VOICE magazine is now out

Our Hearings Our Voice (OHOV) has published its brand new magazine ‘VOICE’ which aims to provide information, relaxation and entertainment to young people waiting to attend their children’s hearing.

VOICE was created for young people, by young people.

Children and young people shared that hearings can often be stressful and that many go into hearings feeling anxious and not knowing their rights. ‘Voice’ magazine addresses that by aiming to:

  •  Provide distraction and relaxation for young people before a hearing
  • Giving young people important information about their rights, and about what to expect in a hearing
  • Making links across other organisations who work with young people
  • Reaching out to young people across the country and letting them know they’re not alone

If you’d like a copy, please email Amy.miskimmin-logan@scra.gov.uk.

Have your say on Bairns’ Hoose

Consultation on the draft standards for Scotland’s Bairns’ Hoose, that supports a child-centred response to health and justice for victims or witnesses of serious crime and abuse, is now open.

To give children and young people with experience of the justice system the opportunity to share their views, CYCJ is holding an in-person group session, on October 18 at 5.30pm.

Please email julia.swann@strath.ac.uk to discuss and book your place – and do share this with children and young people that this might apply to.

Co-production with children and young people

“IAP has given us opportunities we wouldn’t have had with any other groups”

Inclusion as Prevention (IAP) has produced a new report about co-production, that is intended as a resource for those working with children and young people who are considering a co-production, participatory or collaborative methodology.

Co-production, Co-design, Participation – or something else? documents the South Lanarkshire’s project’s use of co-production to measure change, to enable and encourage reflection for its workers and partners.

The project’s overarching principle is ‘to explore what happens when we focus the system on including people and helping them to do something rather than preventing something’. Young people participate in working groups, where they use improvement methodology as a structure to test out changes they identify as important to them, and other young people.

This report is based on work undertaken during the first three years of IAP’s five-year span. It explores to what extent this could be described as co-production, collaboration or participation, focusing on the various tests of change that IAP has completed, is currently working on, or that remain in the planning stages.

Find out more.

Rights-respecting guide for children in conflict with the law

The Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice (CYCJ) has published a guide to Scotland’s Whole System Approach, aimed at supporting children to understand what their rights are and what supports are available, when they have come into conflict with the law.

‘Whole System Approach: A guide for children and young people’ was created in collaboration with young people who have had contact with justice systems, and gone through the various stages of the Whole System Approach (WSA).

Through the process of speaking to other children and young people who had experience of the various stages of the WSA, Marie, Dale and Jason have created an accessible resource which highlights some of the important information that they believed children and young people should be aware of when coming into contact with the justice systems.

The content explains what children and young people can expect at every stage of the process.

Information is also provided, which explains the meaning of words used. Find out more.

Your right to continuing care

CELCIS has launched a new resource to help care experienced young people find out more about continuing care. This has been produced by young people with experience of care, CELCIS, the Care Inspectorate and Clan Childlaw.

Continuing care means staying with your carers in foster care, kinship care or residential care – up to the age of 21, if it’s right for you. If you are a ‘looked after’ young person living with foster carers, kinship carers or you live in residential care this is important information for you.

This information helps explain your rights and what you are entitled to so that you know what the local authority who shares responsibility for looking after you needs to provide and consider for your care until you are 21.

Find out more.

Share your experiences of Virtual Hearings

The Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration are working with Our Hearings, Our Voice to try and understand whether virtual hearings should remain part of the Children’s Hearings System. To do this, they are looking to speak to the following groups about their experience of attending virtual Hearings:

  • Children and young people (aged 8-20),
  • Parents
  • Kinship carers

To take part in the study, you need to have attended either a virtual or hybrid Hearing since they were introduced in April 2020. Virtual Hearings are Hearings where all of the people taking part do so by using video-conferencing software, while hybrid Hearings are ones were some people attend the hearing in-person while others attend virtually. You do not need to have attended a Children’s Hearing in person to take part.

Participation in the study will involve taking part in either an individual or group interview lasting around 1 hour. During the discussion you will be asked about your experiences of going to virtual hearings and whether you think that the use of virtual hearings affected your rights and ability to participate within the Hearing. As part of this discussion, you will get to explore what things that helped you to take part in virtual hearings and what things acted as a barrier to you taking part. If you have been to a Hearing in-person, please think about how taken part in a Hearing using a video-link differs from taking part in person.

The information you share will be used to make recommendations about whether virtual Hearings continue to be offered as an option to children, young people and their families attending Hearings.

A shopping voucher worth £20 will be provided to children and young people, parents and kinship carers who participate within the study as a thank you for their time. Children and young people will be offered the opportunity to share their views using creative methods, and are welcome to bring a trusted adult with them if they would like additional support.

If you are interested in taking part, or would like to find out more information about how you can take part, please contact Dr Catherine Nixon on 07791953660 or Catherine.nixon@scra.gov.uk

Bairns Hoose consultation – how you can help

Consultation on the draft standards for Scotland’s Bairns’ Hoose, a model that supports a child-centred response to health and justice for victims or witnesses of serious crime and abuse, is now open.

Working with CYCJ’s participation team and funded by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, children and young people were consulted on the draft standards and how these should look.

You can read the Draft Standards here – there is a full version and a shorter, child-friendly version.

To support the consultation on the Bairn’s Hoose draft standards, CYCJ has also produced a report sharing children and young people’s views on how the Bairns’ Hoose can be as helpful as possible for children in Scotland who have been victims of harm, as well as children under 12 whose actions might have caused harm.

‘Hear Us, Make Changes’ has been co-produced with children and young people who have experienced harm or conflict with the law.

Please help us get the Bairns’ Hoose right for everyone who needs it, by giving feedback on this important consultation and encouraging others to do so.

Shine with STARR

Want to be a part of changing how we do secure care in Scotland?

STARR – Scotland’s safe space for secure care experienced people of all ages – is recruiting for new members. You’ll help shape, drive and deliver STARR’s aim for secure care to be rights-respecting and trauma-informed – using your experiences to help others.

STARR meets twice a month in person and online, and welcomes new members current.ly living in secure care centres.

To find out more, email julia/swann@strath.ac.uk.

Could you be a leader?

The National Leadership Network is currently seeking young people aged 14 and over with care experience, to be responsible for decision making, allocating funding and evaluating the work of the NLN.

Where will the role be based?

Most work will take place online, meaning you can apply from anywhere within Scotland! You will be asked to attend monthly meetings. It is expected that you will work no more than six hours per monht.

What will the role involve?

The role will involve making decisions about programme delivery, funding and evaluation, working alongside partners to make sure things run to plan and shaping the future work of the network.

How do I apply?

Details of how to apply.

Application form.

Please email ypceleadership@thenln.org to find out more.

There is no upper age limit to the job. The closing date for applications is July 3.

The Participation Issue

CYCJ has shared a special issue of its e-bulletin celebrating all things participation. This includes everything the team are doing to include participation with young people in its work, including resources, research and events. It also features participation projects Youth Justice Voices and STARR. Meadow Murphy, a young artist, designed the banner for this issue and it was co-edited with Hannah Snow, a young person with experience of the justice system.

Download it here.