Virtual Hearings and Their Impact on Children's Participation in Decisions About Their Care and Protection

Abstract

The Children's Hearings System is a Scottish welfare-based tribunal-based system in which decisions are made about the care and protection of children in conflict with the law and/or in need of additional care and protection. The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the rapid implementation of a virtual Children's Hearings System. This system, which operated as the sole mechanism through which decisions were made between March and July 2020, continued to be used alongside in-person and hybrid Hearing formats for the duration of the pandemic. Early research into the use of virtual Hearings identified that their use presented significant barriers to participation, particularly in relation to the impacts of digital literacy and digital poverty. However, much of this research focused upon the experiences of adult participants in Hearings and failed to capture the experiences of children. In this chapter, we present findings from a qualitative study designed to explore the impact of virtual Hearings upon the participation and rights of children. In doing so, we demonstrate that virtual Hearings acted as both a barrier and facilitator of children's participation.

Citation

Nixon, C., Deacon, K., James, A., Waugh, C., Zodie, and McGarrol, S. (2024), "Virtual Hearings and Their Impact on Children's Participation in Decisions About Their Care and Protection", Disney, T. and Grimshaw, L. (Ed.) Care and Coronavirus (Emerald Studies in Child Centred Practice), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 191-207. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83797-310-120241015