recognised which saw a shift in emphasis towards protecting children and young people after a succession of tragic child deaths due to maltreatment and an increase in reported child sexual abuse cases (Adams 2009, Buckley 2015). These child protection concerns continued into the early 1990’s in cases such as the Orkney child abuse scandal where children were removed from their family under unfounded allegations of ritual abuse. An official enquiry was established where Lord Clyde condemned child protection practices in the Orkneys and called for a review of the current legislation (Clyde 1992).
It was then in 1997 that The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 (the 1995 Act) was introduced this was the principle provision for state intervention to protect children and young people. It largely substituted those parts of the 1968 Act which relate to children and young people and marked an important change in development of legislation with regards to their care (CHS 2016). The 1995 Act was proclaimed to promote the welfare of children and young people and recognised their rights as ratified by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CYCJ 2015). The strengths of the 1995 Act were seen as being centred on the needs of children, young people and their families. It defined both parental responsibilities and rights in relation to children and young people and under S.22 it provided services to a child in need and placed an obligation on local authorities. Nonetheless due to the overwhelming numbers of referrals to the children’s hearing system and partly in response to growing public and political concerns about the care and control of children and young people in 2004 it underwent a significant review (Hill et al 2007). This review and reform came under the guise of the GIRFEC agenda which will be discussed in more detail later on (Scottish Government 2012, 2013) and resulted in a number of policy and legislative changes. This lead to the majority of the 1995 Act being repealed and the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) being introduced.
The purpose of the 2011 Act was to strengthen, modernise and the streamline the children’s hearings system to ensure improved support for the most vulnerable children and young people and deliver greater national consistency (CYCJ 2015). It reformed the structure of the children’s hearings system and introduced cha