https://section8.scot/2020/08/23/dr-nick-child-on-a-culture-of-silence/

Dr Nick Child on a culture of silence

Children (Scotland) Bill - Please Support Amendment 40 #section8

@Liam4Orkney @JohnFinnieHI @JamesKellyLab @liamkerrMSP @ProfTomkins @iona_colvin @fultonsnp @Rachael2Win @AlisonJohnstone @claudiabeamish

The evidence the legal profession gave to @SP_Justice seems to be seriously at odds with the views Sheriff Sheehan has expressed to Dr Child and are set out in the "Instructions to Child Welfare Reporters" document she authored. Here are some examples from the Official Reports:

Ruth Innes QC (Faculty of Advocates)

The child welfare report is not the court. It is for the court to make findings in fact. The child welfare reporter simply has to narrate what the various people have said; the reporter does not, and should not, make a decision ...

... about what is true or false—that decision is for the court.

Official Report, Justice Committee 28/01/2020 (Col 19)

Lady Wise

It is not the role of the child welfare reporter to make recommendations about what should happen in the case overall. It is very much for the court to decide, through applying the legal test, what is in the best interests of the child.

Official Report, 20/02/20 (C12)

My question then is this: How can MSPs have faith in #section8 of a Bill that @ashtenRD & @scotgov based on engagement with the legal profession, to the exclusion of all other professional views, when lawyers themselves seem so confused & conflicted about what this role entails?