Upholding the rights of children appearing at court
Thu 19 Feb 2026 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM GMT Online, Teams
Summary:
Join us for the launch of the Children’s Right’s at Court Guidance Toolkit.
The Guidance Toolkit, developed by the Children’s Rights a Court Group under the Youth Justice Improvement Board, aims to support practitioners and agencies to understand their roles and responsibilities to support and uphold the rights of children appearing at court. The toolkit outlines at each stage of a child’s journey through the court process how a rights respecting approach might be facilitated and why this is necessary, highlighting the legal basis for these requirements. The launch is timely given that the provisions of the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act to enhance the safeguards to the welfare and safety of children in criminal proceedings will go live on 30 March 2026. In this webinar the need for the toolkit will be highlighted, as will what we know about existing court practice and opportunities based on local authority feedback. The guidance toolkit will be introduced, its development explained, and how this information is being shared with partners explained. Practical suggestions of how information on children’s needs can be communicated with courts and rights-respecting approaches can be adopted will be shared. There will be an opportunity for participants questions.
Bios:
Debbie Nolan and Karen Suszek, are the chairs of the multi-agency Children’s Rights at Court Group established to explore how children’s rights can be more fully realised for children appearing in criminal courts. The group is a sub-group of the national Children’s Rights Implementation Group, who report to the Scottish Government’s Youth Justice Improvement Board.
Important Info:
This webinar will be recorded and shared on the CYCJ website. Cameras and mics will be switched off to all attendees, only the speakers and organisers of the event will have their cameras on. If you have any questions throughout the webinar you will be able to add them into the chat and the speakers will try to answer as many as possible at the end.
All registered attendees will be contacted with team's link 24 hours before each session. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact cycj@strath.ac.uk.
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