Thesis (Honors)--Liberty University Honors Program, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Recent research related to the children's hearings system - Scotland's juvenile 'justice system - is limited. This study is an attempt to address this empirical deficiency. It examines the perceptions of members of five participating groups (guidance teachers, social workers, police officers, panel members and reporters) on the structure and practices of the hearings system in three regions of Scotland. The research involved 389 respondents in a questionnaire survey, followed by 45 semi-structured interviews with a selected sub-sample. The study incorporated three research issues. Firstly, the groups' ideological perspectives on juvenile justice and their potential influence on attitudes towards the hearings system, secondly, the groups members' observations on present hearings system operations and thirdly the participants' convictions concerning future practice and structure. The general conclusions drawn from the investigation indicate that support across the five groups exists for the continuation of a welfare based juvenile justice system in Scotland but that differences between groups emerge on the matter of the organisation of that system. Majorities in the police officer, guidance teacher and social worker samples were ideologically opposed to lay decision-makers in juvenile justice and most interviewees from these groups expressed reservations concerning the continuation, in its present form, of the lay panel as the decision making body in the hearings system. Most panel members and reporters in contrast however, and again in accordance with their ideological stances, continued to support the dominant role of lay people in the decision-making process within hearings. The research conclusions further suggest the existence of a process of ideological modification on the part of group members when translating theoretical concepts into practical settings. This process, identified as situated accounts, in some instances permitted participants to acknowledge and work with aspects and practices within the hearings system which contradicted their underlying ideological beliefs.

Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior with the addition of Perceived Moral Obligation was used to investigate the behavioral intentions of 65 caseworkers of the Children's Services Division (CSD) to cooperate with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) on cases involving abused or neglected children. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the subjective norms and perceived moral obligation constructs were significant predictors of the three behavioral intention categories and of all three categories combined. The two constructs, however, seem to have a considerable amount of overlap, suggesting that they may be measuring what is broadly called "social pressure to perform/not to perform 11 the target behavior. Perceived Behavioral Control was not significant in any categories and the attitude measure was marginally predictive. Possible reasons for the nonsignificant contributions of the two constructs include low inter-item correlations, questionnaire format, missing data concentrated in the two constructs, and finally, the notion that the caseworkers' attitudes and perceptions of control were of little consequence in their decisions to cooperate with CASAs. Of the three behavioral intention categories, all models performed best for the second category, 11voluntarily sharing pertinent Information about the cases with CASAs." The attitude construct performed best for this category, especially in the first and second models. Unlike the other two, this asked about the caseworkers' 11voluntary" cooperation. This finding seems to confinn the argument that Ajzen's models work better for a behavior for which one perceives greater volitional control. Prior, direct working experience with CASAs turned out to be an essential part of the attitude construct. The tested models performed better with the 54 caseworkers who had had direct working experience with CASAs in the last .. 24 months. This finding seems to indicate that the data from the 11 "no-experience" workers should not be combined with that of the 54 workers. Future studies of the theory of planned behavior with this sample are discussed.

Thesis (LLM. (Management and Development Law)) -- University of Limpopo, 2014 / The “best interests” of the child means considering the interests of the child before a life changing decision is made. The decision makers are required to take into consideration the child’s “best interests” before making a decision concerning the child; hence, the requirement that the “best interests” of the child are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child. It is a principle developed from the common law that is used to assist the Courts and other institutions in the decision making process in matters affecting children. Institutions and Courts balance these interests in arriving at their decisions. The Courts have a wide discretion on what the “best interests” of a child are and effect should be given to these interests. The Courts have to apply the “best interests” of the child based on the facts of the particular case and simultaneously protect the rights of the child as enshrined in the Constitution. There is no “cast in stone” formula to be followed. Another difficulty is that children’s rights have to be protected in concurrence with those of his or her parents. So, there should always be a balancing of interests of the child and the other interested parties including parents. iv

The principle 'best interests of the child' has been expanded by the legal community in recent years to apply to any matter involving children in family law proceedings. The weight ascribed to this principle, however, has been diluted. In custody, access and child protection cases, evidence of which custodial arrangements are in a child's interests are often presented by adult parties in prolonged and costly proceedings. The judge makes an order which is intended to meet the child's "best interests", in the child's absence. This paper first examines the historical and theoretical justifications for children's rights in Canadian and international law and the "best interests" principle. Second, the concept of "legal representation for children" is explored, with specific reference to inconsistencies in the jurisprudence concerning the role of independent representation for children. This paper argues that to truly reflect a custodial or access arrangement made in the child's "best interests", it is imperative that the child's voice be heard by the court through independent legal counsel assigned to represent that child's individual needs and concerns.

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Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) represent children's best interests in juvenile court proceedings. In Riverside County, conflict exists among the child advocates and children's social service workers. This study measures current attitudes and perception of social workers and CASA volunteers in a quest to gain awareness and understanding of any problems in communication that may hinder effective working relationships.