Day: 28 September 2025

Barnardo’s Urges People To Consider Fostering

Stuart Mitchell

A remarkable mother-of-three who grew up in the care system before going on to foster more than 100 children over the past 40 years is today calling on others to consider becoming foster carers with Barnardo’s Scotland. Denise Hopkinson, who has been married to husband Rick for almost 50 years, was herself fostered as a young girl, and it was this period of her life that gave her the motivation and drive to become a foster carer herself. Denise, from Livingston, says: “I was a looked-after child and was in…

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Persistent social protection gaps in Europe and Central Asia worsened by climate change impact

Stuart Mitchell

Despite relatively high levels of social protection coverage in the region, significant gaps in adequacy and coverage remain at a time when stronger, more sustainable systems are urgently needed to address the growing impacts of climate change, according to a new International Labour Organization (ILO) report. The most recent data show that while 85.2 per cent of the population in the region are covered by at least one social protection benefit, 14.8 per cent are still entirely unprotected. Strengthening these social protection systems is essential not only to address immediate…

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