Janet Gaggs, left, the architect of the island’s Child Youth and Community Tribunal scheme and Alestair Hamilton, who has two decades’ experience as a CYCT panellist in the Shetland Isles. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0632286)

A RECRUITMENT drive began yesterday to find 30 people to become panel members of the new Child Youth and Community Tribunal system.

A new law will be implemented next year that will move young people away from the juvenile court and instead they will be dealt with using the CYCT system.

The tribunal will look at a child’s whole environment to try to identify problems areas where support is needed to give them the best possible start in life.

Concerns about a child’s welfare might have been raised by a family member, a neighbour, a teacher, or the police.

Examples of situations the tribunal might have to help resolve include those in which there are concerns about a child’s safety, where the young person might not be attending school, where there might be a lack of care, or the juvenile might have committed petty crimes.

Panel members will examine, with the child and their parents, the underlying causes of the concerns and try to help resolve them cooperatively.