Virtual Hearings research
Findings from a research study conducted by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) and Our Hearings, Our Voice (OHOV) have been published in “Care and Coronavirus: Perspectives on Childhood, Youth and Family”; an edited book that explores children and young people’s experiences of different forms of care during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The chapter ‘virtual hearings and their impact on children’s participation in decisions about their care and protection’ is based on the views of 15 hearings-experienced young people and 23 caregivers. It also features illustrations by Ciara and Zodie from OHOV.
What did the study tell us about the impact of virtual hearings?
The study highlights that for some young people, the use of virtual hearings provided an emotionally protective means of participating in decisions about their care and protection. In particular, some young people highlighted that being able to participate through a screen or being allowed to sit in the hearing off camera made them feel protected. Virtual hearings also allowed caregivers, particularly those in residential care, to support young people to share their views using creative and therapeutic methods. Examples of this included young people using mobile devices to show panel members where they were living, the use of arts materials to write thoughts and feelings during the hearing, and young people using the chat bar and emojis during the hearing to share their reactions and thoughts.
Virtual hearings were considered to provide children with more choices around when, where and how they would participate in their hearings. They also allowed them to choose whether anybody else should be present in the room with them, with some young people opting to attend their hearings privately and then speak with caregivers afterwards. Another thing that virtual hearings did was to allow some young people to seek comfort more readily throughout the hearing, with some young people identifying that having familiar items and their pets around them had made them feel more at ease. One young person told us that participating virtually made them feel confident to ask for things that they would not feel able to request during an in-person hearing, namely a hug from their caregiver when upset.
Although the experience of virtual hearings was beneficial to some young people, others told us that taking part in a virtual hearing had been a frightening and disempowering experience that left them feeling isolated, angry and alone. Three major concerns were raised about virtual hearings by young people and their caregivers, namely: that the use and management of virtual spaces could affect children’s ability to effectively participate in hearings; that virtual hearings felt less personable than in person hearings; and that young people worried about the privacy of the virtual space.
Looking first at the use and management of the virtual space, some young people highlighted that connectivity problems had sometimes affected their ability to participate in the hearing. We also heard that some young people found it difficult to share their views in an environment where structured turn-taking, automatic muting and digital hand raising where used to manage the hearing. Lack of break out rooms was also highlighted as a barrier to participation as young people attending virtual hearings could not request to share their views privately with panel members. Some young people told us that they felt that virtual hearings made it easier for the adults in the room to overlook or disregard their views.
How virtual hearings were managed contributed to the second concern raised, which was that virtual hearings felt less personable than in-person hearings. Some young people and their caregivers described virtual hearings as cold, clinical, formal and court-like proceedings that lacked the small personal touches that could place children and young people at ease. Young people also described struggling with the fact that viewing people on screens made it harder to read their body language. Those young people who had had negative experiences of virtual hearings tended to describe them as being stressful, frustrating and anger-inducing events that had left them feeling isolated, alone and worried. Some of them questioned the fairness of decisions made in virtual hearings.
Finally, young people were also concerned about the privacy of virtual hearings. They worried about the possibility of people who were not invited to the hearing listening into proceedings off camera. They also did not like it when people appeared as “little black boxes” due to camera being switched off or computer/mobile phone settings preventing everyone being displayed in gallery view. Privacy was a particular issue for young people who were living independently or in group-care environments as these environments often did not have appropriate private spaces to hold hearings. For instance, one young person living in a shared flat described how lack of private spaces had meant inviting the trauma of the hearing into her bedroom. We also heard from members of residential care staff who told us that they had resorted to locking the doors of rooms where hearings were being held in order to prevent other children walking into hearings.
What do our findings mean for the Children’s Hearings System?
The findings of this study emphasise the importance of providing children and young people with choices around how they participate in hearings. It also emphasises the need to ensure that technological and behavioural management tools used within virtual hearings do not act as a barrier to the voices of children and young people being included in discussions about their care and protection.
Gordon Main, Project Lead at OHOV said: “Many of the points raised by the young people and caregivers within this study reinforce the calls made by our Board Members in our 40 Calls to Action. One of these calls is ‘to consider what a child needs to be safe and comfortable to be able to take part in their hearing’.
“It is clear that for some young people, virtual hearings provide an opportunity for them to be able to choose the things they needed to feel comfortable, including where they attended the hearing from, who they attended with and when they could take breaks or seek comfort.
“Looking to the future, our Board Members would like to see every child and young person asked what they need to participate in their hearings. In the words of Andrew, Ciara and Zodie who worked with the research team on this study – young people need to be given choices.”
Neil Hunter, SCRAs Principal Reporter said: “The findings from this study highlight the importance of the steps that we are taking as an organisation to ensure that young people’s views around how they participate in hearings are gathered while hearings are being planned.
“As part of our commitment to Keep The Promise, SCRA has been piloting a number of different approaches to doing this through our child friendly scheduling programme. Key things that are being piloted, include asking young people how and when they would like to attend their hearing, where they would like to sit in the room, and what other things they need from us as practitioners to help them feel safe and able to participate.”
Dr Catherine Nixon, SCRA’s Research Manager added: “In addition to promoting the need for choices, our research findings speak to the need to ensure that the voices of children and young people are not overlooked within hearings. The incredibly powerful image created by Ciara to illustrate the negative experiences of virtual hearings highlights how the technological and behavioural management tools used to effectively manage virtual hearings can result in young people feeling excluded from proceedings.
“Building on this study we will work with our partners at Children’s Hearings Scotland to disseminate the finding from this study and identify whether there are any additional steps that can be taken to ensure that children and young people feel safe to effectively participate in their hearings.”