1.1 Values and Principles |
SCOPE OF THIS CHAPTER
This Chapter provides the context for all procedures. It contains the underlying values and principles for the provision of services and for recording, confidentiality and consultation.
AMENDMENTS
This Chapter was amended in March 2010, the following was incorporated:
- Haringey Children's Trust Values (Section 1, Haringey Children's Trust Values);
- Haringey Strategic Partnership Information Sharing Protocol (Section 6, Information Sharing Protocol);
- Children's Homes Policies - previously in this Chapter - have been moved; see Our Ethos and Key Policies.
This Chapter was further amended in January 2011 to provide a link to the Haringey Children's Trust - Information Sharing Guidance for Practitioners working with Children, Young People and Families
Contents
- Haringey Children's Trust Values
- Equal Opportunities
- Recording Values and Principles
- Confidentiality Values and Principles
- Consultation Values and Principles
- Information Sharing Protocol
1. Haringey Children's Trust Values
Our underlying values and principles are that:
- We will work to ensure that children and young people are protected and safeguarded
- All children and young people will be treated as individuals, valued and their voice used to inform and improve our work and decisions that affect them.
- We will work wherever possible with parents/carers and communities to help them to be well informed and able to support and guide their children, and set high expectations for what can be achieved.
- Every child and young person will get the help, support and advice they need to make the most of the opportunities and choices available to them.
- We support children and young people to achieve and to have a sense of pride in their community and in Haringey. We will make opportunities to celebrate their achievements.
- The best interests of the child:
All decisions made in relation to children must have, as the first and paramount consideration, the best interests of the child. - Assessment, planning and review:
Services will be provided to children on the basis of regular assessment, planning, monitoring and review. For those who are Looked After, this will continue through the transition from childhood to adulthood. - Avoiding delay:
All decisions in relation to the provision of services to children will be made promptly and within agreed time-scales, having regard to the needs of the child; the achievement of these timescales will be monitored and reviewed - Anti-discriminatory:
Children will receive services which take account of their race, culture, language, disability, sexuality and religion. - Valuing the family:
Children have the right, whenever possible, to be brought up within their own family, either with their parents or relatives. - Partnership:
In promoting this right, services will be provided in partnership with parents, significant people in children’s lives and with other agencies to assist and support parents in meeting their children’s needs within the family. - Listening and taking action:
We will promote an ‘open door’ culture for all children, which encourages them to express their views, wishes and feelings; and say what they think about anything which affects them. We will then do all we can to ensure their views are taken into account when decisions are made about them. - Quality services for children:
Where services are provided for children, they will be provided by skilled people, committed to meeting children’s needs; in a manner which promotes their educational, physical, emotional, social and psychological development and in an environment where they feel safe, positive and encouraged. - Keeping children informed:
Children will be provided with a range of accessible information about our services and those which they may require to improve their life chances. - Promoting independence:
We will help children to be as independent and to take as full and active a part in everyday life as possible. - Safeguarding children:
We understand that, on occasions, it will be necessary for limits to be placed on the actions of some children for the sake of their welfare or to protect them or others from injury or harm. Interventions used in these circumstances will be the least restrictive and disruptive compatible with children's well-being - Resolving dissatisfaction:
Where children, or others on their behalf, are dissatisfied, we will take steps to resolve their dissatisfaction and provide opportunities for them to complain if they wish. - The appropriate looked after placement:
Where children are unable to live with their birth family, they will be looked after in family based care or, where appropriate, residential care. - Respecting privacy:
Looked after children will be treated with respect and afforded privacy. - Permanence:
We will ensure a plan exists for all looked after children to achieve a permanent solution for their future upbringing. Wherever possible, permanence will be secured through a return to their parents’ care or a placement within their wider family but where this cannot be achieved within a time-scale appropriate to the child’s needs, plans will be made for a permanent alternative family placement, which may include adoption, or, for older children, a stable placement which prepares the child for adulthood. - Maintaining community links:
Where children are looked after away from the family, they will be placed as near to their family home or community as possible unless their needs dictate otherwise - Promoting contact:
We will promote meaningful contact between looked after children and their families unless particular circumstances indicate that such contact would not be in their best interests. - Monitoring and Review:
We will ensure that all looked after children receive regular visits from their social workers for the purposes of monitoring and reviewing the suitability of their placement arrangements. - ICS
ICS is the conceptual framework which we use to provide better outcomes for CIN and their families.
2. Equal Opportunities
Throughout its work, Haringey Council is committed to reflecting the full diversity of the community it serves and to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. We accept that the Council is not free of unintended institutional discrimination. We will work to eradicate it.
We aim to ensure equal access to our services by all citizens on the basis of need and to provide services in a manner that is sensitive to the individual whatever their background. We will represent the needs of our diverse communities to other agencies and make equal opportunities a key guiding principle in all of our work with our partners. We will ensure that our workforce reflects the community it serves. We will take positive action to realise our equality of opportunity policy.
We are committed to eliminating discrimination on the grounds of:
- Age Disability
- Colour, ethnic origin, nationality, national origin or race
- Gender
- HIV status
- Marital status
- Religion or belief
- Responsibility for dependants
- Sexual Orientation
- Unrelated criminal convictions
It is the responsibility of every employee of the council to uphold and implement the policy.
It is the responsibility of each individual manager, at all levels, to plan and provide their services to realise this policy.
3. Recording Values and Principles
Each of the following values is summarised in this Section.
- Records must be kept of All Children
- The design of records and forms must be approved
- Children and their families must be informed about their records
- The practitioner primarily involved should complete the record
- All relevant information about children and their families must be recorded
- Recording Legal Advice
- Children and their families should be involved in the recording process
- Information about children and their families should normally be shared with them
- Records must be legible, signed and dated
- Records must be kept up to date
- Records must be written in plain English and prejudice must be avoided
- Records must be accurate and adequate
- Managers must oversee, monitor and review records
- Records should be kept securely
- Records moved to a new location must be monitored
- Records must usually be retained after closure
1. Records Must Be Kept of All Children
The Children and Families service has developed an electronic system based on ICS requirements for recording referrals, assessments, plans, reviews and general casework which all workers are required to use. Manual files are used to record non-electronic documents. Where manual files extend to more than one volume, the dates covered by each volume must be clearly recorded on the front cover.
2. The design of records and forms must be approved
Records and forms must be designed to fit their purpose and used consistently across the organisation. ICS Forms are used on Frameworki to assist in the recording and analysis of information about a child/young person.
3. Children and their families must be informed about their records
Children and their families have a right to be informed about the records kept on them, the reasons why and their rights to confidentiality and of access to their records.
See Section 4.1, Principles of Confidentiality.
Information must be provided in a form that children and their families will understand - in their preferred language or method of communication. An interpreter will be provided if needed.
4. The practitioner primarily involved should complete the record
The practitioner primarily involved, that is by the person who directly observes or witnesses the event that is being recorded or who has participated in the meeting/conversation. Records should be completed in 1 working day. Where the records pertain to meetings such as a Core Group, the minutes must be completed within 5 working days in the correct format on Frameworki and sent out to other core group members to sign. Until these notes are transcribed, if the practitioner has taken hand written notes, the note book/handwritten notes must be available on the child's manual file.
If additional records are completed or updated by other people, it must be clear from the record which person provided the information being recorded.
Records of decisions must show who has made the decision and the basis on which it has been made.
However, where there is consultation between a practitioner working with a child and another professional the record of the consultation will be made by the professional consulted with. It will be kept on the child's record.
5. All relevant information about children and their families must be recorded
Every child’s case file must include a properly maintained chronology. Chronologies can be saved under various headings including 'Court' on Frameworki.
All visits, meetings or appointments made in relation to children must be recorded, stating who was present or seen, the relevant discussions which occurred, actions/decisions taken and by whom, and the reasons for decisions.
All contacts with children, their families, colleagues, professionals or other significant people must be recorded in the same way, i.e. who was present or seen, the relevant discussions, actions or decisions taken and by whom, and the reasons for decisions. The recording of visits to a child or young person must be on the correct format. These are LAC/CP/CinN visit case note.
Correspondence about a child/young person or their family is recorded information that should either be uploaded onto Frameworki, or placed in a manual file.
All correspondence, including emails, should follow Haringey's case recording policy protocols. Information should be recorded in a clear, concise manner, using plain English and refrain from making any judgements. Information pertaining to a worker's personal life should not be included in any correspondence. It is not acceptable to use language or a tone that is not in line with case recording standards in any correspondence. All workers should remember that correspondence may be seen by the child/young person or used during court proceedings, it is therefore important to ensure that all information recorded in a case file is of an acceptable Haringey standard.
6. Recording Legal Advice
All legal advice must remain privileged and is exempt from disclosure. Therefore, all advice should be recorded on the Children and Families Assessment System using either the Legal Advice Contact Sheets (not diary sheets) or Legal Planning Meeting Notes as appropriate.
7. Children and their families should be involved in the recording process
Children and their families must be involved in the process of gathering and recording information about them.
They should be asked to provide information, express their own views and wishes, and contribute to assessments, reports and to the formulation of plans.
Generally, they must be asked to give their agreement to the sharing of information about them with others - but there are exceptions.
8. Information about children and their families should normally be shared with them
Information, including assessments, obtained about children and their families should be shared with them unless:
- Sharing the information would be likely to result in serious harm to the child or another person
- The information was given in the expectation that it would not be disclosed or
- The information relates to a third party who expressly indicated the information should not be disclosed.
9. Manual records must be legible, signed and dated
When used, manual records should be typed or handwritten in black ink and all records must be signed and dated. There should however be very few occasions that a manual record is needed as most forms are on Frameworki. Workers should also ensure that all forms used for any manual record are compliant with the forms on Frameworki.
Any handwritten records must be produced so that readers not familiar with the handwriting of the writer can read the records quickly and easily. It must be possible to distinguish the name and post title or status of the person completing the record. If there is any doubt of the identity of the writer from a signature, the name should be printed.
10. Records must be kept up to date
Records should be updated as information becomes available or as decisions or actions are taken as soon as practicable or, at the latest, within 24 hours. Frameworki has an audit trail in place in line with ICS requirements, that allows a manager to view when a record has been updated and what was written, including any changes made.
11. Records must be written in plain English and prejudice must be avoided
Records must be written concisely, in plain English, and must not contain any expressions that might give offence to any individual or group of people on the basis of race, culture, religion, age, disability, or sexual orientation.
Use of technical or professional terms and abbreviations must be kept to a minimum; and if there is likely to be any doubt of their meaning, they must be defined or explained.
12. Records must be accurate and adequate
Care must be taken to ensure that information contained in records is relevant and accurate and is sufficient to meet legislative responsibilities and the requirements of these procedures.
Every effort must be made to ensure records are factually correct.
Records must distinguish clearly between facts, opinions, assessments, judgements and decisions. Records must also distinguish between first hand information and information obtained from third parties.
See Section 4.1, Principles of Confidentiality
13. Managers must oversee and monitor all records
The overall responsibility for ensuring all records are maintained appropriately rests with Managers with day-to-day responsibility, delegated to other staff as appropriate.
The Manager should routinely check samples of records to ensure they are up to date and maintained as required and, if not, that deficiencies are rectified as soon as practicable.
Managers should ensure that forms are filled out correctly on Frameworki, that the information gathered is relevant and can lead to a clear decision making process. Failure to do so will affect the quality of information that pre-populates from one form to another on Frameworki. Managers are responsible for ensuring that the council's statutory duties are carried out and properly recorded on Frameworki.
14. Records should be kept securely
All records held on children must be kept securely.
Manual files should normally be stored in a locked cabinet, or a similar manner, usually in an office to which only staff/carers have access.
Manual records should not be left unattended when not in their normal location.
Accesses to electronic records are password protected. Workers will be required to change their unique passwords regularly and must not divulge their passwords to any other individual.
15. Manual records moved to a new location must be monitored
Where records are moved to a new location, the date of transfer should be clearly recorded.
The same person should check that the records have arrived at their intended destination.
16. Records must usually be retained after closure
All files must be retained in accordance with the Department’s Archiving and File Destruction procedures.
4. Confidentiality Values and Principles
Each of the following values is summarised in this Section.
4.1 Principles of Confidentiality
The introduction of electronic case recording has resulted in much greater accessibility to individual records to those involved in a case. This does, however, increase the risk of information being used insensitively or inadvertently being disclosed to someone inappropriately.
Whilst there is no such thing as a totally safe system it is important to take appropriate measures to safeguard personal information. To help consider how best to record and store this information safely, the Children and Families Service has adopted the concept of three different levels of confidentiality. Workers must take this into account when collecting and recording information. The levels of confidentiality are:
4.2 Personal information is subject to a legal duty of confidence
All personal information is subject to a legal duty of confidence. The legal framework for confidentiality is contained in common law, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Data Protection Act 1998. All staff are obliged to safeguard information held about our users and are personally responsible for any breach of this statutory responsibility.
4.3 Disclosure of confidential information is permitted in specific circumstances
As far as possible, a worker should seek consent before disclosing personal information, even to other care agencies. If consent is not forthcoming, information can be disclosed in circumstances when the individual’s right to confidentiality is superseded by the need to comply with a statute, court order, where there is a serious risk to public health, a risk of harm to other individuals particularly children or for the prevention, detection or prosecution of crime. If disclosure is made without consent, a careful record needs to be kept of what has been disclosed. Also, only the minimum personal information necessary should be disclosed. Information should not be disclosed to a non-agency body or person without first seeking legal advice.
Workers are allowed to exchange necessary personal information with other care or health agencies when enquiries are being pursued under Child Protection Enquiries (Section 47 of the Children Act 1989).
For more detailed guidance, seek advice from the Children’s Social Care Services Data Protection Contact Officer, the Council’s Data Protection and Freedom of Information Team or from the Department of Law & Administration. Alternatively refer to the Data Protection intranet site in “Doing my Job”.
4.4 The Freedom of Information Act 2000
The Freedom of Information Act came into force on 1 January 2005 .
Under the Act anybody may request information from a public authority (which includes all local authorities). The Act confers two statutory rights on applicants:
- To be informed in writing whether or not the public authority holds the information requested;
and if so - To have that information communicated to him/her.
The Act applies to all information whether recent or old.
The Act sets out 23 exemptions from rights of access to information. If the information is exempt, there is no right of access under the Act.
One exemption relates to personal information. This means that an application for personal information under the Act is exempt and will not therefore be dealt with under the Act. A person’s right of access to such information must still be dealt with in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Another category relates to information provided in confidence where disclosure would involve an actionable breach of confidence. This would include information provided by a member of the public about a child protection issue where the provider has provided the information on the basis that anonymity will be maintained.
The Act therefore does not change the legal position into the principles of confidentiality set out in paragraphs 4.1 to 4.3 above.
5. Consultation Values and Principles
The ICS forms on Frameworki provide fields for workers to record any consultation that has taken place with children/young people or their families.
People’s views should be sought and taken into account in relation to all decisions, which are likely to affect their daily life and their future.
The older and more mature the child is, the more weight can and should be given to their wishes and feelings.
Unless there are exceptional circumstances, reasonable steps must be taken in all cases to consult the parents. Exceptions will include where older children with an appropriate level of maturity specifically request that their parents are not consulted and a decision is made to respect their wishes. Detailed guidance on this is set out in Section 3, of Consents Guidance.
Consultation should take place on a regular and frequent basis with those who need to be consulted and assumptions should not be made about the inability or lack of interest of those who should be consulted.
Where people have communication difficulties of any sort, suitable means must be provided to enable them to be consulted, including arranging access to advocates or representatives who may speak on their behalf.
If consultation is not possible or is restricted for whatever reason, steps should be taken to ensure those affected are informed of decisions as soon as practicable after they are made, and an explanation for the decision given, together with the opportunity to make a comment and express their views.
If it is then felt that a different decision may have been appropriate, steps should be taken to reconsider the decision.
If decisions are made against people’s wishes, they should be informed of the decision and the reasons for the decision should be explained. In these circumstances, the person should be informed of any rights they have to formally challenge the decision, and of the availability of the Complaints or Grievance Procedure.
6. Information Sharing Protocol
Pocket Guide
See Pocket Guide 'Information Sharing: Guidance for Practitioners and Managers (issued by the DCSF)
The following is a duplicate of Haringey's Strategic Partnership Information Sharing Protocol: Guidance for Practitioners working with Children, Young People and Families - approved 18th December 2009.
Haringey Children's Trust has also produced Information Sharing Guidance for Practitioners working with Children, Young People and Families.
6.1 Introduction
Sharing information is vital for safeguarding the welfare of children and young people and for providing effective and efficient services that are co-ordinated around the needs of a child or young person and their family. In Haringey, we encourage a culture where information is shared with confidence as part of routine service delivery. We also recognise that it is important people remain confident their personal data is kept safe and secure and practitioners maintain the privacy rights of the individual.
We know that practitioners recognise the importance of information sharing, however in some situations they may be uncertain about whether they can do so lawfully. This is especially true in early intervention and preventative work where information sharing decisions may be less clear than in safeguarding or child protection situations where the timely sharing of information is essential.
This guidance is for all practitioners working with children, young people and families in Haringey. It provides clear advice on when and how information can be shared legally and professionally, in order to achieve improved outcomes.
Information sharing is one of the three interdependent elements of the Government's Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme, alongside the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and the lead professional/ Team Around the Child (TAC).
- The Common Assessment Framework (CAF)
A framework to help practitioners work with children, young people and families to assess children and young people's additional needs for earlier and more effective services, develop a common understanding of those needs and how to work together to meet them. - The Lead Professional
The person responsible for co-ordinating the actions identified in the assessment process; a single point of contact for children and young people with additional needs, supported by more than one practitioner within a Team Around the Child (TAC). - Information sharing
Helping practitioners work together more effectively to meet children and young people's needs through sharing information legally and professionally.
This guidance is part of a suite of Integrated Working guidance documents for Haringey, alongside guidance on the CAF and the lead professional/TAC. It is adapted from the Government publication Information Sharing: Guidance for practitioners and managers (2008). This guidance also supports the implementation of the Haringey Children's Trust Information Sharing Protocol. This document sets out the commitment of all Trust members to sharing information in order to improve outcomes and outlines the principles and standards of expected conduct and practice they will all adopt.
Significant harm to infant, child or young personIf you have any concerns that an infant, child or young person may be or is at risk of significant harm or has been harmed or abused then you must follow the London Child Protection procedures and make immediate telephone contact with First Response (contact details below). You will then be asked to record your Child Protection concerns on a CAF form and fax it to the number below. If you are uncertain about how to respond, please seek advice from a Child Protection Adviser. First Response |
Why information sharing is important
Sharing information as part of early intervention and preventative services - Early intervention aims to prevent problems escalating and increase the chances of positive outcomes. This depends on effective partnership working and appropriate information sharing between services.
Sharing information between adult and children's services - Staff in adults' services are aware that problems faced by clients who have parenting responsibilities are often likely to affect children and other family members. However this information is not always shared and opportunities to put preventative support in place for the children and family are missed. Where an adult receiving services is a parent or carer, sharing information where appropriate with colleagues in children's services could ensure that any additional support required for their children can be provided early.
Sharing information to support transitions - At key transition points such as starting nursery or a Children's Centre, moving from primary to secondary school or moving into adulthood, information-sharing is particularly important to ensure that the child or young person gets the support they need.
Sharing information where there are concerns about significant harm to a child or young person - If you have any concerns that an infant, child or young person may be or is at risk of significant harm or has been harmed or abused then you must follow the London Child Protection procedures and make immediate telephone contact with First Response (see box above).
6.2 Seven golden rules for information sharing
- Remember that the Data Protection Act is not a barrier to sharing information but provides a framework to ensure that personal information about living persons is shared appropriately.
- Be open and honest with the person from the outset about why, what, how and with whom information will, or could be shared, and seek their agreement, unless it is unsafe or inappropriate to do so.
- Seek advice if you are in any doubt, without disclosing the identity of the person where possible.
- Share with consent where appropriate and, where possible, respect the wishes of those who do not consent to share confidential information. You may still share information without consent if, in your judgement, that lack of consent can be overridden in the public interest. You will need to base your judgement on the facts of the case.
- Consider safety and well-being: Base your information sharing decisions on considerations of the safety and well-being of the person and others who may be affected by their actions.
- Necessary, proportionate, relevant, accurate, timely and secure: Ensure that the information you share is necessary for the purpose for which you are sharing it, is shared only with those people who need to have it, is accurate and up-to-date, is shared in a timely fashion, and is shared securely.
- Keep a record of your decision and the reasons for it - whether it is to share information or not. If you decide to share, then record what you have shared, with whom and for what purpose.
6.3 Further information to inform decision making
Unless there is a statutory duty or court order to share information, information-sharing decisions must be based on your professional judgement. To inform your decision making this section sets out further information in the form of seven key questions about information sharing:
- Is there a clear and legitimate purpose for you or your agency to share the information?
- Does the information enable a living person to be identified?
- Is the information confidential?
- If the information is confidential, do you have consent to share?
- If consent is refused, or there are good reasons not to seek consent to share confidential information, is there a sufficient public interest to share the information?
- If the decision is to share, are you sharing information appropriately and securely?
- Have you properly recorded your information sharing decision?
These questions are illustrated in the flowchart below. Further information on each of the questions can be found in the remainder of this section (reproduced from HM Government guidance).
Figure 1: Flowchart of key questions for information sharing
Question 1: Is there a clear and legitimate purpose for you or your agency to share the information?
If you are asked, or wish, to share information about a person you need to have a good reason or a clear and legitimate purpose to do so. Ask yourself:
- Why do you or the other person want the information?
- What is the outcome you are trying to achieve?
- Could the aims be achieved without sharing the information?
Of course, where you are required by a statutory duty or a court order to share information, then you must do so, even if it is confidential and consent has not been given, unless in the case of a court order, your organisation is prepared to challenge it and is likely to seek legal advice.
Question 2: Does the information enable a living person to be identified?
Anonymised information which does not and cannot be used to establish the identity of a living person ('depersonalised information') can generally be shared. However, if the information is about an identifiable living individual, or could enable a living person to be identified when considered with other information, it is personal information and is subject to data protection and other laws. This means you will need to consider the issues of confidentiality, consent, and public interest set out in the subsequent 'key questions' to inform your decision.
You should be open from the outset about what information you might need to share and why. However, it may not be appropriate to inform a person that information is being shared, or seek consent to this sharing. This is the case if informing them is likely to hamper the prevention or investigation of a serious crime, or put a child at risk of significant harm or an adult at risk of serious harm.
Question 3: Is the information confidential?
Confidential information is information of a private or sensitive nature that:
- is not already lawfully in the public domain or readily available from another public source; and
- has been provided in circumstances where the person giving the information could reasonably expect that it would not be shared with others.
This is a complex area and you should seek advice if you are unsure as to whether some specific information is or is not confidential.
There are different types of circumstances that are relevant to confidentiality. Where a formal confidential relationship exists (e.g. doctor/patient or social worker/client), all information provided by the individual needs to be treated as confidential, but this does not mean that it should not be appropriately shared. In other situations, you may be asked to treat some specific information confidentially, or sometimes people may not specifically ask but instead assume that personal information will be treated as confidential. Sometimes information not generally regarded as confidential (such as name and address) may be provided in the expectation of confidentiality and therefore should be considered to be confidential information. It is good practice to check with the individual whether the information is or is not confidential, the limits around confidentiality and under what circumstances information may or may not be shared with others.
Information about an individual or family is confidential to the agency as a whole, and not to individual practitioners. However individual practitioners do have a responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of the information. They should only share confidential information with other practitioners in the same agency or team for genuine purposes, for example, to seek advice on a particular case or ensure cover for work while on leave. This should be explained clearly to the individual or family at the start of the involvement.
Question 4: Do you have consent to share?
If you wish or are asked to share confidential information, you should seek consent where possible and respect the wishes of those who do not consent. You may still share information without consent if, in your judgement on the facts of the case, that lack of consent can be overridden in the public interest (see Question 5: Is there sufficient public interest to share the information?)
When consent should not be sought
There will be some circumstances where you should not seek consent, for example, where doing so would:
- place a child at increased risk of significant harm; or
- place an adult at increased risk of serious harm; or
- prejudice the prevention, detection or prosecution of a serious crime; or
- lead to unjustified delay in making enquiries about allegations of significant harm or serious harm.
What constitutes consent
Consent must be 'informed' - the person giving consent needs to understand why information needs to be shared, what will be shared, who will see their information, the purpose to which it will be put and the implications of sharing that information. Obtaining explicit, written consent is best practice, as it reduces the scope for subsequent dispute.
Whose consent to seek
A young person aged 16 or over is presumed, in law, to have the capacity to give or withhold their consent to sharing of confidential information, unless there is evidence to the contrary.
Children and young people under the age of 16 may give (or refuse) consent to sharing if they have the capacity to understand and make their own decisions. Children aged 12 or over may generally be expected to have sufficient understanding, and younger children may also have sufficient understanding, however it is crucial that you assess for each particular child or young person on each particular occasion whether this is so. You will need to consider:
- Can the child or young person understand the question being asked of them?
- Do they have a reasonable understanding of:
- what information might be shared;
- the main reason or reasons for sharing the information; and
- the implications of sharing that information, and of not sharing it?
- Can they:
- appreciate and consider the alternative courses of action open to them;
- weigh up one aspect of the situation against another;
- express a clear personal view on the matter, as distinct from repeating what someone else thinks they should do; and
- be reasonably consistent in their view on the matter, or are they constantly changing their mind?
When assessing a child's understanding you should explain the issues to the child in a way that is suitable for their age, language and likely understanding. Where applicable, you should use their preferred mode of communication.
In most cases, where a child cannot consent or where you have judged that they are not competent to consent, you should ask a person with parental responsibility to consent on behalf of the child. If a child or young person is judged not to have the capacity to make decisions, their views should still be sought as far as possible.
Where parental consent is required, the consent of one such person is sufficient. In situations where family members are in conflict you will need to consider carefully whose consent should be sought. If the parents are separated, the consent would usually be sought from the parent with whom the child resides. If a care order is in force, the local authority will share parental responsibility with parent(s) and practitioners should liaise with them about questions of consent.
If you judge a child or young person to be competent to give consent, then their consent or refusal to consent is the one to consider, even if a parent or carer disagrees. Where parental consent is not required, you should encourage the young person to discuss the issue with their parents. However, you should not withhold the service on the condition that they do so.
These issues can raise difficult dilemmas. Wherever appropriate you should try to work with all involved to reach an agreement or understanding of the information to be shared. You must always act in accordance with your professional code of practice where there is one and consider the safety and well-being of the child, even where that means overriding refusal to consent. You should seek advice from your manager or nominated advisor if you are unsure.
Question 5: Is there sufficient public interest to share the information?
Seeking consent should be the first option. However, where consent cannot be obtained or is refused, or where seeking it is inappropriate or unsafe, you may still lawfully share it if this can be justified in the public interest. The question of whether there is a sufficient public interest must be judged by the practitioner based on the facts of each case. Therefore, where you have a concern about a child or young person, you should not regard refusal of consent as necessarily precluding the sharing of confidential information.
A public interest can arise in a wide range of circumstances, for example:
- to protect children from significant harm
- to protect adults from serious harm
- to promote the welfare of children
- to prevent crime and disorder
There are also public interests which in some circumstances may weigh against sharing, including the public interest in maintaining public confidence in the confidentiality of certain services.
It is not possible to give guidance to cover every circumstance in which sharing of information without consent will be justified. You must make a judgement on the facts of the individual case. In making the decision you must weigh up what might happen if the information is shared against what might happen if it is not, consider whether sharing the information is a proportionate response to the situation, and make a decision based on professional judgement. If you are at all unsure, speak to your manager.
There are some circumstances in which sharing confidential information without consent will almost certainly be justified in the public interest. These are:
- when there is evidence or reasonable cause to believe that a child is suffering, or is at risk of suffering, significant harm; or
- when there is evidence or reasonable cause to believe that an adult is suffering, or is at risk of suffering, serious harm; or
- to prevent significant harm to a child or serious harm to an adult, including through the prevention, detection and prosecution of serious crime.
If your concern is about possible abuse or neglect of a child or young person, you should talk to the designated person for child protection within your organisation. Haringey Local Safeguarding Children Board's 'Thresholds of Need' provide further guidance. If you still have concerns then you must follow the London Child Protection procedures and make immediate telephone contact with First Response. See Thresholds of Need and Service Responses
If you decide to share confidential information without consent, you should explain to the person that you intend to share the information and why only where it is safe and appropriate to do so.
Question 6: Are you sharing information appropriately and securely?
If you decide to share information, you will need to ensure that you:
- Only share what is necessary to achieve the purpose, distinguishing clearly between fact and opinion.
- Share only with the person or people who really need to know the information.
- Make sure the information is accurate and up-to-date.
- Understand the limits of any consent given and especially if the information has been provided by a third party.
- Check who will see the information and share the information in a secure way. For example, confirm the identity of the person you are talking to; ensure a conversation or phone call cannot be overheard; use secure email; ensure that the intended person will be on hand to receive a fax.
- Establish with the recipient whether they intend to pass it on to other people and ensure that they understand the limits of any consent that has been given.
- Inform the person to whom the information relates that you are sharing the information, if it is safe to do so, and if you have not already told them that their information may be shared.
Question 7: Have you properly recorded your information sharing decision?
You should record your decision and the reasons for it in line with your agency's arrangements for recording information, whether or not you decide to share information. If the decision is to share, you should record what information was shared and with whom.
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