OHOV autumn round up

The young people at Our Hearings, Our Voice have had a busy few months. Here’s a round up of some of the great projects we’ve been involved in…

Presentation to 4th Year Education Students at Strathclyde University

Children spend up to six hours a day at school, with their teachers. For children who attend Hearings, teachers can be a consistent and supportive adult in their lives. Three young people at OHOV planned and delivered a presentation to over a hundred fourth year education students at Strathclyde University; sharing some key issues to bear in mind when teaching children and young people who attend Hearings. Key themes included privacy, high expectations, pastoral support, behaviour, stigma, and labelling. At the start of the presentation, teaching students were asked to state what words came to mind when they thought about care experienced children. They were asked the same question at the end of the presentation and the impact was clear. Words such as ‘hurt’, ‘neglected’, and ‘vulnerable’ were replaced with ‘individual’, ‘strong’, and ‘capable’. We look forward to delivering this input again in January with social work students. 

CHS Town Hall Event

Two of our Board Members and OHOV Project Lead Gordon Main presented at a Children’s Hearings Scotland Town Hall Event to over 200 panel members, focusing on the language children need to experience in Hearings in order to fully participate and thrive. Board Member Ciara shared her amazing illustrations and received incredible levels of interaction from the audience. You can learn more about this approach through her blog.

We then shared the journey, methods and principles agreed by Language Leaders which in turn supported the development of language guides for CHS and SCRA and the Articulate Animation. The animation was shared and board members responded to over a dozen questions from the audience, mostly relating to their role and how they can improve communication with young people. Great job! 

You can find out more about how language is being transformed in the Children’s Hearings System on the CHIP website. 

Hearings for Children Government Consultation

OHOV’s Promise journey began in November 2021 when retired sheriff David Mackie met with us and learned about our 40 Calls to Action. As chair of the Hearings System Working Group, David worked closely with us over many months and meetings. We sense checked ideas and prototyped some of our own; sharing our creativity and expertise with David and the HSWG as they worked towards the publication of the Hearings for Children Redesign Report in May 2023. Some of the recommendations within the report were accepted by government, some rejected, and other went to public consultation. We were keen to respond to this consultation and wanted to ensure other young people had the opportunity to have their say as well. OHOV gathered the views of 13 young people through individual interviews and carried out 5 group sessions involving hearings experienced young people from Glasgow Champions Board, Falkirk Champions Board, and 2 sessions of Language Leaders. A total of 25 different young people aged 15 to 22 engaged with us to take part in the consultation. 

Board Meeting at Stirling Champs

Stirling Champs were kind enough to lend us the use of their comfortable and welcoming space for our most recent board meeting. We spent time reconnecting with David Mackie (who unexpectedly revealed an impressive talent for juggling!) and discussed some of the issues in the Hearings Redesign consultation. We enjoyed a relaxed lunch together then talked about what projects we’d like to get involved in, in the future. 

Panel Member recruitment 

We continue our strong working relationship with CHS and were pleased to be involved in their recent panel member recruitment process. Three of our board members were filmed speaking about how it feels to be judged before and during their Hearings, and this video was shown to applicants hoping to become new panel members, who responded to it as part of their interview. One of our board members was involved in reviewing recruitment materials and has joined the interviewing panel in Alloa. 

VOICE Magazine Issue 4

We were pleased to publish the fourth issue of OHOV’s magazine, ‘VOICE’, which is available online and in Hearing centres across Scotland for young people to read and enjoy. VOICE is full of great articles, with a mix of fun, relaxation, and information about the Children’s Hearings System and children’s rights. Have a read of our most recent issue.

Andrew’s blog

The Children’s Care and Justice (Scotland) Act 2024 introduces several updates to the Children’s Hearings System. One of the most significant changes for Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) and the Panel Members it supports is a change to the age of referral eligibility. Under this Act, the definition of a child now includes anyone under 18, allowing any young person under 18 to be referred for a Hearing, even if they have not previously attended one. OHOV board member Andrew wrote a blog about the priorities and needs of older children in Hearings, focusing on what they feel Panel Members should understand about supporting young people in this age group. You can read Andrew’s blog.

New Board Members

We were delighted to recently welcome two new board members to our group; one from Glasgow and one from Alloa. We are always looking to recruit more young people to our project. Get in touch if you know a young person who’s passionate about reforming the Children’s Hearing system, making friends, and learning new skills. 

The Love Rally 

On Saturday 26th OHOV took part in the annual Love Rally organised by Who Cares? Scotland. There was a fantastic atmosphere during the march from Carrick Street to George Square with dogs, drums, banners, and flags. At George Square we were inspired by the speakers on stage, including a fantastic poet from New Zealand. After the Love Rally we rounded off the day at DiMaggios for some food and friendship.