Search

Scotland's Children's Hearings System is a unique statutory system that makes decisions about the need for compulsory professional involvement in the lives of children who are maltreated, in conflict with the law or displaying alarming behaviours. It was designed to facilitate in-person, child-centred discussions about the measures needed to ensure the care and protection of children. The Covid-19 pandemic challenged the ability of the Hearings System to fulfil this role due to the physical closure of Hearings Centres and the need to rapidly develop a virtual system. In this paper we present a realist-influenced synthesis exploring how contextual factors such as public health guidelines, emergency legislation, technological challenges and wider structural inequalities interacted with the delivery of virtual hearings to affect the participation and rights of children during the pandemic. We also describe how learning from the experiences of the participants of hearings was critical to understanding how virtual technologies could be adapted to provide a more rights-respecting approach to participation. We conclude by arguing that there is a need to ensure that the voices of children, which are largely absent from discussions around the use of virtual technologies, are incorporated into decisions made about their continued use within Children's Hearings. Plain Language Summary: The Children's Hearings System is a legal system in Scotland that makes decisions about the care and protection of children and young people who are: being abused or neglected; in trouble with the police; or regularly truanting from school. At a Children's Hearing, specially trained members of the public decide whether to place the child or young person onto a Compulsory Supervision Order (CSO). This is a legal document that specifies what support should be provided to the child or young person, where they should live and who they can have contact with. Before the Covid-19 pandemic all hearings were held in person at specially designed Hearings Centres. All of these centres were closed at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in a virtual Children's Hearings System having to be set up quickly. In this paper we describe the challenges of using video-conferencing software to run Children's Hearings. We explore how rules enacted by the UK and Scottish Governments affected how hearings could be delivered, before moving on to discuss how technical difficulties, lack of access to appropriate technologies and other inequalities such as digital poverty affected how children and young people could participate in their hearings. The paper finishes by describing changes made to virtual hearings in order to try and ensure that children and young people were able to participate in their hearings. In doing so, we highlight the importance of involving children and young people in discussions around how their voices can be heard, even in the context of a global pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public libraries support a range of health and wellbeing activities, however little research has been done into the provision of library adult walking groups. This paper reports on a unique study exploring how widely adult walking groups are provided through Scottish public libraries, as well as library staff perceptions of the benefits, challenges and opportunities of these services. A rich qualitative research approach was used, involving Freedom of Information requests to the 32 Scottish local authority regions, an online questionnaire with 106 complete responses, and 8 follow-up interviews with Scottish public library staff, with and without walking group experience. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes from collected data. Results show that adult walking groups are not widely provided through Scottish public libraries. However, respondents identified benefits for user groups, including but not limited to: improvements to participants' health and social wellbeing; and increased engagement with library services. A range of opportunities for public libraries were highlighted, including staff interest, partnership working and a current focus on health and wellbeing. Challenges encompass resource restrictions, variations in partnership working and lack of effective networking. This original study provides valuable insights into the provision of public library walking groups in Scotland. It suggests that many factors can potentially influence the success of this library health and wellbeing service, with a range of different possible approaches. Results indicate that successful provision of a public library walking group may require close partnership working; adequate networking and information-sharing between public library staff; as well as sufficient resources; and staff interest. This exploratory study provides transferable insights and a basis for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper reports on survey work and group discussion by a Scottish parent-led support group (Parents Advocacy and Rights – PAR) that supports parents with children in the care system. A previous paper has been published discussing an overview of the survey results (www.pfan.uk/uncovering-the-pain/). The present paper delves further into parents' particular experiences of contact. The responses are preceded by a critical retrospective of the concept of contact. Our retrospective covers the language of contact, contact's origins, continuing confusions of meaning and the lack of appreciation of the parental experience and points to the artificiality of contact, the impracticalities of contact arrangements and the toll taken by these. We conclude by pointing out that we are in the fourth decade of recommendations about contact between parents and children in state care. We make the observations that there is a continuing failure to empathise with parents' experience of deprivation and loss, a lack of comprehension of the depth of detriment to parental identity caused by the process and practices of contact and avoidance of discussion of the damage to the parent–child relationship which, irrespective of the ultimate destination of a child in state care, cannot be obliterated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses two court cases on adoption and fostering in Scotland. In Application by AB for access to Adoption Papers SC GLW 3, the court granted the son of a deceased adopted person access to the adoption court process under the Adoption and Children Act 2007. In Appeal by AW v Principal Reporter [2022] SAC (Civ) 6, the court ruled the appropriateness of naming the father as perpetrator of criminal conduct on grounds for referral under the Children's Hearings Act 2011.

The significance of employment to desistance and social integration is well established, yet 62% of those subject to a Community Payback Order in Scotland are unemployed (Scottish Government, 2022). This paper reports on the findings from a small-scale survey conducted with 29 people subject to community supervision in Scotland, to shed light on the various enablers and barriers they encounter in seeking, starting and sustaining employment, and their experiences of engaging in or with employment support initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is part of a wider investigation which explores what happened to probation services in France and in Scotland during the national lockdown put in place as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Qualitative interviews with 29 French and 27 Scottish probation staff took place, the authors wishing to capture the lived experience of practicing probation at this unprecedented time. Whilst the study captures the initial disorientation of probation staff and a general lack of institutional and individual readiness for lockdown, it also documents adaptability, creativity and an optimism for what technology could offer state probation practitioners that is less visible in studies that were carried out following the easing of lockdown restrictions. It shows that the ways in which institutions and practitioners responded to the crisis was determined by institutional and cultural heritage, professional values and management practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aims and objectives: This paper explores children's experiences and perceptions of their own bilingualism in two contexts in Scotland, UK: a primary school with a high proportion of children using a language other than English at home; and a primary school where the language of instruction is an indigenous, minority language, Gaelic. Methodology: The paper draws upon data gathered from multiple qualitative methods, including interviews, group activities and discussion, with both children and their parents. The data in this paper draw upon a broader interdisciplinary project exploring children's experiences of bilingualism. Ethics were duly considered. Data and analysis: Data were gathered from 27 children and 11 parents. Data were coded and analysed using thematic analysis. Comparison between contexts was of particular interest for this article. Findings: This paper highlights the importance of research with children in order to gain an insight into their experiences and perceptions of their own bilingualism. In particular, our findings illustrate how children's language learning is encouraged and supported by children's connections with others and the fundamental role of family (particularly parents/carers) and diverse community-based support systems (which encompass a wide range of individuals and community groups) in order to develop active bilingualism. Originality: This paper addresses a research gap in a largely quantitative field, by adopting a qualitative approach to explore children's experiences and perceptions of their own bilingualism. A qualitative approach facilitates attention to complexity and the participants' own meanings and understandings. Significance: The paper highlights the value of research with children in order to explore their views and perspectives. In particular, qualitative research methodologies, where children's experiences are central to understanding the research phenomenon, and to facilitating the exploration of the range of complex issues that interact with a child's bilingualism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work aspires to empowerment ideals, including taking a 'non-expert' position of professional curiosity, and validating the perspectives of people in contact with services. Yet in child protection, social workers are involved in practice that refutes the views and opinions of people and are positioned by their role as an identifier of abuse and risk manager. Social workers and people who are subject to child protection services can be locked into meaning battles regarding the effect of parental behaviour and the representation of risks to children. These negotiations over meanings are especially difficult in the pre and perinatal period, where who controls the representation of the baby's voice or best interests is fundamental to decision outcomes. Using Fricker's concept of 'testimonial injustice' as an analytical lens, this article draws on studies in two different contexts: Aotearoa New Zealand and Scotland, to examine the implications of the intense mediation of meanings that affect child protection practice. We find that concepts relating to the importance of mothering, love for children, and extended family relationships were sources of mother's disagreements with professional views of risk, but that through qualified agreement or advocacy from community workers, a shared risk narrative could be constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on the search for a lost, obscure piece of experimental architecture that appeared on the west coast of Scotland in the late 1960s. Encouraged by cultural geography's efforts to recuperate storytelling as a valid mode of inquiry and to adopt a more enchanted, affirmative disposition to our endeavors, we develop a geographical story intended to draw out how enchanted experiences gained through curiosity and an openness to contingencies can serve as a vital force for sustaining geographical ways of being, doing and knowing with the world. This account focuses on our encounters with various research sites that we identify as 'dreamlands' to express the idiosyncratic, unregulated, unexpected sensations of wonder and delight that such places evoked, the excessive materialities they revealed and the imaginative processes they elicited. We argue that such dreamlands are not as superfluous as might be assumed by their uncanny absence from the polished end-products of scholarship, and instead, allude to the latent forces of enchantment to which geographers might become better attuned when conducting and crafting their research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with learning disabilities in England and Scotland have experienced an increased risk of illness and death during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on data of a longitudinal qualitative study with 71 disabled people and 31 disability organisations, this article examines the experiences of 24 people with learning disabilities in England and Scotland during the pandemic, reflecting on what rendered them vulnerable and placed them at risk. Qualitative interviews were conducted with participants and key informants at two timepoints; June–August 2020 and February–April 2021. Findings emerged across four key themes: failure to plan for the needs of people with learning disabilities; the suspension and removal of social care; the impact of the pandemic on people's everyday routines; and lack of vaccine prioritisation. The inequalities experienced by people with learning disabilities in this study are not particular to the pandemic. We explore the findings in the context of theoretical frameworks of vulnerability, including Fineman's conceptualisation of a 'vulnerability paradigm'. We conclude that the structured marginalisation of people with disabilities, entrenched by government action and inaction, have created and exacerbated their vulnerability. Structures, policies and action must change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we argue that the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 should not be regarded as 'gold standard' in the way in which it seeks to recognise the harms caused to children who experience intimate partner coercive control in their living environment. We argue that children should be reconceptualised children as 'adjoined victims' of intimate partner domestic abuse and that the 2018 Act should be amended to include a parallel section 1 offence of 'abusive behaviour towards partner or ex-partner and adjoined child'. By offering the first academic analysis of why and how the criminal law should seek to capture children's experiences of coercive control, this article contributes to broader discussions about criminalising coercive control and the scope of such offences. It highlights key lessons that can be learnt from the Scottish story so far and sounds a note of caution against simply 'rolling out' the Scottish approach elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to the dominant expectations of the late 20th century, secessionism surged in two West European minority national communities, Catalonia and Scotland, over the last decade. Yet, in two others enjoying similar degrees of autonomy, Flanders and South Tyrol, secessionism did not gain strength. This outcome suggests that focusing on the degree of autonomy afforded to minority national communities is misplaced. This article shows that the nature of autonomy is more important than its degree for understanding the strength of secessionism. It demonstrates that the key to autonomy regimes weakening secessionism is their capacity to adjust and expand over time. Dynamic autonomy staves off secessionism while static autonomy stimulates it. The article is based on a controlled comparison of, on the one hand, Catalonia and Scotland, where autonomy regimes have been mostly static during key periods of time, and, on the other hand, Flanders and South Tyrol, where they have been dynamic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines employability discourse within school uniform policies as a way to justify uniform. The uniform policy of every publicly funded secondary school in Scotland (n = 357) was studied using content and discourse analysis. Employability discourse was grouped into three themes: School as preparation for work; school to replicate a work environment; and young people creating a good impression for employers. The rationale of the uniform is revealed as a technology through which the employer's gaze is projected onto pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the effects of Brexit on the internal boundaries and territorial future of the United Kingdom (UK). Divergent Brexit preferences, coupled with the process of negotiating and preparing for Brexit, have raised new questions about the ability of the UK to remain united. Focusing upon Scotland and Northern Ireland, where territorial challenges are most acute, the article draws upon and adapts Hirschman's voice, exit and loyalty framework to examine the strategic choices and options faced by institutional actors in each case when determining constitutional and political options in response to Brexit. The article contends that, while credible exit threats were used to bolster voice in the Brexit negotiations, the Brexit vote and subsequent process have exposed the limitations of territorial voice, and unleashed new exit dynamics. We enhance the framework by exploring the concept of re-entry, exploring the contrasting paths these territories would face to re-enter the European Union (EU). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brexit has brought tensions in European and (especially) British politics. This article illustrates the rationale, scope and research questions of the special issue, which investigates the first Brexit effects in the five years following the 2016 referendum. Taking the distribution of political power as our primary focus and analysing mainly – though not exclusively – British politics, we trace the first developments in the three domains of politics, polity and policy since the UK's decision to leave the EU. In the politics domain, after the political uncertainties surrounding the referendum period, we detect a return to the power-hoarding dynamics typical of the Westminster model. However, the territorial and constitutional architectures of the British polity are under considerable strain, with Brexit strengthening the nationalistic movements in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the policy domain, despite strong common interests, Brexit has failed to produce cooperative EU–UK arrangements in finance and foreign policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social care provision across high-income countries has been transformed over the last ten years by personalisation – a policy agenda to give people with eligible support needs more choice and control over their support. Yet the ideological underpinnings of this transformation remain highly mutable, particularly in the context of reduced welfare provision that has unfolded in many nations advancing personalisation. How the policy has manifested itself has led to an expectation for people to self-build a life as individual consumers within a care market. This article draws on a study exploring how people with learning disabilities in England and Scotland are responding to the everyday realities of personalisation as it is enacted where they live and show the relationality inherent in their practices. We propose that the personalisation agenda as it currently stands (as an individualising movement involving an increasing responsibilisation of individuals and their families) ignores the inherently relational nature of care and support. We propose that social care policy needs to recognise the relational ways in which people build their lives and to advocate a redistribution of responsibility to reduce inequalities in the allocation of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Factory occupations are rare and sporadic events which shed light on the processes associated with the collective mobilization of workers' power. This article utilizes Kelly's agential and Atzeni's structural explanations of worker mobilization to examine two disputes which took place during Britain's long experience of deindustrialization: the occupations of Caterpillar's tractor factory in Uddingston, Scotland, during 1987 and Vestas' wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight during 2009. Each occupation shared the context of multinational divestment and collective workforce grievance based on a common perception that their plant was economically viable and vital to the local economy. However, contrasting sources of leadership mobilized this sentiment in each case: union stewards from within Caterpillar, socialist activists from outside at Vestas. The article concludes that an effective explanation of occupations must synthesize structural and agential factors, emphasizing the coalescing role of activist networks and workers' perceptions of their labour's social utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The category of not in employment, education or training (NEET) refers to young people who are recorded as neither in paid employment nor formal education either at one time point, or for a continuous period. This article assesses levels of employment scarring for those aged 36–39, at Census 2011 (prime employment years) who were recorded as NEET when aged 16–19 at Census 1991 in Scotland. Outcomes are compared for those who moved from NEET into economic activity and by gender. We find evidence that NEET status leads to long-term scarring associated with economic inactivity and unemployment and that this is only partially offset for those who moved from NEET in 1991 to be economically active in 2001. The results also highlight gendering of NEET outcomes. NEET may be a category borne of administrative convenience, rather than sociological consistency but, as intended, it captures a group who experience disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes is a chronic health condition that requires ongoing self-management. This often includes changes in diet, which may be open to influences from relatives. Family support in terms of diet may be linked with gender and the assumption that meal preparation is a traditionally female activity. This article looks at the role of gender in diet management in people with type 2 diabetes and their relatives. Methods: Seventeen semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 participants (10 people with type 2 diabetes, 13 relatives of people with type 2 diabetes) in Scotland, UK. The aim was to uncover changes people have made to their diet following diagnosis of type 2 diabetes in oneself or a family member. Data were analysed using Framework Approach. Findings: Female relatives were more likely to manage the patient's diet while male relatives provided support but were less likely to monitor the person's diet. Female patients may prioritise the needs of their family while male patients are more likely to rely on their female relatives in terms of diet management. Discussion: The study findings have implications for family-based interventions as gender may play a crucial role in the management of type 2 diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents the discussion on new legislation and regulations coming into operation promoting and supporting sibling relationships for care-experienced children. Topics include reflecting a growing understanding of the importance of brothers and sisters in one another's lives; and local authority seeking and taking account of siblings' views in relation to carrying out the assessment.