Children's Hearings

A Children's Hearing is a legal meeting to decide what's best for a child or young person who has a problem, such as:

• they're not being looked after properly
• they've been in trouble with the police

You might be asked to go to a Children's Hearing so you can talk about your problem (or the person you look after's problem) and get help to sort it out.

If a decision can't be made at the Children's Hearing, the case will go to court so a sheriff can review the case. This is called a Children's Hearing court case.

Children's legal aid can help with the costs of using a solicitor for:

• legal advice about a Children's Hearing (this is called 'advice and assistance)' – for example, a solicitor can tell you what to expect, what decisions can be made and how to appeal
• representation at a Children's Hearing (this is called 'advice by the way of representation')
• representation at a Children's Hearing court case (this is called 'legal aid')

Most children don't need to pay for legal aid, but your solicitor can tell you more about if you can get help with legal costs and if you'll need to pay anything. There is also a Children's Hearing online estimator on the Scottish Legal Aid Board website.