The inspection, carried out by the Care Inspectorate alongside scrutiny partners including Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS), His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS), took place between September 2025 and January 2026.
Inspectors found strong, compassionate practice across local services, with positive and caring relationships between staff and children highlighted as a major strength.
Most children and young people felt listened to, respected and involved in decisions affecting their lives, supported by the region’s well‑established approach to youth participation.
The meaningful involvement of children and young people was a key strength of the partnership with this work led by the Youth Work Service. Youth workers played a key role in effectively elevating the voice of care-experienced young people.
Youth work services were proactively involved in many projects across the area and engaged effectively with large numbers of young people. Youth workers also delivered targeted work with care experienced young people. The relational and trauma-informed approaches of youth work staff was a strength and made a positive difference in young people’s lives. Clearly young people felt that they were listened to and respected as a result of engagement with youth work services.
Inspectors also found that most children and young people are receiving the help they need to remain safely at home with their families, supported by coordinated work across social work, health, education, youth work services and the third sector.
In addition, inspectors praise the commitment of staff across services to helping children stay safely at home wherever possible.
The joint inspection report also praises the meaningful involvement of care‑experienced young people and the role of these organisations in supporting children and young people to feel listened to, respected and actively involved in decisions.
Multi‑agency working and strategic collaboration were noted as strong and improving, and the daily Multi‑Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) was highlighted as working particularly effectively, ensuring timely decision‑making and coordinated responses.
A wide range of third sector organisations were noted as making a positive contribution for families across the region.
Importantly, inspectors concluded they were confident the partnership can make the improvements needed, based on evidence of collective leadership, self‑evaluation, new service developments and a shared commitment to The Promise.
The report also notes several areas where continued focus will help strengthen support for children and families.
These included ongoing challenges around social work recruitment and retention, the difficulty of providing consistent services across a large rural region and the need to enhance health pathways to assessment.
It also highlighted opportunities to further support parental involvement and to continue improving how partners gather and use data to understand impact.
Speaking after the publication of the report, Cllr. Stephen Thompson, Leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council and Co-Chair of the Community Planning Partnership said:
“This inspection highlights the level of dedication from staff across Dumfries and Galloway who work every day to support children, young people and families.
“It’s encouraging that inspectors recognise the strong relationships, compassionate practice and meaningful involvement of young people that are at the heart of our partnership.
“At the same time, there are areas where improvement is needed. The challenges around workforce capacity, consistency of services, and health supports are real, and partners are already working together to address them.
“The Community Planning Partnership is firmly committed to The Promise and to ensuring that every child has the chance to be safe, heard and supported at home, and collectively we will take forward the required actions and make the improvements for our children, young people and families.”
Mark Cook, Chair of the NHS Dumfries and Galloway Board and Co-Chair of the Community Planning Partnership, said:
“This report is a welcome recognition of the commitment, compassion and professionalism demonstrated every day by partners across Dumfries and Galloway.
“It is especially encouraging to see inspectors highlight the strength of collaborative working and the positive impact this is having on children, young people and their families.
“We are pleased that the inspection team shares our confidence in the partnership’s ability to deliver further improvements, and we will continue working together across health, social care, education and the third sector to build on these strong foundations and ensure that every child receives the right support at the right time.”
The Care Inspectorate has requested a joint action plan from the Community Planning Partnership setting out how partners will address the priority areas for improvement. Progress will be monitored through our established link inspector arrangements.
The CPP will continue to work alongside all statutory and third sector partners to strengthen supports for families, improve consistency across the region and maintain a clear focus on listening to children, young people and parents.