Stronger Together

From aspiring artists and directors, to creative writers, budding actors, and those with a flair for sports, there's an abundance of young talent at Kibble. Collaborating with other organisations helps us to nurture the skills of young people and encourage them to shine.

Recently we've worked closely with Who Cares? Scotland, the Listen2Us Project, Police Scotland, and West College Scotland to deliver a variety of creative arts projects.

Although not an exhaustive list, we've also enjoyed successful collaborations with Glasgow Parkour Coaching, Glasgow Dog Training Club, José Quitongo professional footballer, PZAZ bedrooms, Allure Ayr Training Academy, Creative Scotland, Lamont City Farm Project, Glasgow East Arts Company, St Mirren Football Club, Teenage Cancer Trust, CELCIS, SCRA, Street Soccer Scotland, I Am Me, UNICEF, and Classrooms for Malawi.

We look forward to continuing the work and developing new partnerships over the coming year.

Sharing Good Practice

We believe sharing information and good practice is essential to the work we do at Kibble. Over the years we've welcomed many visitors, keen to discover more about our social enterprise model and our uniquely integrated array of services.

Over the past year we have received guests from across Scotland, including various children's panels. Some of our visitors came from further afield, such as: psychology students from Karel de Grote University College, Belgium; Dingwall Trust, New Zealand; Casa Pacifica, California; and the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education, Sweden.

Colleagues are frequently asked to share knowledge in their area of expertise with other organisations, and one such example was the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) conference held in May. ACAMH supports the mental health needs of children and young people and is committed to multi-disciplinary research and practice within child and adolescent mental health. We were delighted two members of the Specialist Intervention Services team were invited to present at the conference, to share their skills and know-how on some very specialist areas. Colleagues were also invited to contribute to conferences for other organisations including the National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers, Includem, the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice, and the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care.

It is of course important that the information process flows both ways, to allow Kibble to continue to evolve and develop.

Changing Perspectives

Kibble welcomed two part-time Police Liaison Officers to work on campus. The officers forged strong relations with staff and young people, and have been very active within the campus community. There have been many positive outcomes and, as a result, Kibble has agreed to assist with funding the officers during 2016/17.

We will continue to work with police colleagues, staff and young people to develop a framework that provides a focused approach, giving young people the chance to become acquainted with police officers in an informal setting, and recognising the positive aspects of the policing system. It will also provide the opportunity for the Police Liaison Officers to educate and inform within small group settings.

Additionally, the officers may be involved in child protection or criminal investigations that would benefit from the independence they bring. There are many positive opportunities to explore and we look forward to developing these over the coming months.

Supporting Change

The Housing Support service commenced in June. As the service is still in its infancy, research plays a vital role. We continue to learn, not only through research, but also by observing the good practice set by other providers. Kibble's service however is unique, as we work only with the young people in our care. Through the range of integrated services at Kibble, we can link with a young person planning to make the transition to independent living early in the process. This helps us to establish trust and build a working relationship.

We welcome the challenges and opportunities that the coming year may bring.

Our Fostering Family

Intensive Fostering Services (IFS) and Adult Placement Services (APS) provide care placements to vulnerable children and young people. The services work with young people aged 5 - 25 who have complex social, emotional and educational needs.

2015 has been a positive year for the service. In July, Arran Villa Care Home opened its doors in Largs; a residential care home for up to five children (aged 5-12). Arran Villa provides dedicated care and support, until such times as the children are ready to move to full-time foster care. The children are settling in very well and making positive steps forward. Arran Villa offers a safe, homely and warm environment where the children receive dedicated care and enjoy a range of fun activities. This has been an extremely important development for the service and reflects the increasing number of referrals for younger children with needs best met within smaller children's home services.

IFS and APS have also successfully recruited, trained and supported a number of new foster and respite carers, many of whom have now welcomed young people into their lives and homes. This was the result of a successful advertising campaign inviting people to 'Join our Fostering Family'. We're looking forward to welcoming more foster carers into the team this year, and continuing to support young people and carers at every step of the way.

The dedication, hard work and on-going commitment of both young people and staff, means more young people than ever before are now attending mainstream schools. This is an extremely positive step forward and the young people are thriving in their education.