SUMMARY.‘Safeguarders’ within the Scottish Children's Hearings have until recently been a neglected resource. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Orkney Inquiry have served to raise their profile, such that the development of their role now has a place on the agenda for change in Scotland. Some difficulties in identifying their current role in courts and hearings are discussed, and some changes are proposed. It is argued that safeguarders must be advocates of children's views as well as representatives of their interests. In certain cases they may fill a gap which avoids the need to bring legal agents into hearings, which would undermine the sys