Is your child subject to an order that you are unhappy with?
Children’s Hearing System: Calling an Early Review of a Compulsory Supervision Order
If your child is subject to a Compulsory Supervision order and you feel that matters are not progressing as anticipated or that agencies are failing to adhere to what you understood to be agreed, our solicitors can make enquiry and investigations and thereafter, call an early review of the Compulsory Supervision Order to ensure that your concerns are acknowledged and addressed.
Many of our clients are sometimes asked to attend what is known as a “Children’s Hearing.” This is usually due to concerns that that their child is in need of care and protection or because the child is in trouble with the police or at school.
All hearings are held in private and are attended by all or some of the following people:
- The Children’s Reporter
- A panel of three lay persons (one of which will chair the hearing)
- All relevant persons (ordinarily parents and/or carers)
- A social worker
- Health Visitor
- Family Support Worker
- School Teacher
- Legal Representative
Ordinarily, the Social Worker will advise the panel of their concerns regarding the child. The panel will then hear from everyone else who has been invited to attend the hearing, including the child (if deemed to be appropriate).
Once the panel is satisfied that everyone has had the opportunity to put their views and position forward, they then have to reach a decision on whether or not the child:
- Should be subject to a Compulsory Supervision order; or
- If the child is already subject to an Order, whether that order should be continued unvaried, varied or discharged.
In cases where the child is found to be in need of a Compulsory Supervision Order, the order can last up to one year. In some circumstances, the Panel will agree that the order should be subject to an early review (usually three months). This means that the Children’s Reporter will fix another hearing date at which everyone is asked to come to in order to review how matters are progressing.
What if an early review is not fixed?
Quite often, our client’s will contact us and tell us that they are not happy with the way in which things are progressing. Often their expectations of what was to happen have not been fulfilled. This can include an expectation that contact to their child is to increase or move from being supervised to un-supervised. In cases where an early review has not been fixed by the panel, parents often worry that nothing can be done until the one year has expired. That is not the case. Our solicitors will arrange to meet with you and if appropriate, make a request to the Children’s Reporter to call an early review of the order. This means that you can then address the Panel on any issues that you have and discuss your concerns.
If you have concerns regarding your child’s Compulsory Supervision Order and require some assistance, please do not hesitate to contact our office on (01382) 223505.
