Children’ s panel seeks volunteers in Tayside and Fife

Acampaign has been launched to recruit new volunteers for the children’s panel across Tayside and Fife.

Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) wants to fill about 90 positions in the region as part of a drive to find 700 new trainee panel members nationwide.

The children’s system is Scotland’s care and justice process for children and young people with thousands of hearings taking place every year.

If selected, new members will work alongside more than 2,000 other volunteers.

Children’s Hearings Scotland has issued advice for anyone who is keen to join:

The role is to listen and make legal decisions with and for infants, children and young people;

Volunteers are there to ensure that the young person is at the heart of every decision made;

Children’s hearings usually take place on weekdays during daytime hours.

Panel members are normally asked to attend either a morning or an afternoon session, once or twice a month;

Almost anyone can be a panel member, as long as they are 18 or over, live and/or work in the local authority area in which they wish to volunteer, and are able to attend and complete the pre-service training;

Panel members are appointed for an initial three-year period with the possibility of extending.

Elliot Jackson, convener and chief executive, says the service is looking for people with certain characteristics.

He said: “We are a forward-looking, inclusive organisation – one that puts the views of the children and young people we exist to serve at the heart of everything we do, including recruitment.

“This campaign is centred on what young people who have experience of children’s hearings, are telling us they want to see in their panel members – qualities like being caring, compassionate, empathetic and a good listener.”

Colin Thomson, a panel member in the Tayside area, says volunteers are trained to “always put the best interests of the child first and foremost”.

He said: “Being independent volunteers allows us to objectively make decisions for the child without being influenced by other support people or relevant persons in that child’s life.

“With a constant focus on getting it right for every child, the children’s panel is in a position to make key decisions that are always in the best interests of the children and young people and hopefully their families too.”

Applications for new panel members opened yesterday and close at midnight on February 9.

Anyone interested can apply via the CHS website.

REACHING OUT: Children’s Hearings Scotland need volunteers who will put children at the centre of every decision.