Advocates call for children's input into family court forms

Children should help design new court forms intended to ensure that children's views are heard in family court cases, the Faculty of Advocates said today.

The forms are the formal notification to a child of an action in which a court might take account of their views, but the current versions have been widely criticised and the Faculty describes them as “not fit for purpose… off-putting and difficult to comprehend”.

Its comments come in a submission to the Scottish Civil Justice Council, which is considering changes to the Form F9 used in sheriff courts.

While the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, provide that all children capable of forming views should be given the opportunity to express a view, which should be taken into account in accordance with their age and maturity, the Faculty states its concern that the form, and its Court of Session equivalent, form 49.8-N, can result in "lip service" to the Convention, rather than an effective attempt to assure children the right to express a view.

“They do not encourage a response", Faculty said. "It is unsurprising that courts and professionals involved with children are on occasion reluctant to seek children’s views when doing so is perceived as associated with these forms.”

According to Faculty, although the Act has been in force for 20 years, there are still misapprehensions about its effect. It contains a presumption that a child aged 12 or more is of sufficient age and maturity to form a view, but that does not mean that younger children do not have views and are able to express them. Failure to give an opportunity to provide a view may well result in injustice to a child.

“We would suggest that the Civil Justice Council should commission assistance from persons with qualifications and experience in communicating with children as to the best format and terminology for different age groups", the submission adds. "We would suggest that advice is sought from both child psychologists and teachers.

“Groups of children and young people should also be asked to assist in the design. A similar piece of work was undertaken by the Scottish Child Law Centre, who have produced a ‘Helping Hand Resource Pack for Contact’, designed to elicit children’s views. Children in residential care were themselves involved in the design of forms to communicate their views and produced effective materials to assist other children. This would be a good model for development of a replacement communication for present purposes.”