Children & Family Services

With Children in Scotland’s ‘How Good is Our Third Sector Participation in Children’s Services Planning’ toolkit, GCVS supported a review in Glasgow that brought together a diverse range of organisations, and statutory partners from health, education, and social work. This collaborative process encouraged the Children’s Services Planning Partnerships to reflect on and strengthen how local planning supports collaborative working between the public and third sectors.

Findings from the report set out actionable recommendations, including embedding feedback loops within planning cycles, promoting preventative and upstream investment, and expanding the ways in which communities are engaged. These insights are helping shape more inclusive and collaborative approaches to children’s services planning.

Read more in this reflection piece from our partnership manager.

Glasgow’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) Children’s Services, with support from the Glasgow Council for the Voluntary Sector (GCVS), hosted a Conversation Café for third-sector organisations supporting ethnic minority families.

The event created a space for open and honest dialogue between HSCP colleagues and community representatives, focusing on families’ experiences of social work and children’s community health services.

Rich insights and personal stories were shared, highlighting both challenges and opportunities to improve how support is delivered. The discussion fostered shared learning, strengthened relationships, and deepened understanding of the barriers families face when accessing services.

This first-of-its-kind event in several years marks a positive step toward sustained collaboration and more inclusive practice. It reflects a shared commitment to ensuring that all families in Glasgow can access the right help, at the right time, in ways that recognise and respect their diverse experiences.

GCVS is working with Glasgow City Council to improve how people experiencing economic disadvantage access support. Funded by the Scottish Government’s Fairer Futures Partnership, the Child Poverty Programme (CPP) was created under Best Start, Bright Futures (2022–26) to test and scale person-centred approaches to supporting families.

Guided by the Christie Commission principles of Partnership, Place, Prevention, and People, the CPP aims to reduce child poverty in Glasgow through public service reform and collaboration.

The programme focuses on investing early in families with children aged 0–5, designing services with the people who use them, making support easier to access through a “No Wrong Door” approach, improving data sharing, and measuring progress in new, inclusive ways.

Between February and September 2025, GCVS has strengthened third-sector leadership and collaboration, co-produced the CPP Performance Framework, advised on commissioning and funding, and embedded co-design so that families and those with lived experience shape services directly.

Through initiatives like All-Age Childcare Co-design and No Wrong Door – Tell Your Story, we are helping build trust, coordinate support, and place community voices at the centre of efforts to reduce poverty and improve lives across Glasgow.

Find out more by visiting: Glasgow’s Child Poverty Programme

Co-Designing Glasgow’s All Age Childcare was a partnership between GCVS and Glasgow City Council (GCC) to explore issues and create potential solutions for a future all-age childcare system that incorporates childcare, activities and food provision. The Scottish Approach to Service Design guided the project, emphasising inclusive, community-driven engagement.

Key insights and learning from our lead partners, Daisy Chain, 3D Drumchapel, and Early Years Scotland, include:

• Flexible wrap-around childcare
• Affordable local provision
• Food & social connection are essential

These findings are now shaping Glasgow’s contribution to the Scottish Government’s all-age childcare vision and informing future test-and-learn projects.

• Read the Executive Summary for an overview of the report’s key points.
• Read the full Final Report here.
• Please also read our Quick Guide to Co-designing with Families.

The Glasgow Promise Partnership (GPP) was an innovative collaboration of third sector partners, supported by GCVS, in partnership with the Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, funded by the Corra Foundation. It represented a coordinated approach to service design, focused on the needs and views of families, involving those who use services and a range of partners from Glasgow’s third and statutory sectors.

The project consulted a diverse range of children, young people, parents and carers about their experience of family support and their thoughts on how it might be improved. Twenty-four third sector organisations were involved in interviewing 387 children, young people and families about their experiences of family support.

The report calls for more holistic, joined-up, family-centred services delivered locally and over time, with better funding for upstream (preventative) supports, enhanced transparency about service options, and genuine engagement of families in co-designing the supports they need.

Read more about this in our blog on the Glasgow Promise Project.