Inquiry into decision making on whether to take children into care

The Education and Culture Committee has agreed to carry out an inquiry with the following remit:

To understand:

• the decision-making processes involved in determining whether a child should be removed from the family home and taken into care;
• whether these decision-making processes are delivering the best outcomes for children and their families.

Timetable

The Committee published its interim report on 28 March 2013.

• Read the Education and Culture Committee's interim report on its inquiry into decision making on whether to take children into care

 

On 22 May 2013, the Committee received the following letter from the Scottish Government in response to the interim report:

• Letter from Aileen Campbell, Minister for Children and Young People, in response to the Committee's interim report on its inquiry into decision making on whether to take children into care (1.86MB pdf)

 

The Committee is continuing to take oral evidence on the inquiry.

Evidence

Written evidence

The Committee issued a call for evidence on Tuesday 26 June 2012. The closing date for submissions was Tuesday 28 August 2012.

• Read the Call for Evidence (77.5KB pdf)
• News Release (110KB pdf)
• Written submissions received

The Committee considered these responses at its meeting on 25 September and agreed to write to various bodies, including the Scottish Government, to ask for a response to certain issues raised in the written evidence. These further responses were published on 14 December 2012.

 

Visits

As part of the Committee's inquiry Committee members has undertaken a number of fact-finding visits. Notes of these visits are below:

• Tuesday 13 November 2012 - Note of meeting with Chairs of Child Protection Committees (242KB pdf)
• Tuesday 20 November 2012 - Note of meeting with People First (Scotland) Parents' Group (296KB pdf)
• Monday 17 December 2012 - Note of meeting with Care Leavers at Who Cares? Scotland (305KB pdf)
• Tuesday 8 January 2013 - Note of meeting from visit to the New Orleans Intervention Model (266KB pdf)
• Monday 14 January 2013 - Note of meeting from visit to Perth and Kinross (315KB pdf)

Following the visits the Committee took oral evidence on specific issues relating to the children's hearings system.

 

Oral Evidence

Following the visits, the Committee took oral evidence on 15 January 2013 from the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA), Children's Hearings Scotland, the Children's Panel Chairmen's Group and the Children's Hearings Training Unit to follow up concerns raised during the visits and in written evidence. The Official Report of that meeting is available here (571KB pdf).

At its meeting on 29 January 2013 the Committee took oral evidence from the Children's Hearings team from the Scottish Government to discuss these issues. The Official Report of that meeting is available here (373KB pdf).

Prior to deciding its approach to the remainder of the inquiry, on 5 March 2013 the Committee took evidence from the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS), the SCRA and Action for Children. The Official Report of that meeting is available here (445KB pdf).

The Committee agreed its approach to the remainder of the inquiry on 5 March 2013. Details of that approach are available here (163KB pdf).

 

The Committee has since taken evidence from:

• 7 May 2013: Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People; Who Cares? Scotland; the Scottish Consortium for Learning Difficulties. The Official Report of that meeting is available here (591KB pdf).
• 14 May 2013: Professors Brigid Daniel and Eileen Munro. The Official Report of that meeting is available here (587KB pdf).
• 21 May 2013: Child Protection Committee (Glasgow); Community Planning Partnership (West Lothian Council); the Child Health Commissioner's National Group and the Glasgow Children's Panel. The Official Report of that meeting is available here (656KB pdf).

 

The Committee is continuing to take oral evidence on the inquiry.

Report

The Committee published its interim report on 28 March 2013.

• Read the Education and Culture Committee's interim report on its inquiry into decision making on whether to take children into care