Forces Children Scotland 9 hours ago
As proud members of Veterans Scotland, we were delighted to attend the Armed Forces Champions Gathering in Stirling last week — the first since 2019, and a sell-out event.
It was a momentous gathering of partners and collaborators invested in the Armed Forces community: Armed Forces Champions, Veterans Scotland members, COSLA, SOLACE, and many other partners and supporters. Susie Hamilton, Scottish Veterans Commissioner, was in attendance, and Jamie Hepburn, Minister for Parliamentary Business and Veterans, delivered the opening address.
Bringing all these voices together led to a powerful and productive day. We were privileged to play a role too, with Deputy CEO Meg Thomas joining the Lived Experience panel.
Jamie Hepburn MSP set the tone perfectly. He proudly wielded a Maude badge and voiced his commitment to be a Forces Children’s Rights Defender.
Photos courtesy of Veterans Scotland.
We heard from the MOD Armed Forces Covenant Team about the Covenant Extension and what it means in Scotland. The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust reflected on the real impact of their funding (including their support for us, which we are very grateful for!). Forces in Mind Trust introduced practical measures for local authorities with their Armed Forces Covenant Toolkit. Everything we heard spoke to the importance of collaboration: between Champions and local authorities, within the third sector, and across different levels of government.
During the Roundtable Discussion on Covenant good practice, we heard from Armed Forces Champions in both local authorities and the NHS. It was great to hear from Kari Magee and Jo McBain, NHS Highland Armed Forces Champions and our MLG partners, about how they combine lived experience, subject matter expertise and networks to make an impact in their respective roles. Kari spoke powerfully about building partnerships with civil servants to ensure good practice and innovation can have a national impact.
The Lived Experience panel was another highlight. Meg brought the voices of babies, children and young people from Armed Forces families into the room, highlighting the provisions of the Forces Children’s Rights Charter in relation to housing, health and the recommendations of the education report.
The Charter could play an important role in helping Councils, the Scottish Government, the NHS and other partners deliver the new Covenant duties when they come into effect later this year.
Co-produced with children and young people from serving, reservist and veteran families, the Charter sets out what they want and need for their rights to be promoted and to not be disadvantaged because of their parent’s service.
We also had a stall raising awareness of Charter, and Robert, our new Policy and Campaigns Officer, has been having productive conversations along these lines with Armed Forces Champions across Scotland—stay tuned for more details!
Bringing Champions, charities, government and partners together in one room supports conversations and connections that lead to real change. We would welcome the opportunity for similar gatherings in the future, particularly after next year’s local authority elections.
Congratulations to our friends at Veterans Scotland for organising such an impactful event!
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