A Special Day

The 15th April has always had a special place for us as a family. Our mother was born on this day in 1920. As she died within 9 months of her 100th birthday it has been a date we have constantly marked.

This origami heart made by our son for our recent wedding anniversary is a fitting blip for today.

I don’t know whether it has been the lockdown but it seems several years ago that we were celebrating her birthday when the news came though about Notre Dame burning. But it was only 2 years ago today.

Next year on this date we will mark the marriage of our nephew Ross to his fiancée Kerry. Something to look forward to.

Today is also the 50th anniversary of the first children’ hearings taking place. The children’s hearings system is a unique feature of Scotland’s welfare and youth justice approach to infants, children and young people who need help. From the outset the aim has been to work out what lies behind the issue displayed and address that. Those taking the decisions are trained lay volunteers who are independent of service providers and, in discussion with the child and family, work through what is best for the child in the long term.

I have had the privilege of working to support the children’s hearings system since 1997, either directly as a civil servant heading up the unit for the system, as part of the policy unit on improving children’s wellbeing or, latterly, heading up the body that recruits, trains and supports the volunteer decision-makers.

Throughout I have been hugely impressed at the commitment of those who give up their time to commit to doing the best for children and young people. The discussions and issues they face can be troubling and shocking and the resilience of those involved is to be praised.

Over the years a welcome and increasing focus has been on the voice of the child being given the focus it needs and deserves. This has involved reconfiguring the approach of everyone to put the child at the heart of the system and that it feels so for the child. It remains a big challenge for the future.

Much has been done and much is changing. And needs to change. Children’s Hearings have always had children’s rights as a central ethos and increasingly those rights have been embedded into it. But the trick is to make rights real in practice.

A key part of that is placing love at the heart. Process and procedures can be legislated for but love will be displayed only by a cultural and practice shift by all those involved. Keeping the Promise – a plan developed by and for young people to secure these necessary changes – is well underway and the incorporation of UNCRC into Scots law (subject to any ruling by the Supreme Court) will provide a further boost.

Much has been written on social media today about the 50 year anniversary of this uniquely Scottish approach but disappointingly and surprisingly nothing as far as I can see on mainstream media.

So the origami heart also seems appropriate both for today and the next 50 years.