Welcome To The Getting It Right For Every Child Channel

Life can be hard sometimes. You can feel alone and as if no one cares about you, what you do, whether or not you succeed or even how you feel? Worried that you won’t be able to do whatever you want or achieve your dreams? You might feel that no one cares what you have to say, that if you speak out you will just be dismissed as a child. Maybe you feel frightened for some reason. Perhaps you find yourself in a bit of trouble or are doing things you know are just not right – maybe those closest to you are suffering? If any of this sound familiar to you then read on . . .

Everyone has the right to life, to be heard, to feel safe, to an education, to be listened to and to be included, but sometimes things go wrong and you can be deprived of these basic rights. It happens all over the world, even here. Chances are that you will know someone who needs the services described in here and it won’t necessarily be because their rights have been abused. Many of you will find something here that you want to get involved with because it sounds fun or interests you. Some of you might not know what exactly you’re looking for, or have a problem and don’t know who or where to turn.

Getting It Right For Every Child is about ensuring the wellbeing of every child and young person in Scotland – and that means you. If you have ever wondered where to go for help or have felt frustrated that noone was listening to you, if you have had worries about someone close to you or felt there was more out there but you just didn’t know how to find it - then this site is for you. We don’t promise that we can get everything right for everyone but hopefully we can help point you in the right direction and give you the means to get help for yourself or someone close to you.

Getting It Right For Every Child is a national programme that is being designed by the Scottish Executive and put into practice locally. It is about meeting the needs of all Scotland’s youth - that’s anyone under 18 and at the last count there were just over a million of you, a fifth of the nation.

Getting It Right is about: 

• helping to make your life as good as it can be
• helping you with any needs you might have
• providing you with as wide a range of options in life as possible
•  making sure the adults in your life know you and value you no matter what area you live in, your sexual orientation, what colour you are, what language you speak or what religion you follow
• making sure the adults in your life support you in any way they can and provide you with the best conditions to grow
• protecting you from harm and keeping you safe, helping you sort out any problems
• presenting you with opportunities and listening to what you have to say
• making sure you understand what is happening to you if say, you have to go into a form of care
• everyone around you doing the best they can to support and empower you, making you rich in skills and getting you involved in a positive way so you can be successful contributors to your society.

Getting It Right is about setting you up to make the most that life has to offer.

This is a big idea - we want to make a fairer, better, richer, safer & stronger Scotland and we want to do it hand in hand with you. After all, the youth of today are the adults of tomorrow.

Here’s a quick look at what’s going down here:

• Are You Active
• Ensuring You Achieve
• Everyone’s Included
• Looking after your Health
• Keeping you Safe
• Nurtured
• Getting Enough Respect
• Being Responsible

All you have to do is click on a link at the top of the page to see what Scotland can do for you.

The 'Getting It Right For Every Child' microsite was put together by ProjectScotland volunteer Ruaridh Osborne, who was on placement at Young Scot and the Scottish Executive between February and April 2007.