Social Work Scotland response to Scottish Government Children’s Hearings Redesign – Policy Proposals: Consultation
28 October 2024
INTRODUCTION
Social Work Scotland (SWS) is the professional body for social work leaders, working closely with our partners to shape policy and practice, and improve the quality and experience of social services. We welcomed the attention in the Independent Care Review and subsequent Promise, to the importance of reform in the children’s hearing system.
While our member’s views on the process of the Hearing Reform Working Group have been mixed, commitment from the social work profession and leadership to the need for change, and to making this change happen, is strong. Social Workers are often the only professionals who are engaged with children and their families before, during and after a hearing, building relationships and taking forward often difficult discussions and work to ensure that children’s rights and best interests are fulfilled. They walk the journey through a wider range of interventions and processes with the family, and therefore bring to this consultation a wealth of knowledge and experience, covering the voice of children and families, and both professional and personal experience.
Social Work Scotland (SWS) members are keen to contribute on an ongoing basis to this work. Social workers are conscious of the unintended consequences of improvements to the hearing system over time, and how this has contributed to the current adversarial system which does not respect either the rights of the child who should be at the centre, or those who operate within the system to promote the best interest of the child.
The Children’s Hearing System is a critical part of our care system in Scotland, providing a forum for ensuring care and protection for children who require compulsory measure of care. Not all children in need of care and protection require compulsory measure of care and the hearing system therefore must operate as part of a wider system which, as a whole, is designed to ensure that children’s needs are met. Children’s journeys are seldom linear and the interface between and understanding of the wider processes and the hearing system is therefore critical. Many of the comments which form part of this response reflect that interface and provide context and detail about how the wider system and checks operate, something which is essential to ensure that the hearing system can undertake its remit for those who require compulsory measures of care, with no adverse consequences for other parts of the system – or the children it serves.
Scotland’s hearing system remains unique in providing a forum where children are understood as requiring care and protection regardless of whether this is displayed in their own behaviours, or the behaviours of those around them. While an essential component of Kilibrandon’s initial vision, this ongoing approach aligns to our GIRFEC national approach, now embedded in practice and something SWS members remain committed to. We note however that whether those principles could be embedded in a different form of tribunal is not something that has or is being explored.
This response is collated from engagement with our members and includes the views of practitioners, front line managers and leaders in social work across the profession.
