During Care Experienced Week, our Renfrewshire Area Support Team (AST) held a training and Year of Young People event for eight AST members and over 40 local Panel Members.

The event, run in conjunction with CELCIS, Clan Childlaw and Who Cares? Scotland aimed to raise awareness of the experiences of young people with lived care experience who have attended children’s hearings.

Around 10 young people contributed to the event, alongside policy influencers and decision-makers including SCRA Reporters.

The event focused on reflecting on current practice in children’s hearings and looking at future practice. It featured two workshops. The first looked at continuing care and was led by CELCIS and Clan Childlaw. In this workshop attendees discussed the Scottish Care Leavers Covenant and the legal rights of young people. The second, considered the implications of sibling separation and the effect that this can have on the lives of children and young people. This workshop was delivered by young people with personal experience of sibling separation, and gave impactful insight into the effects of sibling separation.

Renfrewshire AST’s Area Convener, Derek Bramma said, “We were planning an event that involved some of our key partners in and around the Children’s Hearings System and decided that it would be a great idea to hold the event during Care Experienced Week.

“The aim of the event was to increase awareness, amongst the CHS community in Renfrewshire, of the thoughts and feelings of young people who have been to children’s hearings, to help develop Panel Member communication and practice. There was some excellent interaction on the day with views expressed and experiences exchanged – I think our Panel and AST members left with a greater understanding of the experiences of young people in children’s hearings and how we can look to improve things in future.”

The Renfrewshire AST will be working with the CHS community in Renfrewshire over the next six months to look at practice, decisions and communications.