Children's hearing reporter referrals fall to lowest level
The number of youngsters referred to the children's hearing reporter in 2014-15 was the lowest since the system began, according to statistics produced by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration.
A total of 15,858 children and young people were referred to the reporter, equivalent to 1.7% of their number in Scotland's population.
The 16.9% decrease from 2013-14 levels was due to reductions in the number of referrals on care and protection grounds (down 19.1% to 14,141), while referrals on offence grounds increased by 4.6% to 2,891. There were 1,439 combined referrals.
In its early years in the 1970s the system saw around 20,000 children referred each year, then a slowly increasing trend that became a spike in the early 2000s as police referred children wherever there had been an incident of domestic violence. At nearly 55,000 referrals in 2006-07, the system was in danger of being overwhelmed.
"The volume of such referrals created massive demands within the system and led to concerted efforts by partner agencies to reduce referrals where there was no need for compulsory measures of supervision", the report states.
"It is important to note that there was no suggestion that these children and young people did not require help or support, simply that there was no need for it to be provided on a compulsory basis.
"Increasingly, recent years have seen a focus on early and effective intervention, through the prism of the GIRFEC [Getting It Right For Every Child] and the Whole Systems approaches. The impact of this is highlighted through the reducing numbers of children and young people referred."
Although the number of children referred on offence grounds showed an upturn, police data indicate that offending by young people aged under 18 fell by 45% between 2008-09 and 2013-14.
More than 71% of all referrals were from the police, and lack of parental care, offence, and close connection with a person who has carried out domestic abuse were the most common grounds of referral.
The number of children's hearings however rose by 1.9% to 36,904, the first annual increase since 2009-10. Of the young people referred, 58% had more than one hearing, and nearly 12% had five or more.