Jargon Buster
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
If you still don't understand something ask the Children's Reporter or your social worker if you have one.
Appeal
If a child or their parent/guardian does not agree with the decision made by the people at the Hearing they can go to court to appeal the decision. An appeal cannot be made just because they disagree with the decision. There has to be a reason in law for the basis of any appeal. If you disagree with the decision of a Hearing, you should speak to a solicitor as soon as possible, because you may have the right to appeal.
If you do appeal. this means a Sheriff will look at the decision made by the Hearing again to see if they agree with it. An appeal must be made within 21 days of the date of the Hearing. If you are not sure how to appeal, you should speak to the Children’s Reporter who wrote to you about your Hearing.
Business Meeting
You might have heard the phrase Business Meeting mentioned, this is sometimes arranged when the Reporter decides to arrange a Children’s Hearing for a child.
Children do not go to Business Meetings. This is where the three Panel Members meet in private to talk about any special arrangements needed for the Hearing. This might mean they talk about:
• whether a child/relevant person needs to go to the Children’s Hearing.
• whether someone must be told about the Children’s Hearing because they are a “relevant person” (this means that they will be able to go to the Hearing and get information about it).
• whether to appoint a legal representative for the child and/ or relevant person.
Although children and their parents or carers do not go to Business Meetings, their views about what is being talked about must be heard.
After the Business Meeting, the Children’s Reporter will write to you to tell what has been decided by the Business Meeting.
This is a legal meeting (sometime just called a Hearing), that children are sometimes asked to go to with their families or carers to help them sort out their problems.
Children’s Hearings System
The Children’s Hearings System deals with children and young people in Scotland under the age of eighteen who are in need of help. There are two main reasons why the Children’s Hearings System will help a child or young person:
1) Because they are in need of care and protection.
2) Because they have got into trouble with the police.
Children’s Panel
This is the name given to the three Panel Members who are at every Hearing, they make the decisions about what should be done to help the child at a Hearing. Sometimes the words ‘Children’s Panel’ are used instead of ‘Hearing’, so you might hear somebody say ‘I’m going to the Children’s Panel’ which means the same as ‘I’m going to a Hearing’.
Children’s Reporter
This is the person (sometimes just called a Reporter) who decides whether or not a child, who has been referred to SCRA, should attend a Hearing.
Child Protection Order
This is an emergency order that is made to help protect children who are in danger. The child protection order is made by the Sheriff Court.
Continue a Hearing
This means that the Panel Members can't make a decision about what is needed to help the child on the day of the Hearing. This may be because they would like some more information about the child before they make a decision, so the Hearing is stopped (continued) to wait for that information and it will be re-arranged for another day.
Court
(Usually a Sheriff Court) is a building where legal matters/cases are dealt with. Most towns and cities have a Sheriff Court. Sometimes in the Children’s Hearings System you have to go to court if the grounds of referral are not accepted or there is an appeal against a decision made at a children’s hearing.
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There are lots of different reasons why a child might be referred – these are called the ‘grounds of referral’. These are:
- If they are have not been going to school,
- If they have been in trouble with the police,
- If they have been drinking alcohol or taking drugs,
- If their behaviour has been causing concern at home, school or in the community,
- If someone is worried that they are not being cared for properly by their parents or carers,
- If an adult has hurt them or someone in their family in some way.
Guardian
This is a person who looks after a child, but who is not their mum or dad or a relative.
(Sometimes known as a solicitor) is a legally trained person who can offer legal advice and assistance to young people and/or their carers and speak for them in court or children’s hearings.
Legal representatives
Legal Representatives can be appointed by Business Meetings or Children’s Hearings. Legal Representatives are members of special panels maintained by local authorities and are qualified solicitors who work in public or private practice.
Local authority
Each area in Scotland is run by a council, these areas are known as local authorities. Social workers and teachers work for the local authority.
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A person from your local area who volunteers to sit on a Children’s Panel. Panel Members are just normal people - they might also be a plumber or a shop assistant. Lots of them have their own children and grandchildren. All Panel Members are given special training so that they can make decisions to help the children who come to a Hearing. There are three Panel Members at every Hearing and one of them will lead the Hearing – they are also known as the Panel Chair or Chair Person.
Place of Safety warrant
This is when a child who is in danger of being hurt or not looked after properly, is taken from their home to a safe place. The local authority will decide where this will be, but it could be with someone else in your family, with foster carers or in a children’s unit. This is sometimes just known as a Warrant.
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A referral is when information about a child is sent by the police, social work department or a school to the Children's Reporter, because they think that the child needs help to sort out some of the problems in their life.
Relevant Person
This is someone who has the right to attend a Hearing with a child. A Relevant Person can be the child's mum or dad, grandmother or grandfather, their carer, their guardian or the person who looks after them.
Remitting the grounds for proof
If a child or their family does not agree with the reasons why they have been asked to go to a Hearing, then the Hearing cannot take place. This means that information about that child will be sent (which is called remitted) to a court for the Sheriff to decide (this is a proof) if they should be going to a Hearing for the reasons given (which are called grounds).
Residential Care
Sometimes a child may need to go and live in a safe place somewhere else if they cannot live with their own family. This is called being in Residential Care (sometimes called a children’s home). This means that they would go and live for a while in a place with adults who will help them to learn, where they can get food, a bed to sleep in and somewhere safe to play.
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A Safeguarder is a person who looks after a child's interests. Not all children need to have a Safeguarder.
Sometimes if the people at a Hearing have very different views to each other, or the Panel Members feel they need more information before they make a decision, they will appoint a Safeguarder. A Safeguarder is separate from the social worker, Children’s Reporter and the Panel Members and would speak to everyone especially the child, to help them understand that child's situation. Sometimes they will write a report for the Panel Members and attend the next Hearing.
SCRA
The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) is the body which looks after the Children’s Reporters, who are the people who decides if a child needs to come to a Hearing, and they also organise the Hearing and provide the buildings in which the Hearings are held.
Secure Authorisation
The people at a Hearing can make a Secure Authorisation a condition of a Supervision Requirement. This would be when they think that the child should be in a place that they can not leave (a secure placement/warrant). This may be because:
- The child has run away from home quite a lot and they might do it again, and
- If they do it again then they will be in danger, or could hurt themselves or someone else.
Sheriff
The Sheriff is a legally trained person in charge of the court. Their job is to make sure that everything is done fairly and that court rules are followed. The Sheriff will make the final decision about what should happen next with the grounds for referral and/or appeal.
Social worker
This is someone who works for the local authority who may visit children and their families to help them with problems they have. If a social worker is really worried about a child they can refer them to the Children’s Reporter.
Supervision Requirement
A Supervision Requirement is a legal document which means that the local authority is responsible for looking after and helping a child. It might say where the child must live or other conditions which must be followed.
