Jack McConnell has asked his colleagues to lobby the Home Office

There was outcry when a Kosovan family were taken from their home in Glasgow earlier this month in a dawn raid.

SNP Holyrood leader Nicola Sturgeon said the Scottish Executive had been "shamed" into seeking a protocol.

The Home Office defended the removal policy and said it would consider the executive's concerns.

The children's commissioner had accused the state of "terrorising children" and "a clear breach of human rights".

We want to have a protocol for the Home Office that involves Scottish education and social services in advance of decisions Jack McConnell First Minister Debate brings lobby pledge

Now the first minister has decided to confront the Home Office on its tactics over failed asylum seekers.

Speaking at First Minister's Question Time, Jack McConnell said: "While we believe in a fair, consistent and firm immigration system that has to include deportation and removal in some respects, it is also very important given our child welfare responsibilities and education responsibilities here in Scotland that such a system is handled appropriately.

"That's why we want to have a protocol for the Home Office that involves Scottish education and social services in advance of decisions on the implementation of any orders for removal."

The way these children are being treated is a far cry from the civilised, just and peaceful way of life all people living in Scotland should enjoy Patrick Harvie MSP Green Party

Mr McConnell backed concerns that the deployment of large groups of uniformed officers in body armour, with handcuffs, during dawn raids in Glasgow represented an "excessive" use of force.

His intervention was timed to coincide with a Scottish Greens debate on the issue at Holyrood.

The Greens urged ministers to ensure vulnerable children of asylum seekers in Scotland do not suffer trauma and distress, and that their human rights are protected by the executive.

Earlier, Mr McConnell said he was confident the executive could strike a new agreement with ministers in London, to ensure future cases are handled more sensitively in consultation with Scottish authorities.

He added that he believed most failed asylum seeker families did not pose a security threat or a serious risk of absconding.

Patrick Harvie, Green MSP for Glasgow, said: "The practices being used are so extreme that it's simply not possible to remain silent, and I would urge MSPs and Scotland as a whole to heed the words of the children's commissioner, and raise a public outcry.

Use of handcuffs

"The way these children are being treated is a far cry from the civilised, just and peaceful way of life all people living in Scotland should enjoy."

Scottish Socialist Party leader, Colin Fox, described Mr McConnell's action as "too little too late".

He said: "The Labour-Lib Dem government in Holyrood have been complicit in the human rights abuses ordered by Westminster."

The Vucaj family have made a last-minute plea to remain in Scotland

A spokesman for the Home Office said the UK Government had made it clear that it would take "a robust approach" to removing people from the country who had no legal right to remain.

He added: "Removing failed asylum seekers is a key part of our work, always undertaken in the most sensitive and safest way possible.

"Immigration officers with powers of arrest are permitted to use reasonable force in the course of their duties.

"The use of handcuffs or any other form of restraint is only done after a thorough risk assessment.

"We will consider carefully specific concerns that the executive raises with us."

Disgusted neighbours are saying 'we thought this is what happened in Nazi Germany, we didn't think it was allowed to happen in Scotland' Robina Qureshi Positive Action in Housing

Scottish National Party social justice spokeswoman Christine Grahame praised the children's commissioner's role in highlighting the way asylum seekers such as the Vucajs were treated but argued that she should have more powers.

Robina Qureshi, of the charity Positive Action in Housing, said people were shocked that asylum raids were taking place in Scotland.

She said: "Children are crying, being dragged out in their pyjamas at dawn, with disgusted neighbours saying 'we thought this is what happened in Nazi Germany, we didn't think it was allowed to happen in Scotland'.

Ms Qureshi said "hundreds" of dawn raids across the country saw 16-strong immigration "snatch squads" kicking house doors in and forcing children to watch their parents being put in handcuffs.

The Vucaj family, who had lived in Glasgow for five years, were removed from their home on 13 September.