Nicola Sturgeon has said she is thinking “long and hard” about becoming a foster mum after quitting as First Minister.
In an article for the Record, she also wrote of her “burning” duty to helping care-experienced young people and her tears for those who had taken their own lives.
Sturgeon also warned successor Humza Yousaf she would complain “loudly and clearly” if promises made to children in care are not met.
In her resignation speech in February, Sturgeon said she would continue to champion care-experienced young people to ensure they “grow up nurtured and loved”.
In office, she announced the Government would “Keep the Promise” to this vulnerable group after a damning report highlighted the “separation, trauma, stigma and pain” in the care system.
In her article, she wrote: “There are few, if any, encounters lodged more firmly in my heart than those I had with young people who were, or had been, in the care ‘system’.
“These conversations would often bring me to tears. I heard from young people who had been separated from their brothers and sisters when taken into care – in some cases losing touch completely. I heard of suicides and attempted suicides.
“I heard about the use of physical restraint in children’s homes. I heard from young people about how worthless it made them feel to be sent to ‘respite’ while their foster family went on holiday.”
She continued: “I was persuaded that the ‘system’ – despite the best efforts of the dedicated men and women who work in it – was broken. We – government, society – too often let our most vulnerable children down at the time they need us most.”
Central to her Government’s agenda in this area was the £500million Whole Family Wellbeing Fund to help families stay together.
She wrote: “I know more than most how tight public finances are, but for the sake of the children whose lives could be transformed by it, I urge the government to make delivery of this Fund a priority.
“I know my successor as First Minister is as committed to The Promise as I am. But if I ever get the sense that government is not prioritising the change it demands, I will say so – loudly and clearly.
“My promise – for as long as I live – is to be a voice for those in care or at risk of care, and to do everything I can to make sure all young people grow up surrounded by love.”
Sturgeon said in 2019 that fostering children “may be something [her and her husband] would think about” when she was no longer First Minister.
She went further in her Record piece: “I have spoken before about the possibility of fostering myself in future. Obviously, that is something I must think long and hard about, but it was hearing about the impact good foster care can have in the life of a child that motivated me to even consider it.”
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