The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration, which manages the children's hearings system, said last week that the number of children being referred to children's reporters in 2003/04 had risen 12.6 per cent to almost 46,000.
The news came days after the resignation of Alan Miller, who had been the organisation's principal reporter since it came into existence in 1996.
The figures mean that one in every 20 children in Scotland was referred to a reporter. Last year 16,470 were referred on offence grounds and 33,379 on non-offence grounds. Maggie Mellon, director of children and family services at charity Children 1st, said children in domestic violence cases were automatically being referred to a reporter in some parts of the country.
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