According to NCH, the system of hearings created 33 years ago was too often used as a route to services for children in need. Maggie Mellon, NCH head of public policy said, 'When it was set up it was clearly intended to deal with children involved in offending and anti-social behaviour.
'People have got confused and think it is for children's welfare, but it is not. It is a welfare-led approach to children who are in trouble.'
The hearings system has been dominated increasingly by care and protection cases - 60 per cent in 2002-2003 compared with 16 per cent in 1976 - and not those involving anti-social behaviour. In NCH's own report into the hearings system led by former the Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, it said that 'serious gaps in prevention and protection services that the hearings have had to fill, need to be addressed elsewhere'.
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