Courts and going to court

1. Going to court about your care
The sort of court that decides about whether or not you will be put on a Care Order is called a “Family Court”. In a local Family Court decisions are made by a magistrate who listens to evidence from Children, Schools and Families about why they think you should be on a Care Order. The magistrate will also listen to what your solicitor and your parent’s solicitor have to say (the court arranges a solicitor to work for you so you don’t have to arrange it yourself). The magistrate also listens to the views of the Children’s Guardians about what is best for you. (See section on “Children’s Guardians”).

Your views will be very important and the solicitor and the Children’s Guardians will want to meet with you to ask you what you think. You don’t have to speak to the magistrate in court; it is not like a trial!

The first time that the court meets to think about whether you should be on a Care Order, they just decide who they need to talk to in order to get as much information as possible about you and your family and arrange a date to meet again. If you want to be in court to hear what is said you can discuss this with your social worker.

Other times when a court might have to make decisions about you and your care would be if you decided to appeal against a Care Order or another Order (see section on “Appeals”).

A care order can also be made by a judge in a county court.

2. Being a witness in court
You may go to court if you are a witness in a case. This could be if someone hurt you and they had been arrested and charged by the police, or it could be because you were there when somebody broke the law. If you have to be a witness in this kind of case, you would have to say what you saw or what happened to you.

There are many ways in which a young person can give evidence in court, sometimes you don’t even have to be in the courtroom! If this happens to you, your social worker will help you decide how best to give evidence and will be there to support you through the whole process.

3. Going to court because you are in trouble with the law
If you have been arrested and charged with an offence the police may give you a caution or you may have to go to court. If you have to go to court your case will be heard in a Youth Court, this is a session at the local magistrate’s court where they deal only with young people.

When you are charged with an offence you should be given a worker from the Youth Offending Team to help you through the whole thing. They will tell you what might happen at court and will go there with you. You will also have a solicitor who will advise you and will speak to you to find out what you would like the court to hear from your point of view. The solicitor will then talk to the court on your behalf. Your carer or parent can also attend with you.

If you are found guilty, your worker from the Youth Offending Team will have to make a report to the court. This report will tell the court a bit more about you and maybe why you did what you did. The report may suggest to the court what sort of sentence you should have.