Higher Aspirations, Brighter Futures produced by the National Residential Child Care Initiative, provides Scotland with an important opportunity to fulfil its aspiration that those children who are looked after in public care can have a brighter future. Aberlour, as Scotland's largest children's charity, has been providing care and accommodation to disadvantaged children and families since 1875. As we approach our 135th anniversary we see this report as a landmark opportunity to continue to make a positive difference to Scotland's children.
We are reminded again that the children and young people must be at the heart of everything that we and those who play an important role in providing services do. Aberlour has responded positively to the many reviews that have been conducted into residential child care over recent times in Scotland. We have invested heavily in our residential child care workforce and welcome the Initiative's recommendation that by 2014 all entrants to the profession will require to be qualified to degree level. Aberlour has responded well to the current registration requirements for working in the field and currently provides opportunities for our residential workers to achieve degree in social work to better equip them for the challenges and rewards of working with some of Scotland's most vulnerable children. We are confident that this important change will contribute positively to outcomes that children and young people will experience when they are looked after away from home by us and the many other providers of residential care in Scotland.
The Scottish Government's investment in health care resources and the commitment to improved measures to meet the mental health care needs of Scotland's children can only be a positive step. Our Sycamore Services, which are available to children from every local authority in Scotland, are provided in a way which makes sure the mental health needs are identified and met by providing access to a range of professional consultants who can work directly with the children or by supporting our staff to develop their own capability to respond positively to the needs of the children they work with. This is the norm and underlines our commitment to ensuring that our children receive services when they need them, in the way that any responsible parent would.
Aberlour is ready, willing and able to work cooperatively with Scotland's key agencies at a local and national level to see what it can do in challenging economic times to ensure that this opportunity to improve our and Scotland's residential services for children is not lost. This time we must get it right!