Megan’s Story – Volunteers’ Week 2025

We spoke to Megan, who volunteers with Children’s Hearings Scotland, about her volunteering journey and the impact of Children’s Hearings.

Tell us about your volunteering role.

So, in every Children’s Hearings, there are 3 Panel Members that will sit on each hearing.  A hearing is a legal tribunal and our role as Panel Members is to listen to the families, listen to the child, listen to those involved in their lives and make the right legal decision for what’s best for the child or young person in the long term.

So it’s not just considering what would be best to happen immediately – we’ve got to consider their full childhood, from the moment  they’re referred right the way through until they are 18. We need to make sure that the young person at the heart of every decision that is taken, because it doesn’t matter how big or how small that decision is, it is going to make an impact on their life.

For my role, I would receive an information pack before the hearing and we would review all of the information that we’re provided with – that could be information from a range of sources, maybe a social work report, a health report, and sometimes a safeguarding report (a Safeguarder is an independent person who can be appointed by a previous children’s hearing panel or by the Sheriff to take an overview of that child’s life and provide a recommendation on what they think would be best for them moving forward).

When children attend their hearing you can get a real sense from them as to what they what they want – after-all it is their life and their hearing.   Sometimes they are very vocal, or sometimes you’ll have a child with their hood, pulled right up tight, on their phone. That’s absolutely fine too. We totally understand that it can be a really highly stressful, emotive time.  At the end of the day, we’re reading and speaking about their circumstances, but to them, we are discussing their entire life and that’s a big deal, rightly so.   If they decide not to share their views directly, we can get these from other sources, such as an advocacy worker, their social worker or foster carers, if they have them.

We would then ask questions of the child, their family or carers and  professionals in the room to get an idea as to what would be in their best interests to move in a positive direction and then we as Panel Members are responsible for making a legal decision on any requirements

Last year, over 80% of the referrals received by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration were welfare based.   Children and young people can also be referred due to offending.
When you’re invited to attend a hearing, this could be due to many different reasons, such as lack of parental care, not attending school, maybe the child or young person is putting themselves or someone else at risk.  I know when I first started, I thought it would mostly be alcohol, drugs, maybe neglect cases, but I didn’t quite realise the number of different reasons for referrals and how many overlap each other.

When a child is referred to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, it is the Children Reporter’s role to draw up a statement of grounds (the reason for holding the hearing) if they feel that a compulsory order is required.    This legal order can only be implemented if the statement of grounds is established either through acceptance by the child and relevant persons or through a proof application submitted to the Sheriff.   Only once established, would the child be invited back to a hearing for the panel to decide whether or not they think a compulsory supervision order is required.

A compulsory supervisor order is a legal order that means that the local authority has to be responsible for looking after that child, and it will contain decisions that could  maybe say where the child must live, or things that must happen, or decisions that must be followed.

It’s a minimum intervention principle that we work on, so an order would only be put in place if the decisions made wouldn’t work voluntarily.  We’re not going to interfere in a child’s life unless we really have to.

For the Panel Member role, we commit to one or two sessions a month, so it’s not massively time consuming and can be balanced with work/life.   When you do get a report through though, you could be anywhere between 40 pages to 300 pages, so you need to make sure you have the   time to give the family and child  – you want to make sure you’re committed to understanding the information presented in the reports to make sure you ask the right questions during the hearing, ultimately to make the right decisions.

So, how did you get involved with volunteering?

I used to work in a child protection role for about 10 years. It was mainly from an admin point of view, but because of a change in personal circumstances, I moved to facilities management and have been doing this for the last five years. I really wanted to get involved again in something that was interesting to me, I had a good knowledge of and knew I could make a genuine positive impact.

Children’s Hearings Scotland had a campaign that was running in October 2023. So, I applied, then had an interview process and luckily, I got through and we started preservice training in January last year.

We had a five-day training course run by the Learning Academy and they were fantastic. They were so knowledgeable and supportive for such a legal setting, breaking the learning down into manageable pieces, which made it so much easier to get your head around –
when you first looked at it, you thought, “oh, I’m never going to get this.” But they really helped to keep you focused and supported throughout.

That would have been probably January to about March time. And then I had my first hearing in May 2024.   I always knew about the opportunities to volunteer for the children’s panel, but I just wasn’t quite sure how that would fit in with my work and I’m lucky to say that I’ve got a really supportive employer who give me the time to do it.

What’s your favourite thing about volunteering?

For the panel role, I would say it’s the responsibility and accountability of those decisions that you make for the young people that are coming in.

It’s can be a time where their life is really quite uncertain or there may be really serious circumstances that are that are being discussed. You can make a decision that’s going to either stabilise where they stay or make a situation better for them.

I really think that’s what makes it worthwhile. Really, I don’t really think there’s anything else that I could say for that. It really is just that – if you can make a decision that’s going to improve a child or young person’s life, then that to me is rewarding in itself.   That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m volunteering.

What are the benefits of volunteering – for yourself and for the communities that you support?

So, for me, in this role specifically, you really get to exercise quite a lot of different skills.

Problem solving is a big one – you don’t know what is going to present when you go in that room. There could maybe be conflict. There might be a split family where mum and dad don’t get on, or there’s maybe children in foster care, and they’re not allowed to see Mum and Dad. And you’ve got to think how best am I going to structure this hearing to make sure that everyone who’s considered relevant is included and we get everyone’s views? To have that problem solving skill and to be adaptable to changing circumstances is really important.

You’re working with a team as well, so you’re in a team of three – one of the panel members will lead the hearing, but their decision doesn’t hold any more weight than the other two.  You can really work together to get the information that you need.

It could be that the child or the family have stronger rapport with one of the panel members, so they are better leading the questions or getting a wee bit of chat going, asking something completely separate to the hearing discussions, like, how was football practice last night? Or did you see that programme on TV?  It just kind of breaks that barrier down.

There are good benefits for the community as well. You are getting Panel Members from a diverse range of backgrounds. You might have a student, you could have someone that works in HR, you could have a fireman, a policeman. You could have a retired schoolteacher.

You could have a host of people from the community, and you’ve also got some people that have lived experience of the hearings that are also on that panel. So I really think that kind of broad range of people with different life experiences really does help, because you might see a situation one way, but they’ll come in with a different view of the circumstances.

The other thing I would say is that everyone who volunteers as a Panel Member is there for the children and the young people. It’s not a paid role, so they’re there specifically because they want to make the children and young people’s lives better.

Not just for that hearing, but for the long term. And so I’d really say that is quite a big benefit as well.

I think there’s also a lingering stigma around Children’s Hearings, that it’s a bad thing, but it’s really not.   It’s there to help. It’s there to offer support and service to make sure that child gets the best support that they need at that time.

It’s really there is a support mechanism rather than a punishment. You do see families coming in and some think, “oh, this is really a bad thing that that’s happening here”. But then as they’ve been to a few hearings and see the progress and assistance that can be given, they can start to see a change and the opportunities compulsory supervision orders can bring.  

Some children start to understand that “you know what, actually, I’ve got stability. I know where I’m staying.
I know that I’m seeing my mum or my dad X amount of time X number of days”, and there’s a structure and a routine that’s then put in place.  For some, this is something that’s never been the case before and can offer great comfort.

So I think there’s a message for the wider community, because personally, I think there is such a stigma around it and it really doesn’t need to be that way. Last year (2023-2024) around 10,000 children were referred to the Children’s Reporter, which is a massive number. If the Children’s Hearing system wasn’t there, where would those concerns go? What would happen? For those who really need it, where would that support be offered?

There is a lot of positive work being done around the Children Hearing System, like the Our Hearings, Our Voice movement, and the newly formed group Experts by Experience, both working to improve how hearings are conducted. There’s a lot of positive work getting done and it’s great to have the opportunity to be a part of it.