Befriending & Social Policy

Policy documents lie at the heart of government strategy and funders priorities. In order to tie befriending into these, the following can be used to show how relevant it is to the work being carried out by key decision-makers.

Asylum Seekers

Asylum Seekers in Scotland (2003)

  • "There were missed opportunities such as... the possibility of promoting the development of friendship through befriending services..."
  • "...Many asylum seekers experience isolation and a better provision of befriending services might start to address this..."
  • "...Befriending services also require further consideration for their potential positive contribution to communication, integration and wellbeing."

Care Leavers

Scottish Executive website/Leaving Care

  • "We aim to improve and develop the services provided for those leaving care to ensure that services, including mentoring and befriending, continue to be available beyond the age of 16."

Vulnerable Children and Young People – Young Runaways. Scottish Executive 2003 (p3, point 13)

  • "Befriending services can also play an important role in providing support."

Children & Young People

For Scotland's Children report

  • "In order to become confident individuals, effective contributors, successful learners and responsible citizens, all Scotland's children need to be: safe, nurtured, healthy, achieving, active, included, respected and responsible."
  • "Each of the 1 million children in Scotland is engaged on a journey from birth to adulthood. By its end the child should have realised his/her potential in terms of emotional and social maturity, be in good health, and have attained a level of academic achievement and other skills."
  • "Some children lose their way on their journey. This may be because the child is a victim, or the child may have drawn attention to him or herself in some way. He/she may be struggling because of disability or illness (including, increasingly, psychiatric illness) or being a carer, or because the parents are unable to meet their responsibilities: increasingly commonly because they are drug-users."

Families

Growing Support - A Review of Services for Vulnerable Families with Young Children (0-3) (2003)(appendix C )

  • "Community networking models and volunteer befriending schemes... Principles of enhancing informal support: Traditionally most interventions have relied on specialist or professional input to children, parents or families. Increasingly strategies are being used to strengthen the help and advice available to families informally, whether from their kin, neighbour and friendship networks or through linking families with a volunteer. Such help may be less expert than professional services, but it is often more acceptable, more flexible and more available."

Homelessness

Guidance on Homelessness Strategies (March 2002)

  • "(55) The strength of a homeless person's social networks should be an integral part of the assessment of their needs and of the support offered to them in temporary accommodation and during permanent resettlement. All projects serving homeless people should pursue strategies to promote and support opportunities for positive social interaction."
  • "(56) A national co-ordination role should be created to build and co-ordinate local mediation, befriending and mentoring services for homeless people across Scotland. This role would also evaluate existing projects, disseminate good practice and facilitate information sharing."

Mental Health

National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being

Four key aims for 2003-2006 include:

  • "Key Aim No.4: Promoting and Supporting Recovery: Supporting people who have experienced mental ill-health into mainstream life; to have a network of social and personal support; to have access to good housing; to help in ensuring that people with mental health problems can both access and retain employment, significantly aids people's recovery from mental ill-health."

Mental Health & Young People

The Mental Health of Children and Young People: A Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care 2005 (p46, 7.6)

  • "Although there are many factors which are well established as increasing children's vulnerability to mental health problems, there are also many protective factors which need to be considered and supported. These include an individual child's attributes, their relationships with a range of others including their families and their peers, and the availability of support networks such as befriending schemes."

Older People

4 of the 18 principles of the United Nations Principles for Older Persons

  • "Older persons should have access to social and legal services to enhance their autonomy, protection and care."
  • "Older persons should be able to pursue opportunities for the full development of their potential."
  • "Older persons should have access to the educational, cultural, spiritual and recreational resources of society."
  • "Older persons should be treated fairly regardless of age, gender, racial or ethnic background, disability or other status, and be valued independently of their economic contribution."