Safeguarding children who are suffering, or are at risk of suffering significant harm is not the sole responsibility of any one agency or service. Research and experience have shown repeatedly that keeping children safe from harm requires professionals to share information about child welfare concerns. Often it is only when information is shared that it becomes clear a child may be at risk of significant harm.
All professional staff are concerned to balance their duties to safeguard children with their general duty towards their patient or service user. Some professionals may be working with more than one family member and feel there are conflicts of interest. Professionals concerned about potential conflicts of confidentiality between their duties towards children and their patient or service user, should be guided by the principle that the welfare of the child must be paramount, and their primary responsibility must therefore be to share any information needed to safeguard the child.
Some information known to professionals should be treated confidentially and should not be shared with families. Reasons for withholding information need to be made clear but the need to safeguard the wellbeing of the child must be the overriding consideration in such situations.
There are six key points that guide decision-making on information sharing:
- Professionals must explain to children and their families at the outset what information could be shared with other professionals, and why.
- Their agreement to information sharing should be sought, except:
- where to do so would put the child or any other person at increased risk of harm;
- if it would undermine the prevention, detection or prosecution of a serious crime.
- The safety and welfare of the child must be the overriding consideration when professionals are deciding whether to share information
- Professionals should, wherever possible, respect the wishes of children and families who do not consent to information being shared, but may still share that information if, from a judgement on the facts of the case, they feel there is sufficient need. Professionals must seek advice from their line manager if they are in doubt
- Any information shared must be accurate and up to date, necessary for the purpose for which it is being shared, shared only with those who have a need to know, be shared in a timely manner and be shared in a secure way
- Professionals must always record the reasons for their decision, whether it is to share information or not
Ref:
Information Sharing: Guidance for Practitioners and Managers DCSF 2008
