Beth-Anne Logan, 19, was just three months old the first time she attended a hearing at a children's panel.

She appeared in front of them sporadically until she was 16 years old, saying that the hard decisions volunteers made "saved her life".

Now, Children's Hearings Scotland need 500 new panel volunteers to help make the tough decisions to support vulnerable children.

Ms Logan now sits on the hearing board, eager to make sure other children are getting the best help from the system which turned her life around.

Things didn't always seem so positive for Ms Logan. When she was a young child she remembered that there could be a lot of tension when attending a hearing.

"There were always smiley faces, though. There was always people around trying to alleviate your worries.

"As a child you could sense that something big and important was happening there, but you didn't really understand what it was."

Ms Logan said it was very easy as a young child to get intimidated walking into a hearing, but as she became more "seasoned", she realised that the panel was there to make the best decisions on her behalf.

"When I was younger, maybe when I didn't quite understand or have full control of my emotions, I thought some of the decisions were unfair or I would get angry.

"But as I got older and understood why these decisions were being made, you realised they were absolutely made for the right reasons."

The impact the hearings have had on Ms Logan are life long.

"The hearings have empowered me, from a young age, to find my voice and speak out.

"Initially it was speaking out about me and what I wanted. But as I've got older, it's made me want to speak out about other people and try to stop injustices happening to other people - especially to young people.

Ms Logan believes the country would be lost without the hearing system, saying: "I think the thing that drives me is that every year that I entered the care system, someone that I knew has passed away as a young person.

"That is every single year without fail.

"It's something that we should be working our absolute hardest to make sure that there is no one left behind again and no one else is failed."

Applications to become a Children's Panel volunteer are open until September 26.