Overhaul of Scotland’s Children’s Hearings System should set alarm bells ringing
The abolition of lay panels to decide on child hearings and the ‘lawyer-isation’ of the service will not serve vulnerable youngsters' interests, warns RICHARD LEONARD
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SCOTLAND’S Children’s Hearings System has stood the test of time. Devised following the Kilbrandon report in the 1960s as an alternative to sending young people to court, they have worked for over 50 years to safeguard successive generations.
One of the distinctive features of the system is the use of a lay panel to make decisions on a child’s best interests.
Every so often there have been attempts to remove this element. They have always been stoutly and successfully resisted.
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