This week is Care Experienced Week, a hugely important time in the year to celebrate the care experienced community and I am sending my love and solidarity.

The theme this year is "belonging and connection". Whether that’s with people or in a place, this is something that we all need and deserve. None more so than people with care experience.

The Love Rally, organised by Who Cares? Scotland, which will happen in Glasgow on Saturday (October 26), is one of the clearest demonstrations to show how important this is.

In February 2020, Scotland made a promise that, by 2030, all children will grow up loved, safe and respected and be able to fulfill their potential. This promise was made specifically to families, children, young people and adults with care experience. All the changes Scotland needs to make are detailed in a report called The Promise.

This year’s Care Experienced Week comes just as Scotland approaches the halfway point to keeping that promise.

For it to be kept, it’s essential that children, young people and adults with care experience must feel belonging and have meaningful connections. Consistent, loving relationships are crucial for this and in helping children and young people stay safe and thrive.

Some of the most important relationships any of us can have are with our brothers and sisters. The promise is clear that "relationships between brothers and sisters will be cherished and protected". But still, too often, children and young people in and around the care system are separated from their siblings and don’t get the support they need to maintain those relationships. A study by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) found that 80% of the children in this research who were looked after away from home, were separated from their siblings.

This summer a route map for Scotland to keep the promise was published. It is called Plan 24-30 and is built around the five foundations of the promise, each of which is broken down into themes and actions.

Relationships is one of those key themes. People working with children, young people and families want to develop stable, long-lasting, meaningful relationships but find that hard to achieve in practice. Some of the barriers in place include continual service restructuring, inconsistent thresholds for when a child or family gets support, and limited resources and time to dedicate to building and maintaining trusting relationships.

However, over the years a lot has changed, including reducing the number of children and young people living long-distances away from their community, improved communication channels between caregivers, children, and families as well as enhanced support services.

As Scotland approaches the halfway point of the commitment to keep the promise, there is a pressing need to focus on what matters most to children and families and speed up the pace of change.  Because in five years' time there must no longer be any structural, systemic or cultural barriers preventing Scotland’s children build that sense of belonging and connection that many of us take for granted. Making this change is a something we can all be part of.

Find out more about what needs to be done, and what you could do at https://www.plan2430.scot/.

Fraser McKinlay, is chief executive, The Promise Scotland

Agenda is a column for outside contributors. Contact: agenda@theherald.co.uk