Today Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) launch their biggest ever national campaign to recruit new volunteer Children’s Panel Members to work with children in their local communities. Panel Members are volunteers from local communities who take part in children's...

In light of the ongoing restrictions, face to face Children’s Hearings are continuing as they are classed as an essential service. However, face to face Hearings are only taking place for a limited number of cases where it is necessary to secure a child and/or...

SCRA has launched a new film for children and young people about Compulsory Supervision Orders (CSOs). The short film covers what a CSO is, what it means for children and young people and how long it can last. It also covers the right to appeal, advocacy and legal...

Following the Scottish Government’s latest announcement on additional COVID-19 restrictions, we can confirm that face to face Children’s Hearings will continue to take place. Children’s Hearings are classed as an essential service and this means that anyone attending...

Participating in a Children’s Hearing? Make sure you know your rights. On Human Rights Day corporate parent SCRA has produced a short cartoon strip aimed at young children. It covers some of the key rights in a Children’s Hearing. More detailed information is...

A further six Hearing rooms will be revamped between now and the spring. This is part of corporate parent, SCRA’s ongoing programme to make Hearing rooms more child and young people friendly with softer furnishings and no big tables! This year, Hearing rooms in Ayr,...

A new website has been launched to help children and young people find an advocate. If you are going to a Children’s Hearing – no matter where you live in Scotland – you can get an advocate to help you. You can find out more about what is an advocate, how they can...

With some parts of the country moving into tier 4 restrictions, face to face Children’s Hearings will still be continuing. They are classed as essential services and will continue in the East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Renfrewshire and West...

Thanks to everyone who took part in a piece of research to find out about privacy in the Children’s Hearings System. A total of 129 young people, adults and parents/carers with experience of the Hearings System took part in the research. Corporate Parent SCRA asked...

Have you or are you involved in the Children’s Hearings System? Do you know you have the right to ask for your information? It is the law. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to access information we hold about you. You can make a Subject Access Request. It...

Corporate parent SCRA and children’s charity Barnardo’s Scotland have published a report into Child Sexual Exploitation. The report shows that this is a problem in every part of Scotland. Child sexual exploitation involves a young person under the age of 18 being made...

Hearings-experienced young people have launched a ground-breaking interactive Zine. Produced by Our Hearings, Our Voice (OHOV), the Zine includes animations, verbatim testimonies, poetry and music created and performed by the young people from OHOV, and brought to...

It is six weeks since face to face Children’s Hearings started to resume across Scotland – and lots of activity has been going on in the background to make this happen. It has been a gradual process - we are opening centres on a phased basis and only when it is safe...

Figures about children and young people referred to the Reporter and going to Children’s Hearings have been published today. The statistics, produced by SCRA, show that in 2019/20 12,849 children and young people were referred to the Children’s Reporter. Most children...

Face to face Hearings are gradually restarting across the country. This is week three of face to face Hearings being reintroduced. If you are coming to a Children’s Hearing things are a bit different to before, but don’t worry we have lots of information available....

Face to face Hearings are gradually being reintroduced across the country (from 14 July). Hearing centres are only reopening with all the necessary safety measures and strict social distancing in place (you can see some examples of our Hearing rooms below). If you are...

Children’s Hearings Scotland are consulting on a new strategy which aims to do more to put the child or young person’s voice at the centre of the hearings system. The Children’s Rights and Inclusion Strategy, which was launched for consultation by Deputy First...

Since just before lockdown, virtual Hearings have been taking place. However, with lockdown restrictions easing, planning is well advanced to reintroduce face to face Hearings. SCRA will be resuming face to face Hearings on a phased basis across Scotland. The first...

SCRA is consulting with young people with experience of the Hearings System as part of our preparations to reintroduce face to face Children’s Hearings. With the easing of lockdown restrictions, we and our partners in the Hearings System are working to resume face to...

Virtual Children’s Hearings are continuing during the Coronavirus pandemic. SCRA is working with all partners to make them as inclusive as possible, but we recognise there are some limitations to this. SCRA have been doing what they can with partners in the Hearings...

Have you taken part in a virtual Hearing? Then we want to hear from you! Anyone who has participated in a virtual Hearing during the pandemic will be sent a link to an online survey afterwards. The survey consists of just a few questions and is completely anonymous....

SCRA has published its Corporate Parenting Plan for 2020-2023. The plan is aimed at children and young people and outlines our Corporate Parenting activities for the next three years. This plan has been developed around three key areas; Care, Connect and Protect. You...

  The First Minister’s spoke about Children’s Hearings restarting during the first phase of lockdown restrictions being lifted. Having Children’s Hearings back to some kind of increased functioning is really important to ensure children and young people who need...

  The new plan shares four key areas where we will focus our efforts in the coming years. The four themes are: children’s rights, high quality hearings, an empathetic and effective panel, and a focus on working collaboratively with partners. The new plan also...

  SCRA has launched its Corporate Plan for 2020-2023. The three year plan has three strands: Care, Connect and Protect. An online version of the strategy is available here. We also have a summary version and you can also read the more detailed version here.  A...

If you are participating in a virtual Hearing, your rights are exactly the same as if you were attending a Children’s Hearing in person. You have some very important rights in your Hearing.  You have the right to: To give your views to the Panel Members – and have...

It is important that you share your views at your Children’s Hearing. Taking part in a virtual Hearing can be a very different experience from attending a Children’s Hearing in a Hearing room, so it is even more important that you are prepared and able to say how you...

Taking part in a virtual Hearing is different to attending a Hearing in person.  If you would like to attend your Hearing virtually, it is important you get the help and support you need before and during your Hearing.  You have the right to have a representative (for...

  If you are taking part in a virtual Hearing, we have prepared some top tips to help you in advance. You can see these below.  We hope they help. These will be emailed to you before your Hearing, along with a more detailed guide about how to take part....

  SCRA has been getting asked a lot of questions about virtual Hearings, so we thought it would be helpful to prepare a set of questions and answers. If you have any specific questions about your own Hearing, please contact your Reporter. As SCRA's offices remain...

Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, all SCRA offices and Hearing centres remain closed. Over the last few weeks, virtual Hearings have been taking place, but up until now it has only been possible for Panel Members and Reporters to take part.  We wanted to test the...

  Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, all SCRA offices and Hearing centres remain closed. If you have a Hearing in the next few weeks, please do not come to the Hearing centre. You should have received a letter from your Reporter, explaining that we are now holding...

With the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, all Hearing centres are closed. Plans are in place to make sure the Children's Hearings System is still running. Children's Hearings Scotland and the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration have issued a statement today...

All our offices and Hearing centres are closed. If you have any questions about a referral or a Hearing, please contact your local office via the email addresses below. City of Aberdeen: grampianmailbox@scra.gov.ukAlloa:...

  Books and toys are being removed from Hearing centre waiting rooms to try and stop the spread of Coronavirus. SCRA which provides accommodation for Children’s Hearings, has been putting plans in place as more measures are introduced to control the impact of...

In spring 2020, three more Hearing rooms will be refurbished by SCRA. This is the third batch of rooms to be designed in the new look style created with input by Hearings-experienced young people. The three sites set for the make-over are Aberdeen, Arbroath and...

  Some fantastic art work by care experienced children and young people has gone on display in our Children’s Hearings Centre in Glasgow. Two large windows which face onto Bell Street in the Merchant City are now adorned with a creative and eye catching display...

Today, Wednesday 5 February, the Independent Care Review has launched its final conclusions, producing a series of publications that marks the culmination of nearly three years of listening to people across Scotland who have personal and professional experience of the...

SCRA has published its latest Annual Report for Young People. Back in 2017, we launched our first three year Corporate Parenting Plan and over the next two years published Annual Reports aimed at young people to report on how we were doing. This year’s report is the...

Our Hearings, Our Voice (OHOV) has launched a new website aimed at children and young people. OHOV is an independent board for children and young people from across Scotland between the ages of 8-18, who have experience of the Children’s Hearings System. The website...

As Care Experienced Week 2019 comes to an end, SCRA’s staff in Glasgow raised more than £130 for Who Cares? Scotland. SCRA organised a fundraising coffee morning on Friday 25 October at our office in Bell Street, with the money raised going to the advocacy charity...

Over the last year, people in the Children’s Hearings System have been working to make things better for children and young people. People who work in the system, including social work, Panel Members, Children’s Reporters and the Scottish Government signed up to a...

Children’s Hearings Scotland has launched its annual recruitment campaign to recruit 500 new Panel Members. The campaign will run from Wednesday 21 August to Tuesday 17 September and aims to attract a diverse range of applicants, with an emphasis on recruiting more...

SCRA has launched a new short film today aimed at helping young people with autism attending Children’s Hearings.A young person from the charity Reach for Autism stars in the film which is now available online.SCRA has been working with the charity for the past year...

Figures about children and young people referred to the Reporter and going to Children’s Hearings have been published today.The statistics, produced by SCRA, show that in 2018/19, 12,869 children and young people were referred to the Children’s Reporter. Most children...

SCRA has launched a new suite of materials to provide information and support to children and young people on how to complain if they wish to.We have an updated complaints form for children and a new look complaints form for young people. In addition, there is a new...

The winning entries from our ‘Scottishscapes’ photography competition are now on display at our Children’s Hearings Centre in Falkirk. SCRA launched the competition at the end of last year. It was aimed at young people living in the Falkirk area. Entitled ‘Scotland...

SCRA is playing its part to help combat period poverty.We are now providing free sanitary products to young people, their families and others attending Hearings.The decision was backed by SCRA’s Health and Wellbeing Group.The first phase of the roll out will be for...

A new mural created by young people has been unveiled at our Hearings Centre in Dalkeith.The eye catching mural was designed by young people from Midlothian Champion’s Board. It has been under wraps for the last couple of weeks ready for the reveal which took place on...

SCRA has unveiled a new sensory garden at one of our Children’s Hearing centres. The final touches were added to the garden yesterday which is in the grounds outside our Hearing centre in Stirling. The garden has been launched during National Gardening Week. The...

A young person has written about their experiences of being in the Hearings System. We would like to thank them for sharing such an honest story… “A child’s hearing. A room full of fancy high-ended people, and your people – be that Teachers, Parents, Carers, Guardians...

SCRA has published its Corporate Parenting Plan for 2019/20.The plan is aimed at young people and outlines our Corporate Parenting activities for the next 12 months.The plan is broken into six commitments:Commitment 1: We will do our best to meet your needs and...

Another three Hearing rooms have been given a fresh look. Work is now complete on SCRA’s latest round of improvements to our Hearing centres.Three rooms have been given a makeover – Bellshill, Dalkeith and Falkirk.Hearings-experienced young people worked with interior...

To mark World Autism Week which takes place this week, SCRA has launched a pilot sensory toolkit. The toolkit is now available at our Hearing centre in Glasgow city centre. The toolkit will be available in other Hearing centres across the country later this spring. We...

Young people from across Scotland came together for the second time for Our Hearings, Our Voice’s latest event.‘Our Hearings, Our Voice Gets Going Day’ was held on Saturday 9 February at the Studio in Glasgow city centre. It was a great venue for our second event and...

SCRA took part in Purple Friday 2019 celebrations on Friday 22 February.This is the second year SCRA has taken part in Purple Friday activities. Purple Friday is a day to stand against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia and show our support for LGBT equality. The...

Another three Hearing rooms are getting a face lift.As part of SCRA’s ongoing commitment to improve Hearing rooms, work has started this week on the latest round of improvements.Three rooms are being given a makeover – Bellshill, Dalkeith and...

Staff from across SCRA are marking Care Day 2019 in a number of ways.Today Friday 15 February, some staff are wearing pink or red, and decorating offices, including Hearing suites and window displays. In addition, a number of SCRA staff will join in the Carelidh which...

SCRA has published a second Annual Report for Young People.Back in 2017 SCRA launched a Corporate Parenting Plan and followed it in 2018 with their very first Annual Report for Young People.The Annual Report looked back over the first year of the Corporate Parenting...

SCRA has launched a ‘Scottishscapes’ photography competition today, Monday 7 January, aimed at young people living in the Falkirk area.Entitled ‘Scotland and Me’ SCRA is inviting young people to submit photos they have taken of Scottish landscapes and nature.The four...

Want to know about your rights in a Children’s Hearing? SCRA has produced a cartoon animation which explains your rights in a Children’s Hearing for children and young people.The animation was launched on Tuesday 20 November to mark Universal Children’s Day....

Young people from across Scotland came together on Saturday for the Let’s Get Started event.This was the first event for young board members following the Our Hearings, Our Voice recruitment campaign.The event, which was held in The Lighthouse in Glasgow, was the...

Everyone involved in the Children’s Hearings System has signed up to a programme called Better Hearings.This initiative – which covers the whole of Scotland - is led by the Children’s Hearings Improvement Partnership (CHIP). It brings together the key partners...

SCRA staff held a fundraising coffee morning to raise money for care experienced children and young people. The fundraiser took place at our office in Glasgow on Friday morning during Care Experienced Week 2018. A total of £230 was raised with the money going to...

  Colourful and creative art work by care experienced children and young people is now on display in Glasgow. Helping to mark Year of the Young People 2018, SCRA invited children and young people from Glasgow’s Children’s Units to contribute to a window display,...

SCRA is proud to support Care Experienced Week which takes place this week from today, Monday 22 October. Lisa Bennett, who is responsible for Corporate Parenting at SCRA, said: “We are committed to our Corporate Parenting duties.  We fully support Care Experienced...

Young people from across Scotland have submitted their application to become a Board Member for Our Hearings, Our Voice. The campaign ran from 3 September to 1 October to recruit children and young people to join the young people’s board for the Hearings System. Young...

SCRA has announced that we are backing the campaign to treat care experience as a protected characteristic for children and young people. The campaign, which is being led by the charity Who Cares? Scotland, aims to eliminate discrimination and prejudice towards care...

  Young people in Edinburgh are piloting a new pack aimed at providing them with information about court. SCRA has put together a pack of information materials to help support young people who have go to Edinburgh Sheriff Court as part of Children’s Hearings...

SCRA has published statistics today about children and young people referred to the Reporter. The figures show that 13,240  children and young people in Scotland were referred to the Children’s Reporter in 2017/18. Some children and young people are referred to the...

SCRA’s Going to Court flyer for young people has been revamped and reprinted. The A5 flyer is aimed at young people who have to go to court as part of Children’s Hearings proceedings. It contains information about who will be a court, what might happen and where to...

Hi there, I thought it would be good to give you a quick update on how we are getting on with developing Our Hearings, Our Voice (let’s call it OHOV for short!)  We’ve been busy over the last couple of months getting everything in place for getting started to create a...

SCRA has produced a new short film aimed at young people. The film shows a Pre-Hearing visit in the hope of encouraging more children and young people to request one before their actual Hearing. The film, which is set in our Hearings centre in Stirling, shows a...

SCRA has launched a new Communications Commitment and Participation Pledge aimed at children and young people. You can view it here. This is part of SCRA’s Corporate Parenting Plan and it sets out how we will communicate with children and young people. We aim to...

A number of Hearing rooms have recently undergone a revamp. Five new-look rooms have been introduced across the country with input from Hearings-experienced young people. SCRA secured an interior design company to work with the young people and staff to create a more...

SCRA has published its Corporate Parenting Plan for 2018-19. The plan is aimed at young people and outlines our Corporate Parenting activities for the year ahead. The plan is broken into six commitments:  Commitment 1 We will do our best to meet your needs and promote...

Art work by children and young people has recently gone on display in one of SCRA’s Hearings centres. The Hearings centre in Paisley has a variety of art work on display created by local children and young people. The art work was initially on display at the Paisley...

Young people from Jersey visited Scotland on a fact finding mission about the Children’s Hearings System. Three young people from the Channel Islands, along with the Jersey Chief Minister, spent a morning at SCRA’s Hearings Centre in Edinburgh to find out more about...

  We understand that children and young people can feel anxious about going to their Hearing. We want you to feel at ease and ready to participate, so we have asked our Participation Officer Jennifer Orren to give advice on some of the areas which children and...

If you want to know more about getting contact with your brothers and sisters, then there is a new resource available. Stand Up For Siblings is a new website which provides information for young people and professionals like social workers and panel members about...

As we celebrate Scottish Apprenticeship week, we talk to one of our Modern Apprentices Sophie Henderson about her experiences working with SCRA… So Sophie what made you apply for the Modern Apprenticeship post? “My Social Worker told my foster carer about it, and I...

SCRA is making a new film aimed at young people. The short film will show a Pre-Hearing visit at one of our Hearing centres. The aim of the film is to highlight to young people the benefit of going to a Pre-Hearing visit. The film, which will be launched later this...

Hi there, my name is Jacqui Dunbar and I started my new job as the Development Worker for Our Hearings, Our Voice on the 29th of January 2018.  I’m looking forward to supporting children and young people who are Hearing and care experienced to develop the very first...

For just over a year I have been a Modern Apprentice with SCRA. Before working for them I had been through the Hearings System myself, so I knew a little bit about the Children’s Reporter. I still stay with my foster carers who I’ve lived with for almost 5 years, and...

SCRA regularly reviews its information materials so that they remain relevant to young people, appealing and easy to understand. Our ‘Your Rights’ flyer is the latest leaflet to have a revamp. Aimed specifically at providing rights based information to children and...

To mark the start of the Year of Young People 2018, SCRA has published an Annual Report aimed at young people. The Annual Report – which you can read here - looks at some of the progress following the first year of SCRA’s Corporate Parenting Plan which was launched in...

Have you heard about Pre-Hearing visits? Do you know they can help you prepare for your Children’s Hearing? We asked one young person to write about their experience of a Pre-Hearing visit. Here’s Jordan’s story… “I didn’t really know what a Pre-Hearing visit was...

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) has joined Instagram.  You can follow our account scotchildreporter for all our latest news and updates. SCRA’s Press and Communications Manager Maryanne McIntyre said: “We are committed to continually improving...

To encourage more children and young people to fill in their All About Me forms before their Hearing, SCRA is trialling the use of eye-catching, bright green, speech bubble stickie notes. Printed inside the speech bubble are the words ‘Remember to fill in your All...

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) has published its Annual Report for 2016/17. The Annual Report provides statistical information about the numbers of children and young people referred to the Reporter in 2016/17. The statistics show that in...

We are looking for someone to take forward the development of a young people’s board for the Children’s Hearings System. The aim of the board – Our Hearings, Our Voice - is to provide children and young people with experience of the Hearings System the opportunity to...

Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) is looking for 500 new Children’s Panel members to sit on children’s hearings and to help children and young people in their local area. There are around 2,500 volunteer panel members across Scotland. We need new volunteers from lots...

Most people would say going into foster care was a bad thing and they had a bad experience, but for me I had a good experience. At first going into foster care was hard for me and my two sisters, we were placed with a foster family miles away from where we lived...

We ask Gwendoline Tracey, a Children’s Hearings advocate with Barnardo’s. Gwendoline, what is advocacy? Advocacy is the name given to the process of supporting children and young people to speak up, express their views and defend their rights. An advocate is the...

Corporate Parent, SCRA has published statistics today about children and young people referred to the Reporter. The figures show that 15,118  children and young people in Scotland were referred to the Children’s Reporter in 2016/17. Some children and young people are...

Young people helped make improvements to Hearing rooms across Scotland. A number of Hearing rooms have recently been given a makeover to try and increase the participation of children and young people in their Hearings. Nine of SCRA’s Hearing rooms have been given a...

A Modern Apprentice working in the Children’s Hearings System has starred in a new film which was recently launched. Sophie Henderson, age 18, scripted, starred in and co-directed the short film called “Give me a chance” which was made by the Fostering Network....

Participation Officer, Jennifer Orren writes a blog about how important it is that children and young people are prepared for their Hearing… Attending a Children’s Hearing is an important process, where decisions are made that are in your best interests and to help...

Resources have been produced to help young people in care. The information, has been developed by the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland & Who Cares? Scotland, is also aimed at care leavers and the adults who support them. They can help you...