Bairns’ Hoose (Barnahus)

Bairns’ Hoose, based on an Icelandic model ‘Barnahus’, will bring together services in a ‘four rooms’ approach with child protection, health, justice and recovery services all made available in one setting.  Bairns’ Hoose aims to ensure that every child victim or witness has consistent and holistic support, access to specialist services and receives ongoing therapeutic care from services coordinated under one roof. 

The overall vision of a Bairns’ Hoose (Barnahus) in Scotland is that:

All children in Scotland who have been victims or witnesses to abuse or violence, as well as children under the age of criminal responsibility whose behaviour has caused significant harm or abuse, will have access to trauma informed recovery, support and justice.

The key values through which this vision will be achieved are that:

  • we are child centered, trauma informed and respect the rights and wellbeing of the child at all times
  • we provide consistent and holistic support, which enables children to have their voices heard, access specialist services and recover from their experiences
  • we aim to prevent children being re-traumatised and to improve the experience of the criminal justice process for children and families, and
  • we demonstrate connectedness and national leadership to uphold children’s rights to protection, support, participation and recovery.

In 2019, the Scottish Government commissioned Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate to jointly develop standards which will provide a blueprint for a Scottish Barnahus (Bairns’ Hoose).  Also in 2019, a Standards Development Group with representatives from across social work, police, health, justice and children’s voluntary organisations began developing the standards. In March 2020 Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate paused the development of the standards in order to reduce undue strain across the system and prioritise resources to support the national response to Covid-19. A refreshed Standards Development Group recommenced work on the Bairns’ Hoose standards in January 2022. 

The final standards are now available to download. We have also developed a version of the standards for children and young people. The standards will help to support a consistent national implementation of the Bairns’ Hoose model.

Update on Barnahus July 2023

For further information regarding the project, see other reports published to date:


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Serious Incident Reviews

Serious Incident Reviews

The Care Inspectorate assumed responsibility for the oversight of learning from serious incident reviews when it was established in 2011.  The function is underpinned by the Care Inspectorate’s statutory duties under the Public Service Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.  The national guidance for serious incident reviews was developed in partnership with the Scottish Government and Social Work Scotland.   The guidance outlines what is expected of local authorities when a serious incident comes to their attention.

The reporting of serious incidents currently pertains to people who have received a final disposal from court following conviction.  This includes people made subject to the various requirements of a community payback order or a drug treatment and testing order.  It also relates to everyone released from custody subject to statutory social work supervision.  Guidance on the management and delivery of these orders and licences is contained within a variety of national outcomes and standards - Scottish Government collection of justice social work guidance.

When a serious incident occurs the local authority should notify the Care Inspectorate within five working days. The Care Inspectorate provides a quality assurance role in Serious Incident Reviews, by looking at how reviews have been conducted and whether these have been carried out in a robust and meaningful way. The Serious Incident Review guidance with appendixes to submit a notification and review can be found here.

If there are any queries in the meantime please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please submit the relevant forms/reports through secure email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The notification and review templates can be found here:

The main contact for this work is:

Mike Hendry, Strategic Inspector

Mobile 07388 709834

 


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Deaths of young people receiving aftercare provision

Deaths of young people receiving aftercare provision

Local authorities must notify the Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Government of any death of a young person in receipt of aftercare provision as soon as is reasonably practicable.

Local authorities must:

  • complete the attached DAC1 form and send this to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • send a copy of the completed DAC1 form to the Scottish Government at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please note, this is separate from the duty of a registered care service to notify us of the death of a service user. These should be submitted via our eforms system.

More information about notification and reporting arrangements can be found here.

Please submit all relevant forms/reports through secure email to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The main contact for this work is Karen McCormack, strategic inspector or Sharon Telfer, strategic inspector, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


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Deaths of young people in continuing care

Deaths of young people in continuing care

Local authorities must notify the Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Government of the death of a young person in receipt of continuing care as soon as is reasonably practicable.

Local authorities must:

  • complete the attached DCC1 form and send this to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • send a copy of the completed DCC1 form to the Scottish Government at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please note, this is separate from the duty of a registered care service to notify us of the death of a service user. These should be submitted via our eforms system.

More information about notification and reporting arrangements can be found here.

Please submit all relevant forms/reports through secure email to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The main contact for this work is Karen McCormack, strategic inspector or Sharon Telfer, strategic inspector, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


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Deaths of looked after children

Deaths of looked after children

Local authorities must notify the Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Government within 24 hours of the death of a looked after child.

Local authorities must:

  • complete the attached DLC1 form and send this to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • send a copy of the completed DLC1 form to the Scottish Government at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please note, this is separate from the duty of a registered care service to notify us of the death of a service user. These should be submitted via our eforms system.

More information about notification and reporting arrangements can be found here.

Please submit all relevant forms/reports through secure email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

The main contact for this work is Karen McCormack, strategic inspector or Sharon Telfer, strategic inspector, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


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