New sheriff court rules relating to the procedures to be followed in certain adoption proceedings have come into effect. 

The Act of Sederunt, which makes changes to the Sheriff Court Adoption Rules, was laid before the Scottish Parliament on 14 January and came into force on 26 January 2015. 

The changes relate to the procedure to be followed where, in the course of proceedings under Part 2 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (“the 2007 Act”), the children’s hearing prepares a report for the court in accordance with section 95 of the 2007 Act, and where, as a result of a non-disclosure request, the children’s hearing has determined that the Reporter should give any person a redacted copy of the report.   

Rule 51 of the Sheriff Court Adoption Rules is amended so that, in this situation, the sheriff is required to determine whether the copy of the report given to that person by the sheriff clerk should also be a redacted copy.  

This complements the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (Rules of Procedure in Children’s Hearings) Amendment Rules 2015 which require the Reporter to send a copy of any relevant  determination of non-disclosure of information contained in reports prepared by a children’s hearing, as well as the full and redacted versions of the report.  These rules were approved by the Scottish Parliament on 21January 2015. 

Read the Act of Sederunt (Sheriff Court Adoption Rules Amendment) 2015 (SSI 2015 No.5) here.