Page 55 - Getting it Right for Vulnerable Children and Young People in North Ayrshire

The process for ensuring that these children and young people’s needs are met and are regularly reviewed is contained within the document ‘All Together, Better Care’. Most children and Young People who are looked after will have been referred to a Children’s Hearing. The Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 went live on 24 June 2013 and now means there is now a new single, national Children's Panel for Scotland. The 2011 Act aims to improve the lives, outcomes and opportunities of Scotland's most vulnerable children and young people. The Children’s Hearings System is Scotland’s unique care and justice system for children and young people. It aims to ensure the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children and young people through a decision making lay tribunal called the Children’s Panel. Children and young people who face serious problems in their lives may be asked to go to a meeting called a children’s hearing. The Children’s Panel makes decisions at a hearing about the help and guidance necessary to support the child or young person. Decisions are made in the best interests of the child or young person to help and protect them. A number of different agencies work together within the Children’s Hearings System to deliver care, protection and support services to the children and young people involved. These include social work, police, education, the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) and Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS). One of the fundamental principles of the Children’s Hearings System is that children and young people who commit offences, and children and young people who need care and protection, are dealt with in the same system – as they are often the same children and young people. The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) employs Children’s Reporters and provides the accommodation in which children’s hearings take place. The Fundamental Principles of the Children’s Hearings System From the start, the Children's Hearings System was based on principles set out in the Kilbrandon Report. Although these principles have developed over time many of them remain the same today. The key principles of the System are: • children who offend and children against whom offences are committed should normally be dealt with in the same system - but children who commit very serious offences may be dealt with by the courts • the system is based on a concern for the welfare of the child not punishment • while the child's needs are normally the test for intervention this does not mean ignoring deeds Getting It Right For Vulnerable Children and Young People in North Ayrshire DRAFT V1.1 March 2014 Page No:55