Woman who assaulted child avoids criminal sentence thanks to Glasgow support scheme

A scheme which helps offenders avoid a criminal sentence and get support instead has benefitted both a Glasgow mum who assaulted a child and, separately, a man charged with police assault.

The mother who committed assault was in an abusive marriage and stressed over the behaviour of her children. Instead of being convicted in court for her actions, she was offered a range of social work services and support from Women’s Aid.

This was a result of Glasgow City Council’s Diversion from Prosecution programme, which helped approximately 300 people last year.

Among the help received by the mum was support from a parenting team to deal with challenging teenager behaviour, and counselling for herself and emotional support services for her son to discuss his feelings and issues.

A council paper on the programme said that after completing the diversion programme, the woman was “more confident in navigating child contact and contact with her ex-partner, the relationship with her son had improved, she was more emotionally regulated due to counselling and Children and Families Social Work closed the case due to reduced risk and no further concerns”.

In another case, a man who had been drinking heavily and was charged with threatening or abusive behaviour and police assault has been sober for 18 months after taking part in the diversion programme.

He had been diagnosed with pancreatitis despite his young age and had suffered a bereavement. Attending AA, counselling and strategies for coping when triggered were among the steps he took while taking part in the scheme.

Thanks to the initiative, he returned to work part time, began looking at college courses and saw an improvement in his health and family relationships.

Glasgow Justice Social Work, which runs the Diversion from Prosecution team, completed 325 diversion cases during 2024 to 2025.

People taking part in the Health and Social Care Partnership service reported mental health needs and problems with drug use and alcohol among other issues.

The Diversion from Prosecution work was included in a council paper on reducing poverty and inequality presented to the operational performance and delivery scrutiny committee.