11 mins
CrossReach leader condemns attitudes to children in care
NEWS
”When they come to live with us, it’s clear they just want to live like other families. They want a place to call home, somewhere that they can be around people who care about them and where they feel loved and accepted.
THE head of CrossReach children’s services has criticised the attitudes of some communities and local authorities to children in care, which he says ‘at worst amounts to discrimination’.
Since 2014 the Church of Scotland’s Social Care provider has been moving cared-for children out of institutional settings into small houses within communities.
In a lengthy blog on the CrossReach website, Paul Gilroy, head of service, children and families, says that most of their experiences of establishing these homes have been positive.
However, he adds that some people still stigmatise children in care as potential criminals and a threat to peaceful community life, going as far as ‘driving hate campaigns which influence the attitudes of others in the community’.
Mr Gilroy adds: “They seem to forget that the children and young people we look after will have had little choice in coming into care. They will have suffered trauma and loss (sometimes several times) within their young lives. When they come to live with us, it’s clear they just want to live like other families. They want a place to call home, somewhere that they can be around people who care about them and where they feel loved and accepted.
“They want to have hobbies and be able to enjoy activities. Whether it’s going to the gym, Scouts or attending music lessons, each child has their own individual interests which are best developed within a community environment.
“Sadly the hurtful, insensitive and wounding words used recently by people objecting to care-experienced children and young people moving into their communities, at best demonstrates a lack of awareness of the situations children and young people have experienced, and at worst amounts to discrimination.” Mr Gilroy also attacks the ‘poor understanding and resulting discrimination displayed in some local authority planning departments’.
He says: “One example of this is being asked for information about the background or ‘type’ of children who might move into a house, and the circumstances of them coming into care. Clearly this flies in the face of a child’s right to privacy and a private life. There would be an outcry in most families trying to buy or rent a house if the application fell through because one of their children ‘might’ misbehave. One official even went so far as to suggest that the proposal might affect house prices in the area.
“It is simply astounding to us that this behaviour can exist within local government. This clearly contravenes anything which Scottish Government has tried to put into place to try to prevent it. Recognising that some children are up against it from the moment they are born, the Scottish Parliament has passed a range of legislation eg Getting It Right for Every Child; These are our Bairns; Children & Young People’s Act [2014], all aimed at improving the lives of our children and young people – particularly those who through no fault of their own, find themselves in the most vulnerable of situations.
“We might well be able to work together to change the hearts and minds of individuals, but we need to start to exercise additional political pressure to demand change in the planning systems which currently exist and continue to allow for a child to be denied a home simply because they live in care.
“A well-known African proverb states: ‘It takes a village to raise a child’, meaning that an entire community of people must interact with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment. We would do well to consider the wisdom of this in our own communities.”
Read the full blog at https://www.crossreach.org.uk/news/were-a-jock-tamsons-bairnsor-are-we
AFRICAN PRAYER EVENT
An African-style prayer weekend is to take place in Edinburgh next month in advance of the General Assembly. The event at Davidson’s Mains Church will involve fasting, prayer and worship throughout the night. It is being organised by the Rev Dr Ibidun Daramola, a Church of Scotland minister from Nigeria, following discussions among the church’s African ministers and the 2018 World Mission Council report on Lessons for Scotland from the Christian Faith in Africa.
Dr Daramola, who completed her training in 2018 and has been working as a locum minister in the north east while awaiting a call to a full charge, said: “As a result of the Lord’s prompting, I am inviting all within the Church of Scotland, to come together for a weekend of prayer.
“However, it is very important to state that the weekend forum will take on a typically African format and flavour of prayer and praying. It will entail a day to fast (abstaining from food from 6am-6pm). It will include two nights of eight hours prayer each. There will be a good time for people to sleep but we will pray and worship through the night.” The event takes place from 5pm on Friday May 1 until the morning of Sunday May 3 in Davidson’s Mains Parish Church, and is open to all. You can register free at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/prayer-the-africanstyle-tickets-95907206035 or for more details contact Ibidun on idaramola@churchofscotland.org.uk or Jennie Chinembiri, African and Caribbean Secretary with the Faith Impact Forum, on jchinembiri@churchofscotland.org.uk
THY KINGDOM COME INVITATION
The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Colin Sinclair, has written to all congregations inviting them to take part in this year’s Thy Kingdom Come prayer initiative. Thy Kingdom Come is a global ecumenical prayer movement, now in its fifth year, which will run from Ascension Day on May 21 to Pentecost Sunday on May 31.
Mr Sinclair writes: “From Bangladesh to Brazil, Australia to Austria, and South Africa to the Solomon Islands, more than two million Christians, across 65 different denominations and traditions, in 90% of countries worldwide have participated.
“(My wife) Ruth and I had the privilege of attending and participating in the 2019 Thy Kingdom Come Beacon Event in Trafalgar Square. The square was packed and we found it very moving that three Archbishops (Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox) could stand side by side and pray for our country. Senior leaders from the emergency services also shared items for prayer.”
For more information on how to take part in this year’s Thy Kingdom Come, visit www.thykingdomcome.global. There is also a prayer journal for 2020 available on the Church of Scotland website.
CROSSREACH CEO TAKES THE PLUNGE
The chief executive of CrossReach is to join a team of fundraisers in a charity abseil in May which will help raise funds for the social care council of the Church of Scotland.
Viv Dickenson will abseil from the Forth Bridge in a unique charity event organised by the Rotary Club of South Queensferry, courtesy of Network Rail and Balfour Beatty.
She will follow in the footsteps of former Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Very Rev Dr John Chalmers and the Very Rev Dr Russell Barr and her CrossReach predecessor Peter Bailey, who raised over £11,000 for CrossReach when each of them abseiled from the historic bridge in 2017. Registration for the event is now open at https://www.rcsqsales.org.uk/register
BREXIT RESOURCES
The Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office has pulled together a collection of Brexit resources produced by churches and faith groups.
The UK officially left the European Union in January, with negotiations and debate moving on to the nature of the future relationship, once the transitional period ends in December.
The organisations represented include the Church of Scotland and the Iona Community. The resources include prayers and Bible studies aimed at helping to heal the divisions opened up by Brexit over the last few years. These include a series of videos produced at a day of theological reflection and prayer around Brexit, held by the Baptist Union of Scotland last year.
There is also practical guidance from the Salvation Army on how to respond to the challenges within local communities, and links to Scottish and UK Government resources offering support and advice to EU citizens in the country, and their employers. The resources can be found at https://www.scpo.scot/resources/brexit/
PRINCE WILLIAM APPOINTED LORD HIGH COMMISSIONER
Prince William, Earl of Strathearn, has been appointed as the Lord High Commissioner to the 2020 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
The Lord High Commissioner is appointed by the Queen as her representative at the General Assembly, when she does not attend in person. This will be the first time Prince William has carried out the role, which involves making opening and closing addresses to the Assembly, hosting ceremonial occasions at Holyrood Palace, and visiting churchrelated projects throughout Scotland. His father, the Duke of Rothesay, was Lord High Commissioner in 2000.
The Rev Dr George Whyte, the Principal Clerk of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland said: “We are honoured that her Majesty has appointed Prince William as Lord High Commissioner. “We look forward to welcoming His Royal Highness to the General Assembly.”
CALLS FOR JANE HAINING STATUE
Calls are growing for a statue to be erected in honour of the Church missionary who died in Auschwitz.
MSPs and MPs have said it would be an appropriate way to recognise Jane Haining, who was arrested by the Nazis after she refused to abandon Jewish girls in her care at the Scottish Mission School girls’ home in Budapest, Hungary.
Speaking during a Holocaust Memorial Day debate at the Scottish Parliament on January 28, South of Scotland MSP Joan McAlpine paid tribute to the “remarkable woman who stood up for others and paid the ultimate price”.
“Jane is honoured in Israel as Righteous among the Nations and has a memorial in Dunscore Church, in her home village,” she added.
“I agree that the time has come for us to pay her a lot more attention in Scotland. “The time has come for some sort of national memorial.”
In addition to a memorial cairn in Dunscore and an exhibition in the local church, Miss Haining, who has a street named after her in Budapest, is immortalised in stained glass windows at Queen’s Park Govanhill Parish Church in Glasgow, where she attended before moving to Hungary, and on a plaque on a cairn on Carlton Hill in Edinburgh. The call was echoed by other MSPs, MPs and journalists.
The Rev Ian Alexander, interim head of the Faith Impact Forum of the Church of Scotland, said: “We have worked hard to share the story of Jane Haining with as many people as possible since we found her handwritten will in an archive in 2016.
“We are pleased that there is growing recognition that she is a unique figure in Scottish history whose story of bravery, selflessness, compassion and faith inspires us all.”
CORRECTION
In last month’s magazine we stated that the Rev Dr Neil Dougall had given the tribute at Graham Maule’s funeral. It was actually the Rev Neil Glover. Apologies for the error.
For more news follow us at www.lifeandwork.org
CHURCH GROUP ARTWORK SELECTED FOR HOLOCAUST EXHIBITION
PARISH NEWS
A Glasgow church’s sewing group was ‘surprised and honoured’ to have an artwork selected for a Holocaust Memorial Day exhibition in London. Holocaust Memorial Day is marked annually on January 27. This year, which commemorated the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust gathered 75 ‘flame’ art works from across Britain.
The piece by the Sew&Sews, a group from Kelvinbridge Parish Church, was one of three works chosen from Scotland, and the only one from a Scottish church group. The exhibition was unveiled at the UK Commemorative Ceremony for Holocaust Memorial Day 2020, and will tour the UK.
You can see more about the 75 Memorial Flames project at https://www.hmd.org.uk/
NEW ELDERS
Five new elders have been ordained at Cramond Kirk, Edinburgh. From left: John Glencross, Gill Massie, Catherine Crawford, Dorcus McLeod and Fiona Vennelle.
DOVE OF PEACE
A dove of peace created by a Fife congregation has been presented to the Scots Kirk in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The dove was created by the Auchterderran Kinglassie congregation following the terrorist attacks on Sri Lankan churches last Easter, and an appeal by then Moderator of the General Assembly, the Very Rev Dr Susan Brown.
The presentation was made by the Very Rev Dr Russell Barr.
BB GUIDE DOGS FUNDRAISER
Scone Company Boys’ Brigade raised £420 for Guide Dogs Scotland through a Christmas card delivery service.
CHEQUE PRESENTATION
A cheque presentation took place recently to help support the work of the British Legion in Forfar.
The money was raised from Christmas visits by Bellshill Salvation Army band to churches in the Forfar area. The cheque, presented by the Rev Brian Mulraine of the Community Church, was received by Tommy Roche, president of the Forfar branch of the British Legion.
Pictured (left to right): Major Jim McCluskey of the Salvation Army, Tommy Roche, Margaret Brown, chair and treasurer of Forfar British Legion, the Rev Brian Mulraine of FACT (Forfar Action of Churches Together), and the Rev Maggie Hunt, British Legion chaplain and minister of Forfar: St Margaret’s.
74 YEARS IN THE CHOIR
On Sunday December 22 Peggy Moore retired as a member of the choir at Howwood Parish Church after 74 years. She was presented with flowers and a photo album by the Rev Alistair Shaw.
FAREWELL TO MINISTER
The congregation of the Scots International Church Rotterdam held a farewell party for the Rev Derek Lawson, who is retiring this month after four years at the church. He is pictured with his wife Moira.
Life and Work staff are available for talks to Guilds and other church groups. Please contact us through 0131 225 5722 or magazine@lifeandwork.org
This article appears in the April 2020 Issue of Life and Work
If you would like to view other issues of Life and Work, you can see the full archive
here.