TWO support services covering the Upper Nithsdale area have been heavily criticised by watchdogs for their 'weak' and 'unsatisfactory' care provision.
Officials from the Care Inspectorate carried out visits to Dumfries and Galloway's fostering and adoption services, operated by the area's council.
The visits and subsequent reports, completed last month, highlighted a number of areas of concern, with one strand of the fostering service being described as "unsatisfactory" - which is the lowest grading inspectors can hand out.
Adoption services were also rated "weak" in the report, which stated that children and young people's safety were called into question.
READ MORE: Consultation launches for planned new national park
Despite the scathing assessment, Dumfries and Galloway Council said it "takes these findings seriously" and will take action to address the issues.
Leadership and staff teams in both services were described as "weak" by inspectors, with the services facing staffing challenges.
The report on the fostering service stated: "There was not always clarity that the service had fulfilled their responsibilities or consistently followed national guidance in relation to safeguarding and protection matters.
"This meant that, at times, there were risks that children and young people's safety would be compromised.
"We continue to be very concerned about aspects of the care being provided and we evaluated the service as delivering an unsatisfactory level of care for this key question."
Focusing on the adoption services, inspectors stated: "Some post adoptive parents did not feel listened to, and the positive relationships enjoyed by the pre-adoptive service were not echoed in the post adoption service.
"Strong relationships between staff and caregivers were not always established and there was not a sense that confident, relationship-based, and trauma-informed practice was embedded, which resulted in a lack of confidence in challenging in a trauma-skilled way."
A number of areas for improvement for both services had been met from a previous visit, with some extensions being given for other improvements highlighted.
Upon reflection of these latest reports, Dumfries and Galloway Council acknowledged the findings, and said that revised plans are working towards solving the issues.
READ MORE: Annual Sanquhar Hallowe'en evening draws in excited youngsters
A local authority spokesperson told the Chronicle: "We accept the findings of the Care Inspectorate reports on our fostering and adoption services.
"Although we are encouraged to see improvements noted in the reports, and through verbal feedback provided by the Care Inspectorate, we regret that not all identified areas have been fully addressed within the required timescales.
"We take these findings seriously and recognise that further progress is needed to achieve the standards we are committed to providing.
"We will continue to take actions to address all outstanding areas of improvement in the reports. Our revised action plan centres on accelerating progress and strengthening the support we provide to both children and carers, who remain our number one priority.
"We appreciate the support of our community as we work to continue improving the quality of service we provide. We also wish to recognise the hard work and resilience of our dedicated staff who give their best each day to ensure an improving level of service."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here