[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$f10b3rz2z388kj":3,"$f2c699i2dw34h0":16},{"id":4,"blog_author_id":5,"blog_category_id":6,"is_featured":7,"title":8,"slug":9,"content":10,"content_overview":11,"published_at":12,"seo_title":8,"seo_description":13,"image":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15},"01m45vtvk0pdb1y7c1cqv76edp","9cdbdd6d-4900-4646-a012-d3e67a5ee788","1",false,"Panic and Promises Won't End Child Poverty","panic-and-promises-wont-end-child-poverty","\u003Cp>We live in a world that seems to spin faster every day, where all the dials are turned to 11 all the time.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The headlines crash from one calamity to another as our political leaders rush to promise emergency action while their opponents demand even more urgency. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is noisy, tiring and a few hours later, when the news cycle spins to another red alert, the last one, whatever it was, is most often forgotten. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For years now, child poverty in Scotland has been routinely described as a national emergency demanding emergency action. It is and it does but, with more than one in five children still growing up in poverty in Scotland today, is it time to ask if the language of emergency and crisis is helping?  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps it only encourages more haste but less speed, a birling carousel of taskforces and committees, policy papers and special reports, but too little measured and impactful action? Are we even checking if the blizzard of promises and commitments is being delivered before starting the snow machine again? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What if the endless planning and process is actually slowing us down? What if somehow all the talk is delaying implementation of practical, tested, and effective measures to improve the lives and secure the life chances of the 210,000 children growing up poor in one of the wealthiest countries in the world? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because we already know what works. We have known for years.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, there are no magic bullets, no simple solutions to the complex social issues that have blighted our poorest communities for decades. Child poverty, like Scotland’s drugs crisis, another national emergency, is embedded in longstanding economic trends that have stripped far too many of our neighbourhoods of jobs and hope. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those trends will not be reversed overnight but, in the meantime, we should not let perfect be the enemy of good. As Challenge Poverty Week begins today, the biggest challenge is to see the wood not the trees, to recognise and appreciate what is already working and build on it. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are things that we know ease the impact of poverty on young lives; that have been trialled, tested and measured; that inch their families from peril to safety; that give them new strength, confidence and a path to a more secure future. So why not have more of them? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These are services that our charity and others are delivering every day, hand in glove with our partners in social work, health care and education. These are services delivering real, measurable success, making children safer, healthier and happier today and improving their chances tomorrow. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Intensive family support, for example. The clue is in the name. It is the opposite of easy. Any family’s journey back from the very edge of crisis is one of hard yards and no shortcuts. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our teams arrive to work, shoulder to shoulder, with families on the point of collapse, with children often on the edge of care. Ensuring those babies and young people are safe is always the priority but, after that, keeping them with their families is the driving force because that, all research suggests, is the best way to stabilise childhoods and secure futures. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Intensive family support means doing whatever it takes to keep children safe and families together. It can rebuild broken relationships; improve parents’ confidence in themselves; create new connections in communities; and help build firmer financial foundations with advice on welfare rights, maximising incomes and problem debt. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Any investment in intensive family support and other specialist services, for pregnant women and new mums, for example, is more than returned in thriving families, stronger communities and money saved. Resource is better spent on intensive support keeping families safely together, than managing their separation through a lifetime of crisis-led state intervention.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our two Mother and Child Recovery Houses, in Falkirk and Dundee, for example, offer recovery spaces for pregnant and new mums with a history of substance use, allowing them to recover while staying safely with their babies. This helps keep families together and children at home, improves their futures and saves millions of pounds in avoided care costs. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is true child protection and the big question is not whether we can afford to roll out these services across Scotland but if we can afford not to?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Justina Murray \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cbr>\u003Cstrong>Chief executive of Aberlour Children’s Charity \u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cem>This article was written for the Daily Record and published on Monday 5th October 2026.\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>",null,"2026-10-05T00:00:00.000000Z","Aberlour Children's Charity CEO, Justina Murray, explains what must be done to end child poverty in Scotland. We know what works and we've known for years. ","media\u002FRS873_0E5A9135.jpg","2026-10-05T11:05:26.000000Z",{"id":17,"author_id":6,"category_id":6,"is_featured":18,"title":19,"slug":20,"content":21,"link_text":11,"link":11,"content_overview":11,"published_at":22,"seo_title":23,"seo_description":24,"image":25,"attachment":26,"created_at":27,"updated_at":28},"01j6cdwjfyqevde5rhh5y9873j",0,"Evaluation of Tayside Family Financial Wellbeing Pilot                ","aberlour-family-financial-wellbeing-tayside-pilot-evaluation","\u003Cp>\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.therobertsontrust.org.uk\u002Fnews-and-blogs\u002F2-4-million-awarded-to-ambitious-projects-tackling-poverty-and-trauma-in-scotland\u002F\">Aberlour’s Family Financial Wellbeing pilot\u003C\u002Fa> has  successfully delivered positive change for Tayside families struggling with public debt (such as Council Tax, School meal debt). It has done this by testing new and innovative approaches to financial advice and support. The pilot uniquely combined Aberlour’s family support model with financial wellbeing advice offered by Tayside’s statutory and third sector to empower families and reduce the impact of poverty. The pilot was established in 2022 to run for 3 years and is funded by the Robertson Trust, Corra Scotland and Aberlour. It is delivered by Aberlour working in partnership with Dundee City, Angus and Perth & Kinross Councils. An independent evaluation of the pilot was completed by \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.socialvaluelab.org.uk\u002F\">Social Value Lab\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aims of the pilot were to:-\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>Work with Tayside’s existing financial wellbeing support providers (such as welfare advice) to design a shared vision for how financial wellbeing can be better delivered for families.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Implement new and innovative ways of delivering financial wellbeing support within a family support model.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003Cli>Deliver a Tayside Hardship Fund to pay off the public debt of families with unmanageable problem debt.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cem> T\u003C\u002Fem>his was welcomed by the parents involved, one of whom said: \u003Cem>“I felt like I was stuck in a hole, and I was getting deeper into it, and I wasn’t going to be able to get out of it.” \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Read the full pilot project \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Faberlour-web-admin.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\u002Fdocs\u002FEvaluation-of-Tayside-Family-Financial-Wellbeing-Project.pdf\">Evaluation of Tayside Family Financial Wellbeing Project\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp> \u003C\u002Fp>","2024-03-12 12:25:56","Evaluation of Tayside Family Financial Wellbeing Pilot                 - Aberlour - Web Backend","Aberlour’s Family Financial Wellbeing pilot has  successfully delivered positive change for Tayside families struggling with public debt.","media\u002FCH1746339_Stock_photo_shoot_of_anonymous_images_that_can_be_used_to_talk_about_the_Cost_of_Living_Crisis_in_the_UK-scaled.jpg","docs\u002FEvaluation-of-Tayside-Family-Financial-Wellbeing-Project.pdf","2024-08-28T12:03:10.000000Z","2026-08-14T12:56:04.000000Z"]