An evaluation of the Scottish Guardianship Service

"An evaluation of the Scottish Guardianship Service undertaken during its pilot phase in 2013 clearly evidenced the importance of Guardianship.

Broadly speaking, Guardianship features including independence, keeping young people visible and safe, building relationships of trust, providing orientation and navigation, advocacy and timely intervention, have all shown to make a positive difference to the lives of unaccompanied young people. Guardians also provided clarity, coherence and continuity for young people and professionals alike.

The value of Guardianship has now been formally recognised. Under Section 11 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act, passed by Scottish Parliament in 2015, Guardianship has been placed into law. This means ministers now have a duty to provide a Guardian for every eligible child and that public authorities, such as social care and law enforcement, have a duty to refer eligible children to the Service.

Since 2010, the Scottish Guardianship Service has supported over 750 young people, with 44 nationalities, speaking 46 different languages. This diversity has been a constant since 2010, with the top five countries of origin for the year 2020-2021 being Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. In total, indicators of human trafficking and exploitation, have been present for almost sixty percent of young people referred to the Service and almost all have sought international protection through making an asylum application.

The work of the Guardians is therefore embedded in the domains of asylum, trafficking and exploitation, including the NRM. As such, the Service considered it important to further examine the roles and tasks of Guardians within these specific areas of work, particularly where improvements could be made. The evaluation is the product of this consideration."