Chalk and Cheese

Today was spent initially at an Edinburgh University Law School conference. The theme was: 50 years on would Lord Kilbrandon be proud?

The generally answer was a qualified yes. Improvements had been made. The system had flexed and adapted. But some aspects had been slow to change. And more needed to be done to reflect rights and to respond to and to better engage with young people. Attendance does not equal participation.

Presentations from the Minister, Maree Todd with a strong message of support for voluntuteers. Alison Di Rollo the Solicitor General referred to consideration being given to extending the hearings system to 16 and 17 year olds.

sheriff Anwar gave an interesting talk on court decisions on appeal and how they seek to preserve the ethos of the children’s hearings process. Bruce Adamason, Scotland’s Children’s Commissioner pressed the rights argument (with which I agree) and argued for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 18.

Neil Hunter, the Principal Reporter and I spoke about partnership working and I argued that notwithstanding debates for professionalisation of Panel members, that the volunteer ethos of the system remained the right way to go.

After the conference I headed to Paisley for an evening event with WhoCares?Scotland and the panel members in Renfrewshire. As part of Care-experienced week they were looking at sibling contact and thorough care and aftercare in particular.

The learning event was deemed a very worthwhile one. Demi, pictured with her agreement - read out an essay she had written about how WhoCares had helped her find herself. But also some searing stories about siblings being separated.

The chalk and cheese reference was to my travel. It took 3 hours to drive to Paisley from Edinburgh. Something to do with heavy traffic, a Rangers match at Ibrox and a Kevin Bridges event at the Hydro.

And just over 1 hour to get back.