It is vital to the realisation of children’s rights that everyone providing a public service considers the rights of children in their work. All decisions made about, and actions taken to deliver public services may impact on the rights and wellbeing of children and young people. The UNCRC Act requires public authorities not to act in a way that is incompatible with the UNCRC requirements defined in it when carrying out certain functions. The Act also enables children to seek legal redress through the courts, if they believe that public authorities have acted or intend to act incompatibly with the UNCRC requirements. Embedding a children’s human rights approach will improve public services for children, and should support public authorities to meet their duties in the Act.

Public authority workforces play a vital role in delivering services across a wide range of sectors for children, young people and their communities. The Framework will support them to increase their understanding of children’s rights, take a children’s human rights approach to planning and service delivery, and enhance their confidence to implement the UNCRC in their everyday work.

The Framework provides a single point of access to new and existing resources and training on children’s rights and taking a children’s human rights approach. Existing skills and knowledge levels and the need for further support and training will vary across the public authority workforce.

The Framework has therefore been developed as a flexible resource that can be used to support public authority workers across a wide range of sectors to access the essential skills and knowledge they need to improve their children’s rights practice. A Training Plan accompanies the Framework, to support informed decisions about the most suitable training to meet individual and organisational needs. We hope learning and development staff and managers will find it useful in developing appropriate training.

The Framework and Training Plan will support individuals and organisations to learn about children’s rights at a level appropriate for different roles, organisations and sectors. They will support public authorities to use a children’s human rights approach, contribute to other local and national strategic priorities and improve service design and delivery. They will help support Scottish Government’s vision of a Scotland where children’s rights are embedded in all aspects of society. A Scotland where policy, law and decision making take account of children’s rights and where all children have a voice and are empowered to be human rights defenders.

We don’t need everyone to be UNCRC experts, but we do need everyone to feel confident about taking a children’s human rights approach. Children’s rights are everybody’s business.