Inspectors have found key strengths in the way Fife supports children and young people who need care and protection.
Partners in Fife asked the Care Inspectorate to scrutinise services last year as part of a Scotland-wide review.
The report described the kingdom’s performance as “good” across the full spectrum of services inspected.
It was confident Fife would be able to improve and address areas where issues had been identified.
Inspectors looked at how staff across a range of services, including social work, health and education staff, police officers and children’s reporters, collaborate.
Fife was found to have a robust and effective pre-birth planning system, ensuring vulnerable pregnant women were getting the right help and support at an early stage.
A wide range of flexible and responsive therapeutic services were supporting those in need to get timely help to recover from abuse and trauma.
Effective, trusting relationships and nurturing care by staff and carers was positively impacting on the quality, stability and continuity of care and support for youngsters in care placements, including those in continuing care.
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Strong partnership working and a culture of learning was helping to drive forward improvements.
This was supported by effective leadership and a well-performing child protection committee.
Inspectors said partners should further improve their recognition and response when children and young people experience neglect or repeated instances of harm.
Care Inspectorate chief executive Peter Macleod said it and its scrutiny partners were confident the Fife partnership had the capacity to continue to improve and address the points for action highlighted.
“This is based on the collective leadership, direction and accountability demonstrated by partners to deliver the best possible outcomes for children and young people in need of care and protection in Fife and the strong culture of learning across services underpinned by well embedded approach to self evaluation and continuous improvement to improve performance and practice.
“We were also pleased to note effective partnership working and the culture of mutual support and collaboration at strategic and operational level and the strategic focus and oversight by the child protection committee to improve multi-agency responses to keep children safe and protected.”
Steve Grimmond, the chair of Fife’s chief officer group which covers all children’s services, said partners worked incredibly hard to protect vulnerable children and young people as well as making a positive impact on their lives and future life chances.
“There is always room for improvement and although our services are good we are always striving to do better.
“Our partnership working is a real strength and we will continue to work together to provide our children and young people with the best services possible.”
