Forces Children Scotland

Forces Children Scotland As Scotland's oldest military charity, we have over two hundred years experience in supporting children and young people.

We provide support and opportunities to enable babies, children and young people from Regular, Reservist and Veteran families to realise their potential and thrive. Our charity was founded just four days before the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, which provided accommodation, education and trade skills to children and young people whose parents were killed or experienced life-changing wounds during the Napoleonic Wars. Today, we help children and young people from serving, reservist and veteran families across Scotland grow in confidence, develop new skills, and gain valuable experiences by co-producing impactful projects and services which focus on topics including mental health and wellbeing, education and learning, and putting their unique experiences on the radar of civilian audiences. We provide life-changing experiences to forge new friendships, through a sense of belonging, shared experience, and solidarity. We will work directly with children and young people to amplify their unique experiences to help civilian friends as well as those who support them or make important decisions about their future better understand what they’re going through and bring about big changes. We listen and provide financial help in lots of different ways for children, young people and their families. We can support children and young people care for loved ones or a member of the local community or help them gain a qualification at college or university. We can also help by providing families with that little bit extra financial support to cover essential living costs and so much more. You can get involved with Forces Children Scotland if you have Scottish parents who are a regular, reservist or veteran of the British Armed Forces - whether that’s the Army, Navy You can also get involved if your parents aren’t Scottish - We can support children and young people from families currently based in Scotland. Better still, we can continue to support you if you move from Scotland!

Book your place for our upcoming conversation with Starcatchers! 🎟️In this free webinar, we'll be exploring an important...
06/10/2026

Book your place for our upcoming conversation with Starcatchers! 🎟️

In this free webinar, we'll be exploring an important question for anyone in contact with Armed Forces families: what helps babies and young children feel safe, secure and understood when the world around them keeps changing?

Hear about how creativity, play and relationships can support babies and young children (and leave with insights for your own professional practice)! 🤸‍♀️

We hope to see you there: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-early-years-in-conversation-with-starcatchers-tickets-2002192702270?

Last night we joined Veterans' Foundation  to celebrate their 10th anniversary with friends from across the Armed Forces...
01/10/2026

Last night we joined Veterans' Foundation to celebrate their 10th anniversary with friends from across the Armed Forces community. 🎉

It was so moving to witness a live performance from Military Wives Choirs. We also heard from from Mark Ormrod MBE as he launched the Armed Forces Pledge.

Thank you to The Veterans' Foundation for supporting the Ruby Boots project, and congratulations on all you've done for Veterans over the past decade.

📸 Our CEO Steven Sweeney and our new Trusts & Foundations Fundraiser Jo McLeod, with Jane Gurney, CEO of The Veterans' Foundation.

01/10/2026

Today, we're celebrating Meghann Mair-Ward's milestone: one year as a Ruby Boots volunteer!

Here's just one way Meghann has contributed to this project, supporting on a helpful resource for children, young people, or anyone coping with anxiety.

Last night, we joined Lowland Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Association at the Burrell Collection, where two Royal Artille...
30/09/2026

Last night, we joined Lowland Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Association at the Burrell Collection, where two Royal Artillery field guns welcomed guests to the ERS Silver Awards and Lord-Lieutenants Certificates ceremony.

It was a privilege to hear how the Cadets are empowering young people, and to hear it first-hand from one young person herself. We have so much respect to the volunteers, reservists and staff who give their time to make these programmes happen.

Thank you, Lowland RFCA, for recognising Forces Children Scotland with an ERS Silver Award. We're proud to stand alongside so many organisations and individuals supporting the Armed Forces community.

Last week, Paul Hamlyn Foundation marked 10 years of their Youth Fund with a celebration event in London. 🎉It was a wond...
29/09/2026

Last week, Paul Hamlyn Foundation marked 10 years of their Youth Fund with a celebration event in London. 🎉

It was a wonderful event, with the chance to connect with practitioners across the Youth Learning Network and celebrate the success of the fund, which supported Forces Children Scotland to develop our Tornado of Change campaign... resulting in the Ruby Boots project.

Thank you for inviting us, PHF! It was lovely to connect with other members of the network, hear about their work and share youth work practice.

Midlothian Council has adopted the Forces Children's Rights Charter, after hearing from Cllr Pauline Wi******er about wh...
25/09/2026

Midlothian Council has adopted the Forces Children's Rights Charter, after hearing from Cllr Pauline Wi******er about what growing up in an Armed Forces family meant for her.

Cllr Wi******er lived in eleven homes across five countries and went to five primary schools in six years. This week, she drew on that experience to bring forward this motion, which was backed unanimously: "By pledging to adopt the Forces Children's Rights Charter, we as a council can help. Everyone in the council has a role to play. I urge all councillors and council staff to go to the charter and take the pledge."

Thank you to Cllr Wi******er and Midlothian Council for championing the rights of Forces children.

It's great to see Midlothian become the latest local authority in Scotland to endorse the Forces Children’s Rights Charter, emphasising its commitment to ensuring the rights of children and young people from Armed Forces families are met.

Read the full story: https://forceschildrenscotland.org.uk/news/midlothian-council-adopts-the-forces-childrens-rights-charter/

We're so proud of the Firrhill High School pupils whose animation about Forces life has been shortlisted for an award at...
23/09/2026

We're so proud of the Firrhill High School pupils whose animation about Forces life has been shortlisted for an award at the Scottish Youth Film Foundation Festival! 👏

We're so looking forward to this celebration with Scottish Youth Film Foundation in October.

Thank you to Animation Jam for working with us to produce this animation!

Here are some highlights from our work in 2025−2026!Our new impact report is here, and you can read the rest on our webs...
16/09/2026

Here are some highlights from our work in 2025−2026!

Our new impact report is here, and you can read the rest on our website:

https://forceschildrenscotland.org.uk/impact-report/

Reflecting on the past year, we're feeling grateful to our supporters and the babies, children and young people who have made this work possible.

On this day,  we remember the 9/11 terror attacks, when 2,977 people lost their lives.We honour the memory of the victim...
11/09/2026

On this day, we remember the 9/11 terror attacks, when 2,977 people lost their lives.

We honour the memory of the victims and pay tribute to all whose lives were forever changed by this tragedy 25 years ago.

Today, we're thinking of the civilians, emergency workers, and military personnel who were affected, as well as their children and families.

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C/O The Melting Pot
Edinburgh
EH88DL

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