The Permanence and Care Excellence (PACE) programme

This report provides an insight into the Permanence and Care Excellence (‘PACE’) programme – a Quality Improvement programme underway from 2014-2020 which engaged with local authority partnerships in 27 of the 32 Scottish local authority areas.   Read More ...

Author : CELCIS

Children’s Hearings System – multi-agency national COVID-19 Recovery Plan 2020-21

This multi-agency national COVID-19 Recovery Plan for the Children’s Hearings System summarises work that has been done since March 2020 to help maintain the safety and rights of children and young people within the Hearings System. It outlines the challenges that have been faced in delivering Children’s Hearings since March and outlines considerations and ambitions going forward.   Read More ...

Author : Children's Hearings Improvement Partnership

The national Children’s Hearings advocacy service

The introduction of the advocacy service is an important additional support. It’s already the case that hearings must consider views of children and young people as far as possible and they are able to do this in a number of ways – through the child, their parents and families, through social workers and other professionals.   Read More ...

Author : Maree Todd, Scottish Government Minister for Children and Young People

Continuing Care and the Welfare Assessment: Practice Note

This Practice Note clarifies the legislative requirements when undertaking a Welfare Assessment to support planning for a looked after young person to ‘stay put’ in a care placement under Continuing Care arrangements.   Read More ...

Author : Kenny McGhee (CELCIS), Julia Donnelly (Clan Childlaw), Alison Jamieson (Care Inspectorate)

Report on sexual exploitation of children involved in the children's hearings system

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) and Barnardo’s Scotland have published the first national study of child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Scotland.   Read More ...

Author : Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) and Barnardo's Scotland

Kinship carers' experiences during the coronavirus crisis

CELCIS has published supplementary analysis on a survey of kinship carers' experiences during the coronavirus crisis which the charity Family Rights Group's conducted in April 2020 on behalf of the Cross-Party Parliamentary Taskforce on Kinship Care.   Read More ...

Author : Kirsty Deacon

Raising the age of referral to the Children’s Reporter – CELCIS Consultation Response

CELCIS has responded to the Scottish Government Care and Justice consultation on raising the age of referral to the Children’s Reporter to 18.   Read More ...

Author : Paul Sullivan, Kate MacKinnon, Rosie Moore, Elaine Adams

Experiences of virtual Children’s Hearings: A rapid consultation – Report for Young People

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020, which came into force in April 2020, altered several procedural requirements for Children’s Hearings in Scotland. This consultation exercise considered the experiences of those involved in Children’s Hearings undertaken using video-conferencing in order to inform consideration of whether virtual hearings can facilitate participation by those who cannot, or prefer not to, attend Hearings in person. This short report highlights for young people what young people said about their experiences of Children’s Hearings when surveyed for this consultation.   Read More ...

Author : Robert Porter, Fiona Mitchell, Fern Gillon, Emma Young, Nina Vaswani

Experiences of virtual Children’s Hearings: A rapid consultation – Report for Parents and carers

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020, which came into force in April 2020, altered several procedural requirements for Children’s Hearings in Scotland. This consultation exercise considered the experiences of those involved in Children’s Hearings undertaken using video-conferencing in order to inform consideration of whether virtual hearings can facilitate participation by those who cannot, or prefer not to, attend Hearings in person. This short report highlights for parents and carers what parents and carers said about their experiences when surveyed for this consultation.   Read More ...

Author : Robert Porter, Fiona Mitchell, Fern Gillon, Emma Young, Nina Vaswani

Experiences of virtual Children’s Hearings: A rapid consultation report

The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020, which came into force in April 2020, altered several procedural requirements for Children’s Hearings in Scotland. This consultation exercise considered the experiences of those involved in Children’s Hearings undertaken using video-conferencing in order to inform consideration of whether virtual hearings can facilitate participation by those who cannot, or prefer not to, attend Hearings in person.   Read More ...

Author : Robert Porter, Fiona Mitchell, Fern Gillon, Emma Young, Nina Vaswani

COVID 19: When adapting our work, we all learn from listening to children and young people

Jacqui Dunbar is the Project Lead at Our Hearings, Our Voice, an independent board for children and young people who have experience of the Children’s Hearings System in Scotland and want to help improve it. She works directly with 11 children and young people, 9 who are members of the board and 2 who are advisors for Our Hearings, Our Voice.   Read More ...

Author : Jacqui Dunbar

Gathering experiences of Children’s Hearings in Scotland during COVID-19

At CELCIS we want to understand the views and experiences of people who participated in, or wanted to participate in, a Children's Hearing in Scotland during COVID-19. We would like to hear from young people over the age of 12, families, panel members, social workers, safeguarders, reporters, solicitors, advocacy workers, and anyone else involved. The information and feedback provided will be used to assist in improving everybody's experiences of hearings.   Read More ...

Author :

Independent Care Review Evidence Framework

The Independent Care Review (ICR)'s evidence framework, comprising of research and evidence collated and analysed throughout the review’s three years of work as it undertook a root and branch review of care system in Scotland.   Read More ...

Author : The Independent Care Review

CELCIS response to the Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Rights Committee Inquiry into the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on Equalities and Human Rights

CELCIS' response to the Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Rights Committee Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Equalities and Human Rights.   Read More ...

Author : Paul Sullivan, Kate MacKinnon, Rosie Moore, Elaine Adams

Reseach on children and young people’s experiences of the justice system in Scotland during COVID-19

New research undertaken by the Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice (CYCJ) into children and young people’s experiences within Scotland’s justice system operating under the COVID-19 restrictions.   Read More ...

Author : Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice

Maintaining Momentum - upping the pace of change for Children’s Hearings in Scotland

Elaine Adams, Learning and Development Lead at Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership, writes about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Children’s Hearings in Scotland and what this might mean for hearings in the future   Read More ...

Author : Elaine Adams

Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) Corporate Plan 2020-23

The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) has published its new Corporate Plan for 2020-23, driven by the organisation's strategic aims: care, connect and protect.   Read More ...

Author : Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA)

Children’s Hearings Scotland’s new corporate plan

Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) has published a new three year Strategic Outlook, which identifies the key areas where CHS will focus its efforts: children’s rights, high quality hearings, an empathetic and effective panel, and working collaboratively with partners.   Read More ...

Author : Children's Hearings Scotland (CHS)

Independent Care Review reports

Scotland’s Independent Care Review published its findings and recommendations,   Read More ...

Author : Independent Care Review

Rights Respecting? Scotland’s approach to children in conflict with the law

Many children who are in conflict with the law in Scotland do not experience ‘justice’ in the true meaning of the word. Scotland would benefit from thinking about children in conflict with the law from the perspective of rights. This represents a shift from focusing on children as troubled, challenged, vulnerable and challenging, which whilst often well-meaning and containing a partial truth, can encourage negative unintended consequences which disproportionately affect and stigmatise the most disadvantaged children.   Read More ...

Author : Claire Lightowler, Centre for Youth and Criminal Justice