First Minister John Swinney has promised to look into the case of a long established west Stirlingshire based family “lifeline’” charity, set to close at the end of next month.
The Lilias Graham Trust, based in Thornhill, is a Scottish charity which offers independent parenting capacity assessments within a residential facility.
But it announced last month that it would close.
Chair of the board of trustees, Sheila Bulloch announced: “On November 22 at the AGM the painful decision was unanimously taken by the [board] to wind up the Lilias Graham Trust.
“All the staff have been issued with redundancy notices and the business will effectively close on January 31, 2025.
“There are currently no families in residence and no more referrals will be taken.”
However, the closure was raised by Mid Scotland and Fife Conservative MSP Roz McCall in the Scottish Parliament last week during First Minister’s Questions, including whether the situation reflected negatively given the Scottish Government’s commitment to ‘The Promise’, the outcome of a nationwide, independent root and branch review of child care services which called for a Scotland where every child grows up loved, safe and respected and is able to reach their full potential.
Ms McCall said: “The Lilias Graham Trust, based in Thornhill, near Stirling, has been a lifeline for families in Scotland for decades, providing residential support and parenting capacity assessments as part of their mission to help families on the edge of care, impacted by adverse childhood experiences, trauma, social exclusion and poverty.
“This vital residential facility will close its doors on January 31, after having written to the Minister for Young People and Children for support, which wasn’t forthcoming.”
Ms McCall said support from Third Sector organisations such as the Lilias Graham Trust was vital if the Scottish Government was to keep its commitment to The Promise in improving the lives of children, families and communities, but was at risk of “disappearing altogether”.
She added: “First Minister, how can your government claim to keep The Promise if it idly stands by and lets Third Sector organisations who are actually keeping it, go to the wall?”
Mr Swinney said while he was unfamiliar with the particular case, he understood the sentiments underpinning her question.
He added: “I’m sure that the trust has made a significant contribution to the wellbeing of children and young people but there will, as is always the case in some of these areas, be changes to service provision that are driven by changes in the way that we support families.
The First Minister cited City of Glasgow Council as having made “very significant changes” in how it deployed its expenditure for service provision for care experienced young people because it had “shifted its balance” away from provision and more into supporting families to stay together.
However, he added: “I’ll look at the issues Roz McCall raises with me today, I’ll take counsel from the Minister for Children and Young People and Keeping The Promise and I’ll reply.”
Located in rural Stirlingshire, The Lilias Graham Trust provides residential placements to parents and families in cases where there are concerns about parents meeting the needs of their child/children and the local authority require more evidence-based information about whether the child can remain safe within the family.
Their core values include compassion – treating every parent, child, family and colleague with kindness, compassion and warmth; respect – not jumping to judgmental conclusions; hope; trust; and care – with all work underpinned by taking time to build “authentic, warm and caring relationships” with parents and children.
The LGT as it now stands was founded in 2006, but had a history of helping families affected by poverty and social exclusion long before.
Lilias Graham, from whom the charity takes its name, devoted her life to working with those struggling to cope with troubled and poverty-stricken circumstances.
For 20 years, her flat in the Gorbals district of Glasgow was a meeting point for local people seeking advice, groups for women, children playing, volunteers and trainee social workers on placements from the London School of Economics.
In 1972 Lilias moved to Braendam House in Thornhill – the charity’s main residential facility – where she welcomed families from Glasgow and all over the country for holidays. She also set up the Braendam Link group, which provided a meeting point in Glasgow for families between visits to the house.
On approaching retirement she entrusted the house and grounds to ATD Fourth World (UK) – the large international charity committed to ‘putting an end to poverty and social exclusion’.