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Under the new legislation, child welfare reporters, who may be appointed when the court has been asked to resolve a dispute between parents, would be regulated.

This would ensure reporters are trained to understand and respond to issues such as domestic abuse and coercive control.

The Scottish government said other improvements include prohibiting a party from conducting their own case if there was a vulnerable witness.

Campaigners have welcomed the publication of the bill.

Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women's Aid, said: "This piece of legislation will be vital for child victims of domestic abuse, as well as their mothers."

Tory MSP Liam Kerr says sometimes a parent will disobey a court order and the bill creates a new duty to find out why.

Mr Kerr asks for he academics to give their view on this and whether it will solve anything.

The courts already have extensive powers to deal with parents ignoring or disobeying court orders, replies Prof Sutherland.

The Stirling University academic says telling the judges to find out why is really doing something they should be doing already.

She welcomes the child welfare report looking into non-compliance in more depth.

There is concern about the threat of changing residence due to non-compliance, adds Prof Sutherland.

"There is a problem with delay and courts time and again have highlighted it," Prof Sutherland tells the committee.

This is particularly an issue when children are involved because their sense of time differs from adults, she adds.

Simply telling a court to be aware of the impact of delays is not enough and does nothing to tackle the source of it, states Prof Sutherland.

However she accepts there are times where delay is needed to make the best possible decision for the child.

Dr Whitecross says when it comes to domestic abuse being raised in a child welfare hearing, many lawyers warn against it as you will just be seen as difficult.

The academic says one of the challenges he has with the bill is that women don't always recognise they are being abused and lawyers may not want to raise it.

He says there is still the idea of domestic abuse being an incident rather than a pattern of behaviour.

That is despite the Domestic Abuse Act that criminalises psychological domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour, which came into force on 1 April 2019.

The 20 women he spoke to had major problems about getting lawyers to raise it, he adds.

The proposal on child welfare reporters is good but I'm still cautious about it until the details are available, Dr Whitecross states.

You can know the law but there are a number of other things which reporters will have to know to get a child to open up, he adds.

Prof Sutherland agrees, adding there will need to be training but there must not be too many obstacles in the way because reporters are needed.

She also calls for reporters to be properly paid.

Green MSP John Finnie asks about the confidentiality around the information given by children to the court.

Prof Sutherland says a truly child friendly world would give children that guarantee of confidentiality as they are the least powerful people.

"That has to be balanced against the rights of the parents," she adds.

"I just don't think we can guarantee absolute confidentiality to children."

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Proposed new laws to improve the experience of children involved in family courts have been published by the Scottish government.

The Children (Scotland) Bill, external follows a consultation which took into account the views of young people.

Ministers say they want to ensure the justice system does not contribute to young people's distress.

Campaigners said the legislation was "vital" for child victims of domestic abuse.

The proposals are intended to update the 1995 Children Act, to reflect changes within modern families.

• Read more here
• Check our reports from the evidence session on 26 November 2019 here

Dr Whitecross says there is a gap in how children find out they can give evidence.

It is frequently the parent who meets with the lawyer and there is perhaps work to be done to ensure lawyers find time to meet with children separately from that, he says.

Children should have the right to say how their views are taken and how they are delivered, but this needs to be before the court stage he adds.

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Prof Sutherland says she is more worried about what is meant by a child not being able to form a view.

"That is an area of the bill that lacks clarity," she suggests.

Dr Whitecross agrees reasons why a child may not be able to give a view must be considered more carefully and recorded properly.

He expresses concern about the word capability.

Convener Margaret Mitchell asks whether the academics support the proposals to remove the 12+ presumption for seeking children's views.

My first reaction was I did not think it was necessary, replies Prof Elaine Sutherland.

She explains when the presumption was first put in place it was to clarify those over 12 definitely have the capacity to express their views, but that does not prevent the courts from consulting children younger than that.

However, she now welcomes the removal of the presumption to make this clear.

Do you support extending the presumption to all children, asks Ms Mitchell.

"I think I would support that approach," replies Prof Sutherland.

Dr Richard Whitecross agrees fully with Prof Sutherland.

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The Justice Committee, external continues to take evidence on the Children (Scotland) Bill., external

It aims to make improvements to the family court system in Scotland.

View evidence the committee has taken on the bill so far here., external

Read the committee papers for today here.

MSPs are now quizzing:

• Professor Elaine Sutherland from Stirling University
• Dr Richard Whitecross from Edinburgh Napier University.

Dr Morrison is concerned about the lack of infrastructure to support children's ability to choose and without an advocacy service she is concerned about how change will be brought about.

Megan Farr says there should be an explicit presumption to include all children and an end to children not begin permitted to give their views until they are 12 years old.

Ms Farr says the language in the bill should be more UN CRC compliant.

Susie Dalton from Scottish Women’s Aid calls for specific recommendations around training to be included in the bill.

She echoes the call for advocacy to be included and says the support from women's aid services is not being utilised.

That ends the first session on the bill, but stay tuned...

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Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur asks if there are gaps in the provisions in the bill.

Dr Fiona Morrison replies she is a a bit disappointed about advocacy for children not being included.

The introduction of capability in the bill is a bit concerning, as she is not sure what it exactly means.

There is no way for children to easily complain if they feel their rights have not been upheld, she adds.

Prof Tisdall calls for more monitoring of children's participation in the justice system.

Liam McArthur highlights concerns about confidentiality in the bill, and how information being made available to the court could impact the children in terms of control over that information.

There needs to be much more protection of confidentiality of children in the bill, replies Ms Dalton.

Green MSP John Finnie asks for feedback about why children have not been involved in the court process.

Ms Farr replies there are some attitudes about children's participation that are clearly outdated and stresses all children should be able to participate and have their views given due weight.

She says the way the courts work must be changed to avoid retraumatisation.

Rather than being traumatising, participation should be empowering for children, she elucidates.

SNP MSP Fulton Macgregor, a former social worker, asks whether the bill can tackle retraumatisation caused by consulting with children during the the justice process.

Ms Dalton says keeping children out of processes due to these concerns is not always the best option.

Their views should inform the decisions which impact them and this can be important for regaining a sense of autonomy, particularly those who have suffered from domestic abuse, she adds.

Dr Morrison says there is evidence of poor practice when consulting children and this needs to be tackled to ensure they're right to be heard is balanced against the risk.

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According to a SPICe briefing on the Children (Scotland) Bill..., external

"The Bill would make some important reforms. It aims to encourage the court to hear the views of younger children (under 12s) before reaching its decision. It would require courts to explain (most) court decisions to (most) children.

"The Bill would also introduce practical measures to improve the experience of vulnerable people in the courtroom, such as parents affected by domestic abuse.

"The welfare of the child, as the paramount consideration, is a key principle of the 1995 Act which the courts apply. The Bill would introduce two new statutory factors to guide the court's assessment of welfare in an individual case."

Professor Kay Tisdall from the University of Edinburgh wonders if the bill could be made stronger and adds the system should not make children choose a parent if they don't want to.

Megan Farr explains there are also cases where children have refused point blank to attend a contact session and that is a risk when a child's views are not given due weight.

Ms Farr says if that is due to domestic abuse, it must be treated by those trained in that area.

• Everyday Heroes, external: Children and Young People from all over Scotland took part in the Everyday Heroes programme to influence the Government’s plan of action The Equally Safe Delivery Plan, external

• Power Up/Power Down, external: was a partnership project between Scottish Women’s Aid and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner for Scotland, exploring themes of power and making children's voices heard in court.

Megan Farr from the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland says young children are still not having their views heard.

This can lead to situations where children under 12 are not listened to, but their older siblings are she explains.

Children do not magically change their views at 12 Ms Farr says.