Under the Scottish Executive's plans, outlined in Getting it right for every child - proposals for action, the grounds for referring teenagers to hearings will be based on two tests: significant need and compulsion.
If a referral fails to meet these tests, the young person will be sent back into the community for local services to deal with.
The executive also proposes placing a legal duty on frontline services such as youth centres to ensure young people in need receive the right support.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, policy officer at Fairbridge in Scotland, said services would need more money. Children in Scotland warned that the legal duty may limit services to just fulfilling that duty.
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