The history of SHANARRI is closely linked to Scotland’s wider ambition to improve outcomes for children and young people. Introduced as part of the GIRFEC approach, SHANARRI provides a consistent way to understand and measure wellbeing across services.
For professionals working in care, education and social work, understanding where SHANARRI came from helps explain why it remains central to practice today.
The Origins of SHANARRI
SHANARRI was developed during the creation of GIRFEC in the mid-2000s. At the time, Scotland recognised that support for children and young people was often fragmented, with different services working in isolation.
There was a need for a shared approach that would bring together education, health, social work and other services. As part of this, SHANARRI was introduced to provide a clear, structured understanding of wellbeing.
The eight indicators were designed to reflect the key areas that influence a child’s life, ensuring that support was both holistic and consistent.
The Role of Policy and Legislation
The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 reinforced the importance of GIRFEC and, by extension, SHANARRI. The Act placed duties on organisations to work together to support wellbeing and improve outcomes.
SHANARRI became embedded in practice through:
- The National Practice Model
- The Child’s Plan
- The Named Person and Lead Professional roles
- Assessment tools such as the My World Triangle and Resilience Matrix
These elements ensured that SHANARRI was not just theoretical, but actively used in decision-making and planning.
Co-Designed with Practitioners
A key strength of SHANARRI is that it was shaped with input from professionals working directly with children and young people. Teachers, social workers, health professionals and care staff all contributed to its development.
This meant the indicators were grounded in real-world experience rather than abstract theory. They were designed to be practical, flexible and adaptable to different settings.
This is one of the reasons SHANARRI has remained relevant across residential care, schools and local authority services.
SHANARRI and The Promise
The introduction of The Promise in 2020 reinforced the importance of improving how Scotland supports looked-after children. It highlighted the need for more consistent, relationship-based and outcome-focused care.
SHANARRI aligns closely with these goals by providing a framework that supports:
- Understanding each child’s experience
- Recognising strengths as well as challenges
- Ensuring that support is coordinated and meaningful
However, The Promise also highlighted gaps in how wellbeing is recorded and evidenced in practice.
Why the History Still Matters Today
Understanding the history of SHANARRI is important because the challenges it was designed to address still exist. Fragmented systems, duplication and inconsistent recording can make it difficult to build a clear picture of a young person’s wellbeing.
This is why organisations are increasingly looking at how they can apply SHANARRI more effectively using modern tools.
Platforms like Geco Connect build on the original principles of SHANARRI by helping professionals organise information consistently, align it with the GIRFEC framework and create a clearer, more complete understanding of outcomes.
A Framework That Continues to Evolve
SHANARRI was created to improve how Scotland supports children and young people. That purpose remains unchanged.
What is evolving is how organisations implement it in practice. By combining a strong foundation with better ways of recording and understanding information, SHANARRI continues to play a central role in delivering better outcomes.
See SHANARRI in Practice
If you would like to see how organisations are applying SHANARRI in a more structured and consistent way, Geco Connect can help.
Book a demo to see how it works in practice.