Role of the Safeguarder in the Children's Hearings System

McDiarmid, C. and Barry, M. and Donnelly, M. and Corson, S. (2017) Role of the Safeguarder in the Children's Hearings System. Scottish Government Social Research, Edinburgh.

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Abstract

The aims of this study were: 1. to identify and quantify the added value that safeguarders bring to decisions relating to children and young people in children’s hearings proceedings from the perspective of practitioners and professionals (including safeguarders themselves); and 2. to inform future development and support requirements for the role of safeguarder within the children’s hearings system through delivering an understanding of how the role of a safeguarder is perceived in practice and how the role impacts on decision-making, both positively and negatively. The research questions were: • to explore how the current system of safeguarders operates, and is managed, from all agency perspectives; • to elicit safeguarder and other agency perspectives of the role and effectiveness of safeguarders and how that role interacts/overlaps with other key roles in the children’s hearings system; • to identify the skills and qualifications deemed essential to the effectiveness of the safeguarder role; and • to identify the type and extent of management, support and training needs currently in place and potentially required to ensure the future effectiveness of the safeguarder role and safeguarder panel.

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