6.Learn more

Advocacy is where people can get support from someone to help them to understand their rights and to help them express their views and wishes.

Who Cares? Scotland is a national, independent organisation for children and adults who have been looked after away from their home in Scotland. They provide support including independent advocacy, a helpline, knowledge about rights, and access to local groups. You can find out more about them on their website and their helpline number is 0330 107 7540. They are one of a number of organisations who in Scotland provide independent, free and confidential advocacy to care experienced children and young people who are attending Children’s Hearings. The details for each local area are also available on their website.

In Scotland, the government and everyone who has a duty in their job to keep people safe, works together in a way that is called Getting It Right For Every Child. What this means is that every child is able to grow up feeling loved, safe and respected at home, in school and in the wider community. 

The Scottish Government wants to make sure that the wellbeing of children is as good as it can be. To have good wellbeing, the government thinks children need to be safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included.

When children are not safe, in danger or have poor wellbeing, people need to work together to make sure that they and the people who take care of the children get the right support they need at the time they need it. 

The child protection register is a list of names held by the local authority, usually the social work children’s services, so that people responsible for keeping children safe know that these children might be at risk and that they and their families need some support.

This makes sure that everyone working with children and the people they live with, can be helped by understanding what the worries and harms are and what actions are being taken to keep children safe. 

The list is kept private and can only be seen by the people who need to know to help keep you safe.

Names are added and taken off the list depending on the decisions taken at planning meetings about whether a child is safe or not. 

Children’s Hearings and Compulsory Supervision Orders

The Children’s Hearings System is the legal system for children and young people in Scotland where there are either concerns about risk to a child or a child is in need of support.

When a child has been referred to the Children’s Reporter then this may start a legal process for them and their parents or carers. 

The Children’s Reporter role as part of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration is to decide when a child has been referred to them whether further investigation of their circumstances is needed. 

Where the Reporter decides a child is at serious risk of harm a compulsory supervision order will be granted to provide them with added legal protection and help keep them safe. 

Find out more about the Children’s Hearings System in Scotland and what’s involved.

Children being a witness in court

Children who have been harmed, have witnessed a crime, or who disagree with decisions taken about their lives may need to be involved with legal proceedings and either go to court or be represented at court. 

Find out more about how the Children’s Hearings System and the courts work together on the Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration’s website.

If and when a child needs to go to court as a witness, the court will consider how this process can be made easier for the child and their parents or carers. For example, if you have been a victim of domestic abuse, Special Measures are in place to support you. Information on this website.

Children and criminal responsibility 

In Scotland, the age of criminal responsibility is 12 years old.

Children under 12 accused of a crime can be referred to a Children’s Hearing if they appear to be at risk or vulnerable. They are referred for their own care and protection, not for committing an offence. The Hearing can decide how to help them and their family, which might be a compulsory supervision order. Children under 12 can’t be convicted or get a criminal record.

Most children between the ages of 12 and 15 who commit a crime will be referred to the Children’s Reporter, who will decide whether to refer the child to a Children’s Hearing. A decision by a Children’s Hearing can become part of a criminal record.

If the crime a child of 12 or over is accused of committing is serious, they can be prosecuted in the courts. 

Currently, children aged 16 to 18 who are accused of committing a crime, can only be referred to a Children’s Hearing if they are already subject to an order from a children’s hearing.  However, this is due to change as a result of the Children (Care & Justice) Bill becoming law. The maximum age of referral will change from 16 to 18 when the Bill is implemented.

More information is available on the Scottish Courts and Tribunals website.