, Kibble
- Strengthening support for kinship carers
- Improving consistency across local areas
- Preparing fostering services for new rules
11:25 Question and answer session
11:40 Comfort break
Session 3: Hearings, residential care and accountability
11:55 Children’s Hearings reform - what SCRA, CHS and partners need to prepare for
- Understanding the new grounds process
- Preparing for remunerated chairs and continuity
- Supporting specialist knowledge in hearings
12:10 Residential care, profit limitation and provider regulation
- Understanding financial transparency rules
- Preparing providers for regulatory change
- Balancing quality, sustainability and public value
12:25 Children’s services planning, IJBs and accountability for outcomes
- Updating children’s services planning
- Connecting councils, health boards and IJBs
- Measuring whether the Act improves lives
12:40 Question and answer session
12:55 Chair's closing remarks
Speakers
Katrina Gallacher
Care and Justice Participation Lead
Youth Justice Voices - Staf
Katrina joined the Staf team in April 2021 as Project Development Worker (Care Experienced Community), working with our advisory group to develop The REAL Toolkit.
Since then, Katrina has worked on a range of projects at Staf, and was appointed Care and Justice Lead for Youth Justice Voices in April 2024. Katrina leads on facilitation and delivery of our youth- and experience-led steering groups in Glasgow and HMP YOI Polmont.
Katrina has a degree in community development, and over 10 years’ experience in youth work and community development. Katrina has also volunteered for several years with different organisations and community groups to widen her experience and learning.
Katrina is care experienced and passionate about improving outcomes for people with experience of the care and justice systems in Scotland, being led by lived experience, driving forward the change we need to have meaningful, positive impacts for people who are currently experiencing these systems.
Sandy Mayhew
Executive Director of Community Services
Kibble
KibbleGroup
Kay McKerrell
Chief Executive
Who Cares? Scotland
whocaresscot
Kay is the Chief Executive for Who Cares? Scotland which delivers advocacy services throughout Scotland.
She also sits as Chair of the National Providers Network, a forum for advocacy providers who have been commissioned by ScotGov to deliver Children’s Hearing Services advocacy throughout Scotland. As well as being on the Board of Voluntary Action Orkney, she is also a Trustee of the Kristin Linklater Voice Foundation and has been elected as the Scotland Representative for UNISON National Black Members' Committee. She holds a judicial appointment as a Mental Health Tribunal Service (MHTS) Legal Convener.
Venue
This conference takes place online.
Fees
How to book
You can book to attend in 3 ways:
- Select book now on the right hand side of this page, fill in the form on that page and click the 'send booking' button
- Call 07377 147271
- Email mail@mackayhannah.com
Conference fees
- Delegate fee (includes video recording of the conference) – £169 +VAT
- Group discount – organisations booking 3 or more delegates will receive every third delegate place at half price (please complete further forms if necessary)
Please note – It is not permissible to share the recording. Please contact us if you wish to share it. See our terms and conditions for further information.
Payment
We do not currently accept payments online and will send you an invoice.
You have the option to pay by bank transfer or card.
Bank details will be included on the invoice.
If you wish to pay by card, please tick the appropriate box on the booking form and a member of our staff will contact you by telephone to take the payment. Alternatively you may call 07377 147271.
Terms and conditions
By placing this booking, you agree to the full terms and conditions found via the link at the foot of our website.
