rights

This research project was commissioned by the Scottish Executive to find out how advocacy for children in the Children’s Hearings System compares with arrangements in other UK systems of child welfare and youth justice and those internationally, and what children and young people and the professionals who work with them think about advocacy arrangements in the Children’s Hearings System and how these can be improved.

Report that aims to provide information and evidence to support the development of services for young people experiencing problems due to their own problematic drugs and/or substance misuse.

The guide focuses on the needs of drug action teams (DATs) in their role as commissioners of services as well as the direct delivery of services. The report includes definitions of the target client group and their needs; discusses key principles underpinning effective services and explores the key issues to address in delivering services.

This is the second of four volumes of comprehensive guidance on the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The Regulations, Directions and Guidance which are included in this and the other volumes are designed to provide guidance on the implementation of Parts II, III and IV of the Act. Volume 2 sets out the legal framework for local authority responsibilities for children who are looked after; home supervision; fostering service; residential care; registration and inspection of certain residential schools; secure accommodation; throughcare and aftercare.

This resource looks at making sure good quality independent advocacy is available to everyone in Scotland who needs it. In order to increase the provision of independent advocacy, services may have to be set up which are not initially independent. The report examines ways of making it easier for non-independent advocacy services to become independent and the importance of making sure that where advocacy is not independent, then measures are in place to make that advocacy as free as possible from conflicts of interest.

This report gives only children’s views of advocacy. Children and young people were asked for their views about advocacy in two different ways. Firstly, they were invited from different council areas and different sorts of services (such as children’s homes, residential special schools and foster care) to give their views. Secondly, some children and young people were invited to give their views by taking part in a web survey.

'Experts by Experience' is suitable for use throughout law learning. The materials will: introduce users to how service users and carers have experienced legal interventions by social workers; identify how experts by experience identify good and poor practice by social workers; present what experts by experience suggest are the essential knowledge, skills and values that social workers should have and how they should use them; present key messages for social workers on what is really important for service users and carers when legal interventions are being used.

This report presents the findings of research with parents relating to disciplining children. It was carried out between March and August 2002 when consideration was being given to changing the law in relation to physical discipline. The research was designed to provide information about attitudes and behaviours amongst parents in Scotland and had two main components.

Report arguing that the social care system in England suffers from a number of flaws such as lack of clarity, complexity and unfairness. It puts forward the idea of a constitution for social care which would ensure a system based on a clear set of principles setting out exactly what users can expect from the system and what they might contribute in return.

In late summer of 2008, Young Scot was commissioned by the Scottish Government to seek the views of young people from across Scotland on what they thought about the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child's Concluding Observations relating to the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child (UNCRC). The consultation explored the levels of awareness children and young people had regarding children's rights and their thoughts on which rights were most important for them, and for Scotland as a whole, to take action on.

This report sets out what children themselves see as both their rights, and their responsibilities.