Ms Claire Quinn:

I am coming at this from the perspective of the guardianad litem and the child. In regard to the voice of the child in court proceedings, guardians ad litemhave qualifications. They are typically social work qualified, and that will be coming in through the guardian ad litemlegislation introduced last July. From the perspective of TIGALA, they are all qualified social workers and usually have a dual qualification as well as more than ten years’ experience of working with children in care and families.

There is conflict, and it arises in practice quite often. Guardians meet and build a relationship with their child and express his or her views to the court. The child’s view could be a wish to go home. The child may be desperate to go home. However, as a practitioner, the guardian makes his or her own assessment as a professional. The guardian may give the professional opinion to the court that in fact it is not in the best interests of this child to return home because perhaps the parents are not in a position to care for the child at this time. That conflict happens all the time. That is usually resolved through building the relationship with the child, usually by giving the child the mechanism to ensure his or her voice is heard in court, where he or she feels it is almost as if he or she is standing, speaking to the judge. We have a variety of mechanisms we use to make sure children feel they are actually speaking to the judge in court.

The guardian also explains, if it is age appropriate, what his or her recommendations are. Because of that relationship and the time spent in building the relationship with that young person, that usually does not cause any fall-out in the relationship. Guardians present both; they present their opinion to the court through a court report and then they give evidence. The court report contains a whole section on the wishes and feelings of the child. That will be expressly written out with the detail of the guardian's visits. The second part of the court report is the analysis and the guardian's professional opinion as to what he or she feels is in the best interests of the child. The guardian will be transparent with the child in that it might be different from the child's views. However, usually, through the relationship the guardian has with the child, it does not cause a conflict. The child usually understands if it is explained quite well, through the good relationship that has been built.