We’re dismayed to hear
@Keir_Starmer
say that a
@UKLabour
government will not scrap the heinous two-child limit policy. Evidence is clear that it pushes families deeper into poverty. Any future Labour government committed to tackling child poverty must end the two-child limit.
“We’re not changing that policy”
Labour leader Keir Starmer says his party would not reverse the government’s two-child limit on receiving benefit support
This is good news. A welcome commitment by
@NicolaSturgeon
to support the thousands of families struggling to provide food for their children.
>90% of applications to our Urgent Assistance Fund include requests to help families experiencing food insecurity.
.
@NicolaSturgeon
says free school meals will be made available throughout the summer holiday period
FM hopes this and other support will 'help families who are finding it hard to make ends meet'
Follow updates ➡️
So we won Fundraising Campaign of the Year!!! Fantastic recognition for everyone at Aberlour!!! Big thanks to everyone who has helped all or children, young people and families.
#ThirdSectorAwards
We are delighted to receive a grant of £40,000 from the William Grant Foundation towards our Coronavirus Urgent Assistance Fund. We have seen a twelvefold increase in applications so this generous donation will help families in need across Scotland. Thank you!
#covidrelief
Delighted to announce that
@scotgov
has awarded our Urgent Assistance Fund £100,000. Thank you! Recognition of speedy and direct help given to families who urgently need the very basics – food, heat, light, nappies, baby formula etc. Proud of our valuable and important work!
Brandon recently moved on to more independent living after 9 years with
#Aberlour
. We chatted to him about everything he has achieved & he said that the last thing he needed to do was
#CarpoolKaraoke
. He wanted to sing 'Yellow' by Coldplay so we went on a drive to do just that!
Thank you to our colleagues, who are caring for children in our residential homes during the pandemic! Like Chelsea, she hasn’t been home for a week & has instead been living & working full time at one of our homes in Fife: ‘We need to do it for the kids!’ -Chelsea
#clapforcarers
We're delighted to announce
@brien_lynne
has been appointed as Chief Officer of Children and Families for Aberlour. Lynne will join our team in October. We look forward to working with her to build a brighter future for children, young people and families across Scotland.
The
#UNCRCScotland
Bill has passed! Children’s human rights are now recognised in law. A historic & momentous day for Scotland’s children. 🎉🎉🎉
Well done to all MSPs for passing this Bill & to all organisations, campaigners & children & young people who made this happen.👏👏👏
Congratulations to our Chief Executive
@SallyAnnKelly1
on receiving her OBE at Dean castle this morning. 👏👏👏 Recognised in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for her services to children and families this is well deserved.
Together with nearly 50 other anti-poverty orgs and campaigners we have written to
@JohnSwinney
and
@scotgov
to pause public debt recovery for low-income families in Scotland. 👓 the letter 👉
#DebtRelief
We did it! 👏 We're delighted Aberlour are the winners of large charity of the year at the
@TSEawards
We couldn't be happier to receive this award and be recognised among so many fantastic third sector organisations. 🌟
#ThirdSectorAwards
#BeingBrave
We're delighted to announce that David Robb is Aberlour’s new Chair. He's had a distinguished career in the Scottish Government, was Chief Executive of the Scottish Charity Regulator & is Chief Executive of the Student Awards Agency Scotland. We look forward to working together.
Many low income families in Scotland are experiencing digital exclusion during lockdown. Read
@margl43
&
@SallyAnnKelly1
on why digital technology is a necessity for families to make sure they get the help they need
@children1st
Today we're celebrating a decade of the
#ScottishGuardianship
Service! A decade of hard work and commitment to helping 700 asylum-seeking and trafficked children and young people rebuild their lives in Scotland.
Thanks to everyone who has made it possible!
@scotrefcouncil
Our Director of Children and Families, Jim Wallace is retiring. Thank you for being “soft on the people and hard on the issues”. Wishing you a long and happy retirement Jim!
#legend
Welcome commitment from
@HumzaYousaf
to a Care Leavers Payment. Too often care leavers experience financial insecurity as they move out of care. Our offer to young people must be long term, holistic and create security and stability for them as they move into adulthood.
#CEW23
The announcement by
@ScotGov
on the introduction of the new Scottish Child Payment is a welcome one, we are pleased
@ScotGov
have heard & listened to the organisations, campaigners & those with experience of poverty who have called for this.
#KidsCantWait
Our Mother and Child Recovery House in
#Dundee
is the only one of its kind in Scotland. By supporting mums on their drug and alcohol recovery journey with their children, they can build a brighter future for their family. 👉
@scotgovhealth
#KeepthePromise
Great to hear
@NicolaSturgeon
announce more investment by
@scotgov
in perinatal mental health and to improving support for children and young people affected by trauma. Important & key commitments, alongside full incorporation of principles of UNCRC.
#ScotPfG
Congratulations
@SallyAnnKelly1
who has been awarded an OBE in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for her services to children and families. SallyAnn’s drive is an inspiration and a source of pride to all of us in the Aberlour community. Read more 👉
We're working with
@falkirkcouncil
&
@BarnardosScot
to offer a new Falkirk Families Information & Support Service, starting 6 July. This will give families in the Falkirk area somewhere safe to talk about relationships, health & wellbeing during these difficult times.
To cope with lockdown, Euan*, one of the young people we support within our Residential Services, has been hatching eggs! He started with hens, then he managed to breed ducks and rheas! Euan* has done an amazing job and has shown a great sense of responsibility.
*Name changed
We’re delighted to announce that together with
@AngusCouncil
we're launching a new family service in November. The Angus “Sustain” service will help struggling families to stay together to prevent a child from being taken into care.
Read more below:
Working alongside
@children1st
&
@scotgov
we have been able to provide laptops and tablets to children & families who don’t have access to digital technology. Making sure they can stay connected to our services and can support their children’s education.
Many low income families in Scotland are experiencing digital exclusion during lockdown. Read
@margl43
&
@SallyAnnKelly1
on why digital technology is a necessity for families to make sure they get the help they need
@children1st
We were delighted to welcome the Justice Secretary
@HumzaYousaf
to visit our Guardianship service today. He met with young people who have been victims of trafficking, hearing how our guardians support them to recover and settle in Scotland.
@scotrefcouncil
Take a look inside our newest children's house in Tayside! Watch how care experienced young people, like Murron, helped transform the house and create a safe, loving environment for the next generation. Read more about the project here:
#keepthepromise
Young people growing up in Scotland's most deprived communities are 3x more likely to die before the age of 25. Today, MSPs from across the political divide back Aberlour's new campaign to tackle child poverty and inequality. Get involved:
#NoBadEnds
We're delighted to bring our second Mother and Child Recovery House to Falkirk, in partnership with
@scotgov
. Working together we can help mothers regain control of their lives & create the best possible future for themselves and their young children.
@SallyAnnKelly1
@liznolan243
We're delighted to publish our report The Promise - Rethinking Restraint, a collaborative project between Aberlour & Kibble alongside
@GlasgowCC
,
@Edinburgh_CC
,
@nlcpeople
&
@stphilipsplains
. The project aims to reduce restraint in care settings. 👓
Amazing news on the UNCRC 30th birthday! Today
@JohnSwinney
has announced that
@scotgov
will commit to the FULL & DIRECT incorporation of the UNCRC. Well done to all the children’s organisations across Scotland who have campaigned for this.
#CRC30
#WorldChildrensDay
#NoBadEnds
Thousands of families that are already at breaking point will experience significant levels of poverty due to the
#Coronavirus
. That's why we're asking you to donate to our Urgent Assistance Fund to help them secure essentials like food & toiletries! 🙏
Thanks to you, our wonderful supporters, we have raised £500,930.20 since March. A magnificent effort!
More importantly we have granted £423,116.14 to 1,722 families in need via our Urgent Assistance Fund. Simply phenomenal. This is not over for families, so we will not stop.
Congratulations and welcome to our new chair, David Robb! We wish him every success in the position which he takes on today at our Annual General Meeting.
Find out more about our new chair below:
Great news! We've raised a whopping £112,778 to support children and families who are struggling due to Coronavirus. With more than 1,100% increase in applications, this is only the beginning. Thanks to your continued donations, we'll reach even more families!
#covidrelief
The
#UNCRC
ensures that children have a right to food. However, too many children in Scotland aren’t having their right to food met. Children’s right to food is inseparable from their right to education – if children are hungry, they can’t be expected to learn.
Delighted that
@HumzaYousaf
has committed to cancelling school meal debt for 30k children and families across Scotland in response to
@AberlourCCT
and
@ScottishSun
school meal debt campaign. The right thing to do and a welcome relief for struggling families. 👏👏👏
During lockdown we delivered more than 15,658 meals & essentials (clothing, toiletries, laptops) to families who've never needed our support before.
This highlights that the impact of COVID-19 isn't limited to vulnerable families & your support is crucial:
Fartun was one of the first young people to come through our doors when
#ScottishGuardianship
Service started a decade ago. Through seemingly endless meetings w/ officials, the teenager's guardian was by her side. Read Fartun’s full story:
@scotrefcouncil
Aberlour &
@KibbleCharity
have been funded by The Promise Partnership to lead an initiative designed to improve the care experience of children in Scotland. We are focusing on how we can better support children when they are distressed.
#KeepthePromise
@ThePromiseScot
We're delighted to say that since March we have raised a total of £667,065 for our Urgent Assistance Fund! We're grateful to all our supporters that have helped us to raise this incredible amount of money for children and families in crisis across Scotland. Thank you!
Read the fantastic article about our Scottish Guardianship Service in partnership with
@scotrefcouncil
in
@guardian
. Trusting relationships are at the heart of everything we do and they are so important to help young people make Scotland their new home 👉.
We're delighted to have received funding from the Social Innovation Fund to research an innovative befriending programme for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Scotland with
@StirUni
. We had our first research/focus groups last night, results in soon...
#EuropeDay
Today we've published our new report on the impact of public debt on families. This qualitative research led by
@MoragTreanor
shows that public debt pulls families deeper into poverty & holds them there. Read more 👉
#DebtRelief
Today Steph shared her story on
@BBCRadioScot
Good Morning Scotland following the publication of Scotland's drug death statistics. Hear Steph talk about how Aberlour's Mother and Child Recovery House in Dundee has helped on her road to recovery.
#bbcgms
When our staff delivered cooked meals to Ryan’s family they were delighted but were unable to accept them, as they couldn't heat them.
Thanks to donations to our Urgent Assistance Fund we bought the family a microwave & fulfilled the 7 year old’s dream.
We are committed to promoting equality and challenging discrimination in all its forms.
We stand with all those who stand up to discrimination, prejudice and injustice.
Stand up to racism.
#BlackLivesMatter
We’re thrilled to be working with
@scotrefcouncil
to deliver the Guardianship Scotland service thanks to funding from
@scotgov
. This important service will help more vulnerable unaccompanied asylum-seeking and trafficked children arriving in Scotland.
The boys at our disability service in Fife would like to thank all the social care staff at Aberlour for their hard work & dedication to caring for them. Thank you for your continuing commitment, sacrificing time with your families & putting those you support first!
#clapforcarer
We are thrilled to receive a Platinum award for Investors in People.
Just 3% organisations achieve this status and it’s testament to the work of our committed and passionate staff. Well done and congratulations Team Aberlour! ✨
Good to hear
@KateForbesMSP
announce £100 per child additional payment for children receiving free school meals, inc early years. Getting money directly to the pockets of low income families & increasing family incomes is crucial to tackling child poverty.
#CashNowFamiliesAlways
Finance Secretary
@KateForbesMSP
has today unveiled further budget proposals, including extending 100% rates relief for the whole of 2021-22 to businesses in the retail, hospitality, leisure, aviation and newspaper sectors. Read more ➡️
In addition to this, we were able to support a mum who was fleeing domestic abuse to secure new safe accommodation; a family who had also fled to safety were able to get financial support for a cooker and fridge; and a family who needed a bed, bedding and a washing machine. 2/2
Great to see
@scottishgreens
working with
@KateForbesMSP
to ensure the Scottish Budget further tackles child poverty and supports low income families. Pandemic relief payments of £330 for struggling families will make a significant difference to household incomes.
Today's budget agreement secures pandemic relief payments for approximately 500,000 households; with every household in receipt of council tax relief receiving £130, and households currently eligible for free school meals receiving a further £200 payment.
#WorkingForScotland
We love this amazing drawing by one of our young refugees! He told us the flower represents his growth since arriving in Glasgow and the leaves symbolise his guardian and social worker that have supported him to flourish.
@scotrefcouncil
#RefugeeWeek2021
#WeCannotWalkAlone
Happy Volunteers Week to our amazing volunteers!
We thank you for all of your time, skills, support & dedication to our children, young people & families, throughout the year & during this time. This year's theme is get involved, get creative & say thanks!
#VolunteersWeekScot
We are thrilled to have been awarded a significant grant from
@TNLComFundScot
This will enable us to progress with our ambitious digital plans to reach more children & families faster before they reach crisis point.
One of our children's residential workers, Ferne, was treated to a surprise wedding celebration after her wedding was postponed due to COVID-19.
The children decorated the house for her, made a wedding cake, and gave their wedding speeches to make the day as special as possible.
Hundreds of children across Scotland living in poverty will receive food, clothing & other essentials thanks to
@Barclays
@BarclaysScot
which has awarded £100,000 to Aberlour’s Urgent Assistance Fund.
#ThankYou
. Find out more:
It's the 3rd anniversary of the Independent Care Review. A group of Aberlour young people with care experience produced their own animation about what it means to
#KeepThePromise
and the importance of using their
#Voice
. But there is
#stilllotstodo
Great to join
@EndChildPoverty
partners and other organisations
@ScotParl
today to meet with party leaders and MSPs from all parties to reinforce cross party commitments to meeting child poverty targets and making sure no child in 🏴 grows up in poverty
#EndChildPoverty
A proud moment for Aberlour winning the Large Charity of the Year Award
@TSEawards
on Friday! A fantastic achievement & recognition for all the work that our staff, volunteers & supporters do everyday to improve the lives of children and families 👏
#ThirdSectorAwards
#BeingBrave
Well done to
@HumzaYousaf
for doing the right thing to relieve the financial stress for struggling families.👏 Next step must be to extend free school meal eligibility for all low income families to stop children being burdened with school meal debt. Read
We are thrilled to have been awarded £500k from
@corrascot
to extend our intensive family support service, which helps families affected by substance misuse, to cover Annan and Stranraer. Read more here
Ahead of tomorrow’s
#ScotPfG
we urge clear commitments from
@HumzaYousaf
to continue the vital work to
#KeepThePromise
. Important progress is being made but there is still much more needed to keep us on track to meet Scotland’s ambition to implement The Promise fully by 2030. 1/6
It's
#WorldRefugeeDay
& this year is the 10th Anniversary of our Guardianship service.
10 years ago Rose imagined herself as a nurse & made this model. Now she’s working in a critical care department in England during the pandemic. We’re so proud of you, Rose!
@RefugeeWeek
We are thrilled to be awarded a grant from The Partners in Change fund,
@RobertsonTrust
. This enables us to act on what families tell us. To work with partners across
#Tayside
to make financial support systems work better & work closely with families to improve financial wellbeing
Calling all early birds! Tune in at 6.35am tomorrow to Good Morning Scotland to hear
@SallyAnnKelly1
discuss Aberlour's new Poverty Relief campaign and how we can help Scotland's poorest children and families this winter
#PovertyRelief
"I'm delighted that as of Saturday Scotland's children are going to be given equal protection from assault. The same protection as I and every other adult in Scotland enjoys at the moment." -
@JohnFinnieHI
💚
#ThankYou
Rosey,
@PNDandMe
, for delivering a workshop to our Mother and Children Recovery House team in
#Dundee
. Our team are now more aware and understand the signs and symptoms of Post Natal Depression enabling us to better support the mums who stay with us.
#KeepthePromise
We are delighted that
@lokiscottishrap
will be joining us at the Aberlour staff and volunteer conference on Wednesday. Guess what? You can watch his talk too! Tune in to our
@Twitch
channel at 2.20pm 📺
Coronavirus Urgent Assistance Fund Update: as of today, we've received more than £52,000. Keep up the good work and spread the word, together we can help more families survive this crisis!
#Covidrelief
#CoronavirusLockdownUK
Being brave – for us it means standing up for Scotland’s children, young people and families, and working together to beat poverty and discrimination. Learn more about our 2021-2025 strategy and how you can support us here: …/
#beingbrave
We’ve been receiving lots of lovely thank you messages in response to the
#Coronavirus
Urgent Assistance grants we have given over the past few weeks.
This has only been possible thanks to the donations we have received from our supporters so we wanted to share them with you.
The latest poverty statistics show that
#childpoverty
in Scotland is rising. This tells us that despite the
#ScottishChildPayment
@ScotGov
efforts to reduce child poverty are failing.
@ScotGov
must make different political choices to tackle the scourge of child poverty.
To
#KeepThePromise
to our children & families “Scotland must take a more flexible, whole family approach to supporting children living with parents with problematic substance use.” In 2023 we opened our Mother & Child Recovery House for mothers and children affected by addiction
Our Rights & Participation project with
@LifeChangesTrst
has focused on helping young people with a learning disability & an experience of care to realise & understand their rights & have ownership of their lives. Watch the full video here:
#VolunteersWeekScot
is a time to recognise and thank our volunteers for all they contribute to Aberlour. Our teams, families, children and young people would be lost without all your support.
#ThankYou
for all that you do.
Happy Volunteers’ Week!
‘A special
#VolunteersWeekScot
message today to all our fabulous Perinatal Befrienders from our team to say thank you & send you a ‘Message in a Bootie’.
If you'd like to get involved with our service please visit:
#NeverMoreNeeded
#VolunteersWeek2020
We were delighted to have
@MareeToddMSP
visit our Sustain Borders ‘edge of care’ service. She was able to meet with our team, parents and young people to hear about our work keeping children out of care and families together.
@TheCareReview
#NoBadEnds
Thanks
@NicolaKillean
for highlighting our Intensive Perinatal Service as an example of Keeping The Promise through whole family support helping keep families together. And recognising the vital role of 3rd sector to
#KeepThePromise
for children across 🏴
@CYPCS