5.Children’s Hearings

A Children’s Hearing is a legal meeting in Scotland that can make extra decisions about help if children and young people are in danger, unsafe, or are in conflict with the law. It is not a court and there is no judge. 

A Child Protection Planning Meeting can decide that the help of the Children’s Hearings System is necessary.  

When children and young people can’t be kept safe by the adults they live with without the help of others, to keep them safe a decision called a Compulsory Supervision Order might be necessary. A Compulsory Supervision Order says that other adults who can be responsible to keep a child safe must do so.   

To decide whether a Compulsory Supervision Order is necessary, a Children’s Hearing is held. A Hearing is a meeting that considers what is best for the child who needs to be safe. 

Children can go to the Hearing and there is lots of information about how all this works from the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration.  

At the Hearing, three people are asked to look at what you need. They are called a panel and will listen to everyone at the Hearing to think about what is the best decision for you. 

They will tell you what is going to happen and why.

A Hearing can decide where you will stay, for how long, and who you will live with to keep you safe.

This can be at home, but if there are worries that you are not safe at home, they might decide that you need to stay in another place for a while to keep you safe.

They will only decide this if this is better and safer for you.

They must listen to your views, the people you live with, and other adults who may go to the hearing before they make any decisions. 

If you disagree with the decisions that are made, you can ask for this to be looked at again. This is called appealing the decision and you have a right to ask for this to be looked again by a Sheriff at a court. This is explained on the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration website.

Children and young people sometimes need to go court. 

This can be when they have seen or heard something when a crime has happened. 

This can also be when they have been involved in a crime or accused of being involved in a crime. 

And children and young people can also go to court when they disagree with a decision that has been made about them by the Children’s Hearing. 

Sometimes children and young people can be heard by the court without having to go to the court. They may have an adult speak for them, having something they have written be looked at instead or be filmed for the court and sheriff to watch. 

If you do need to go to a court, people there will do everything they can to support you. More information about going to court is available on the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration website.