"Young or old, loneliness doesn't discriminate...it is something many of us could easily help with." (Jo Cox, MP)

In October 2015, the Scottish Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee published a report on 'Age and Social Isolation', the first of its kind in the world. Among the numerous recommendations, the Committee suggested that the "Scottish Government develops a national strategy on social isolation that ensures that the issue is integrated within all policy considerations so that the impact of isolation and loneliness is understood and tackled across Scotland."

The Scottish Government then developed a draft national strategy, which was open for consultation between January - April 2018.

CELCIS hosted a roundtable discussion with partners to form a joint response to the consultation, ensuring that care-experienced children and young people's needs and views are fully represented and fully considered. The organisations who took part in these discussions were Barnardo's Scotland, Befriending Networks, Children in Scotland, LGBT Youth Scotland, Staf, Who Cares? Scotland, and YouthLink Scotland.

This joint response outlines key issues for care-experienced children and young people, as well as a number of actions for improvement.

Read the Joint Response

- Find out more about 'A Connected Scotland'