Child Abuse and Neglect, Vol. 3, pp. 323 - 326. Peryamon Press Ltd., 1979. Printed in Great Britain.

THE CHILDREN'S HEARING SYSTEM IN SCOTLAND IN RELATION TO CASES OF CHILD ABUSE AND CHILD NEGLECT

Malcolm Schaffer

Assistant Reporter to the Children's Panel, Tayside.

The Children's Hearing system was set up by the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 to provide a new legal structure for dealing with children at risk. The main focus of subsequent publicity has been directed at cases of juvenile offenders, not surprisingly since they provide the bulk of work for Children's Hearings accounting for about 9OZ of referrals. However, much of the most significant and emotive work of Children's Hearings concerns their handling of cases of abused and neglected children. This paper sets out the main features of the Childrents Hearing system which render it approI.riate to deal with such cases and , exemplifies its working with reference to practice in one Scottish region, Tayside, during 1976 and 1977.

The grounds under which a child may be referred to a Children's Hearing initially are contained in Section 32(2) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. Three grounds in particular are relevant to cases of child abuse and neglect. These are Sections 32(2)(c), (d), and (dd) which read respectively:

"lack of parental care is likely to cause him" (the child) "unnecessary suffering Jr impair his health and dE?VelOpWnt";

'*an offence mentioned in Schedule 1 to the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 has been committed in respect of the child or in respect of a child who is a member of the same household"; and

"the child is a member of the same household as a person who has committed an offence mentioned in Schedule 1 to the Criminal Procedure {Scotland) Act 1975".

The offences covered by Schedule 1 to the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 refer to sexual offences including incest , abandonment and assault.

Anyone who considers a child to be in need of compulsory measures of care may refer the case to the Reporter to the Childrenls Panel (Ref. l}. In Tayside, the vast majority of referrals came from the Social Work Department though other cases originated from R.S.S.P.C.C. and the Felice and, in one case, from a parent worried about the standard of care provided by the other parent from whom she was now separated.

The Reporter has several important functions of which the most important is to decide whether to refer a child on to a Children's Hearing. He also is responsible for the administration of Children's Hearing system, acts as clerk and adviser on points of law and procedure within a Children's Hearing, and deals with court work arising out of the decisions of Children's Hearings. No precise qualifications have been laid down yet for Reporters (Ref. 2) although the job requires a knowledge of law and an understanding of Social Work. On receiving a referral he will investigate the case (Ref. 3) by calling for reports from any agency involved in the child's welfare, e.g. health visitor, school, hospital, and he will then make a double assessment of the case: first, as to whether there is enough evidence to support a referral in terms of Section 32(2) ; secondly, as to whether the child is in need of compulsory measures of care.

The Reporter is not obliged to refer a case to a Childrenis Hearing. If there is not sufficient evidence, then he will be obliged to take no further action (Ref. 4). Even if there is sufficient evidence, the Reporter may decide that a Childrenfs Hearing is inappropriate either because the child is now receiving adequate parental care and further abuse or neglect is

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considered unlikely, or because the case can be disposed of by voluntary measures of care (Ref. 5). The family may be willing to accept the supervision of a social worker on a voluntary basis or may even have requested the child's removal into care which can be done on a voluntary basis. In these circumstances, formal measures of care may not be necessary. However, it is of interest that in Tayside about 52% of referrals under all grounds were not referred to Hearings in 1976 but, only 20% of child abuse and neglect cases did not reach Children's Hearings.

Within the Hearing system, Irocesses of legal adjudication and social assessment are kept separate. Thus, if a child is referred to a Hearing and t either he or his parents fail to understand or deny the grounds of referral, the case is normally sent for proof to the Sheriff

:tte:lz;l Because of the youthful age of most of the children alleged to have been neglected

, (average age in'i'ayside is five years) virtually all such cases have to be sent for proof because the child is too young to understand. The application for proof is normally heard by the Sheriff in Chambers rather than in open court and the family are entitled, at this part of the proceedings, to be legally represented. If the grounds are established, the case will be remitted to a Children's Hearing for disposal, if otherwise, the case will be discharged. In only two cases, in 1976 and 1977, were grounds not established in Tayside.

The Hearing itself (Ref. 7) is held in an ordinary room without any of the trappings of a Court. Three people sit on each Hearing, drawn from a panel of lay people who have been selected from all sections of the local community and given some training before sitting as a member of a Hearing. At least one member of each sex must sit at each Hearing.

The Hearing members will receive, in advance, copies of all relevant reports on a childrs back- ground and at the Hearing will discuss these fully with child, parents, social worker and any other relevant person. The aim is to keep proceedings fairly informal and relaited within the loose structure provided by the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 and its accompanying statutory instruments, and removing the legal dispute into the domain of the Sheriff Court ObvirJtlsly helps achieve this ideal. Hearings last as long as they merit, on average about forty-five minutes and parents have a right to be present at all stages of the proceedings. At the end, each member of the Hearing will give his decision and the reasons for it.

The range of decisions available to a Hearing vary from complete discharge, (Ref. 8) where further action is considered unnecessary, removal from home (Ref. 10).

through supervision of a social worker, (Ref. 9) to A supervision order requiring a child to live at home may also

include such conditions as the Hearing consider necessary. For instance, the child may be required to attend day nursery regularly, or be subject to regular medical examination, Where a child is removed from home the resource most frequently used by Hearings in Tayside are foster homes, with Children's Homes a close second. The serious nature of the cases referred to Hearings is shown by the fact that in 1976 and 1977 about 50% of children referred on grounds of child abuse or neglect in Tayside were removed from home while only one case in 1976 and four in 1977 were discharged.

The length of time that the process will take? from initial referral to final disposal will vary from case to case but may take several months. However, measures may be required for the child's immediate protection (Ref. 11). A social worker or other authorised person may obtain a place of safety order from a Justice of the Peace to permit the child's immediate removal from home. Hearings have the power to issue warrants to ensure that a child is in a place of safety while the case is in process. There are limits to the length of time that warrants can be issued, ninety-one days being the maximum period covered. In Tayside, place of safety orders were taken out in twenty-six out of one hundred and twenty-six cases in 1976, and in twenty-seven out of ninety-one cases in 1977.

One of the most important features of the Children's Hearing system is the review procedure for supervision requirements (Ref. 12). A social worker may call a review at any time if he feels the current requirement needs to be altered: the parents or child also have the right to call a review Hearing after a period of three or six months. If neither of these occurs, then a Hearing will automatically be arranged to review the child's case when a requirement has run for a year. When a review Hearing is called, supplementary reports will be asked for and the Hearing itself will contain another full discussion with all relevant parties. Once placed On supervision, a child may remain on supervision under the Childrents Hearing system until he is eighteen years of age but his case must be reviewed at least once every year by a Children's Hearing. It is important to note too that every decision made by a Children's Hearing may be appealed against (Ref. 13). Appeals are heard by the sheriff.

The Children's Hearing System in Scotland 325

Such is the framework within which Children's Hearings operate. In Tayside, out of a child population of approximately 103,000, around one hundred and thirty cases are referred to the Reporter each year alleging child abuse or child neglect. In 1976, the most frequent concern of the person making the referral has been the effect on the care of the child caused by the parents' life style. This may take the form of addiction to drugs or alcohol; frequent changes of address made without regard to the unsettling influence on the child or the suitability of the place that they may be moving to: or a mental disturbance in one or both of the parents. This sort of information came up in around seventy cases out of the one hundred and twenty-four cases referred in 1976.

The bad home conditions in which a child resides was a cause for referral in fifty-three eases during 1976. Concern arises where conditions are such that a child's health or safety is seriously at risk, e.g. unprotected fire-places, dirt or excrement caked on walls or floor, urine soaked bed sheets, overcrowded home conditions, no means of light or heating other than an open fire. In forty-four of these cases, the child was also being physically neglected by being left alone in the house while parents went out in the evening, or by being left in the care of an unsuitable person, or by being abandoned without arrangements being made for the child's care.

Emotional deprivation is a common feature of children in need of care but problems of proof arise. A large proportion of the cases which a Reporter does not refer to a Hearing because of lack of evidence are where emotional deprivation is feared but there is no valid factual backing to support this. In several cases, the child at risk was also failing to thrive; he appears pale and listless and fails to put on weight or even loses weight while in the care of his parents. If regular weight checks have been made at the child's nursery, proof is simplified.

Surprisingly, cases involving physical abuse of children take up a relatively small Iroportion of referrals. Only fifteen cases were referred to the Reporter in Tayside during 1976. Five of these were Ino actioned' or sent for voluntary measures by the Reporter due to lack of evidence and in a further two cases the grounds were not established before the Sheriff. Thus, only eight cases of direct physical abuse of a child were established in 1976.

It is important to examine the general background of such cases in order to build a proper back- cloth. In twenty-one cases in 1976, one parent or the other had attempted suicide on at least one occasion and was consequently receiving psychiatric treatment. In forty-three cases, the child was living in households where violence, e.g. wife assault or fights between parent and co-habitee, was a serious enough feature to be subject to regular police intervention. In forty- six cases, serious abuse of alcohol by the parents was also a strong feature.

All these factors indicate the absence of a stable family unit for many of the children. Thus, in sixty-one cases the natural parents of the child had split up by the time of the referral while in twenty-one cases, the child was illegitimate. Overall, in forty-eight cases, the child was, at the time of the referral, being brought up by one adult only.

Many of the problems in the household arose from inadequate income or inadequate budgeting or a combination of these two factors, and the single parent appears particularly vulnerable. As a result, in forty-one cases there were substantial rent arrears and unpaid electricity bills, often leading to threatened eviction and disconnection of electricity in the household with the resultant dangers to the child's safety and health.

This depressing picture is completed by one further statistic. In one hundred and six out of the one hundred and twenty-four cases, the only parent) were unemployed.

both parents (or in the case of single parent households, This figure includes not only parents but also any co-habitee

in the household, helping to maintain the family.

This indicates the very difficult family situations that Children's Hearings have to come to terms with in assessing cases. To assess their overall success is difficult because of these prevailing factors but there is much to commend in the Children's Hearing system as a model system of care which protects a child from risk of further abuse or neglect and from overzealous intervention by concerned welfare agencies.

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NOTES FOR REFERENCE

Section 17(l), Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section 8:, Children Act 1975.

Section 16, Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section 82, Children Act 1975.

Reporters (Conduct of Froceedings Before the Sheriff) (Scotland) Regulations 1975.

Section ?8, Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section 39(l), Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section ?9(2), Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section 42, Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Children's Hearings (Scotland) Rules 1971.

Section 43(2), Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section 44(l)(a), Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section 44(l)(b), Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section 17, Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section 40(4), (7), and (8) Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section 123 Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975.

Section 83 and 84 Children Act 1975.

Sections 47 and 48 Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

Section 49 Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Children and Young Persons, Scotland" - Report by the Kilbrandon Committee 1964

"Childrenfs Hearings" - Social Work Services Group H.H.S.O. publication 1976

"Model Frocedure for a Children's Hearing" - John Grant Scats Law Times (News) 1974 Page 229

"Face to Face with Families" - Nigel Bruce and John Spencer

"Children*s Hearings" - F. Martin and K. Murray