Personal Information Legislations

Data Protection Act 1998 – gives individuals the right to know what information is held about them, and those that processes personal information must comply with eight principles, which makes sure that personal information is fairly and lawfully processed; processed for limited purposes; adequate, relevant and not excessive; accurate and up to date; not kept for longer than is necessary; processed in line with your rights; secure; not transferred to other countries without adequate protection;

Practitioners have a legal duty of confidence with regards to person information that they hold about children young people and their families. Any information you receive about young people and their families. In my work setting information should only be shared with professionals, all information child protection records should be kept securely. These are kept behind the manager’s desk on a tall shelf so that children can’t access them. Personal information should only be disclosed to third parties such as social services after obtaining the consent to who the information relates to in some child protection matters but it may not be possible to obtain consent. The data protection act 1998 allow allegation without consent in some circumstances for example to detect and prevent crime, to apprehend prosecute and offender.

given extra safeguards for sensitive information – e.g. ethnicity, political views, religion, health or criminal records

Children Act 1989 – Protecting children’s welfare and to provide services according to the specific needs of children.

Why it is important to reassure children, young people and adults about confidentiality and why it may need to be breached.

Adults who work with children and young people will come to know most of the personal information like date of birth, address and contact details and also sensitive information like behavioural issues, some medical information, family background, whether parents are divorcing and so on. It is the responsibility of the adult to keep this information confidential. They must protect the identity of the child they work with and that of their families and carers. They must do everything in their power to protect the privacy of every child and adult.

Essentially, this is Ontario statute, established in 2004, and it offers a set of guidelines concerning assemblage, usage, and revelation of individual well-being statistics. Through PHIPA, Fred Victor has to seek consent before it embarks on collection, use, and disclosure of personal health information (Bearwood and Kerr, 2004). The legislation directs that Fred Victor as a health information custodian is required to treat all personal health information as confidential and hence, maintain its security. Finally, Fred Victor is directed to ensure accountability through the affording the right to individuals the right to complain when they identify any error in their personal health information.

The first policy is security of records/confidentiality this helps keep children and young people safe as if a child had been taken out of their home for their safety and moved out of the area to a new foster family or children’s home then this information should be hidden from their family so there is no way that they would be able to snatch the child

8. Personal Data should not be transferred to any other country unless it has got an adequate level of protection

Must be able to identify and record possible signs of abuse or neglect as soon as possible

• Confidentiality and when, for the safety of the child or young person confidentiality must be breached.

Children love to play and explore. For example while in a park a child will want to climb a ladder to go on a slide. Natural reaction may be to hold or even pick up a child and put them up. Children learn best when trying and experiencing things themselves. There is a risk of a child slipping and falling of the steps but a child also has a right to experience facilities to aid their development. Children need to learn how to predict and avoid dangerous situations.Another potential dilemma may be confidentiality. I must ensure that all personal information is kept confidential and is not shared with anyone else unless permission form is signed. But if there is a case of concern that a child’s welfare may be at risk social services have to be informed.There is also a possibility of conflict with parent’s wishes due to their culture and religion.

Effective information sharing by professionals is central to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. This sharing of information makes an important contribution to the shift to addressing children’s needs at an early stage rather than when serious problems have developed. In order to safeguard and promote children’s welfare, arrangements should ensure that:

1. Confidentiality must be kept at all times. You must have the senior practitioner’s and/or the parents’ permission before making formal observations of children. Do not to leave confidential material lying around they must be secured in a locked cabinet. Line of reporting-only talk to authorized personal about confidential material. This confidentially can only be broken when a child is at real risk.

It is providing a framework to ensure that personal information about a person that is still persons is being shared appropriately. The Childcare Act (2006) however, clearly states that a concern for confidentiality must never be used as a reason for withholding information if it would be in the child’s best interest to share it. Concerns about confidentiality of information should never be allowed to stand in the way of promoting the welfare or protecting the safety of the child.