Reforming the Children's Hearing system could help create a "better and brighter future" for vulnerable youngsters, a Holyrood minister said today.
Reforming the Children's Hearing system could help create a "better and brighter future" for vulnerable youngsters, a Holyrood minister said today.
The Scottish Government has put forward plans to streamline the current system.
The proposals, which are now out to consultation, include plans to create a single national body which will bring together the work of the Children's Reporter service, the delivery and administration of Children's Hearings and the recruitment and training given to panel members.
The plans also include assisting the work of safeguarders - who provide hearings and courts with an independent assessment of what action is needed to ensure the best interests of the child.
Children's minister Adam Ingram said the proposed reforms would reduce red tape and help ensure consistency of decision-making.
Mr Ingram said: "Our distinctive Children's Hearing's system - which is recognised by experts across the world - makes a huge difference to young people's lives, guiding them through difficult times, behaviour and circumstances.
"This may include ensuring appropriate services are in place to help vulnerable children who have been abused or neglected, or even those who have committed a crime so that they can get their lives back on track.
"By improving support for those who deliver that system, both professionals and panel members, they can in turn focus their skills on creating a better and brighter future for the children who need our help.
"The creation of the single national body will also allow us to reduce bureaucracy in the system while ensuring services continue to be delivered locally and with great consistency in decision-making for the benefit of everyone involved."
The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration decides whether or not to refer a child to a Children's Hearing.
It received more than 100,000 referrals, involving some 55,000 children, during 2006-07. Most referrals related to care grounds, such as neglect of youngsters by their parents, and there were approximately 42,000 hearings held that year.
The consultation, which runs until the end of October, was welcomed by both the SCRA and the Children's Panel Chairman's Group.
SCRA chairman Douglas Bulloch said: "SCRA looks forward to reviewing the proposals and contributing to the consultation process in support of the government's view that the hearings system is the best way of providing assistance and support to Scotland's vulnerable children and their families."
Gerard McEneany, chairman of the Children's Panel Chairman's Group, said: "I welcome the publication of the consultation document and look forward to considering in more detail the proposals which will help shape the future of the Children's Hearings system."
Tory children's spokeswoman Liz Smith said: "The Children's Hearing System has not been functioning effectively and it is vital that this state of affairs is reversed.
"We are strong supporters of the Children's Panel but believe it could be further strengthened and improved.
"Therefore whilst we will examine these proposals in detail, initially we welcome any suggestion of reform and change."
Ms Smith said Tory leader Annabel Goldie had already raised the issue of a "worrying emergence across Scotland of a potential third generation lacking basic parental skills".
And she said: "We must be prepared to think ahead. If not, all we are doing is engaging in 'sticking plaster' politics trying to fix broken things now, with such bits of solution or part solution as we can cobble together."
