Confidentiality

With the Data Protection Act (1998), the nursery has to control and protect the handling of the personal information of children and parents. Recklessness and naivety can cause personal information being let out into the public eye. Staff writing down children’s or their parent’s personal details or opinions can end up open to public view. This can be minimised by making sure all data is

It emphasises the important principles to be followed when working with children and young people: settings must provide a safe and secure environment, if any children are identified as suffering from abuse or likely to suffer the appropriate action must be taken.

1.1 Legislation is a set of laws that have been created by the government to make sure all childcare settings are run correctly. To promote positive behaviour, legislation’s such as the Children Act 1989, Human Rights Act 1998, Every Child Matters 2004, Equality Act 2010 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 are followed by the setting. These Act’s include rules and regulations that a setting is required to follow in order to promote positive behaviour.

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.

Confidentiality applies to the children act in many ways it protects children and young peoples information from being put into the wrong hands although the children act does state that the person can obtain the information being held themselves as because of data protection you have the right to access your own files.

1.1 outline current legislation, guidelines, policies and procedures within own UK home nation affecting the safeguarding of children and young people.

Article 13- Children have a right to receive and share information as long as that information is not damaging to others.

It is everybody’s responsibility to safeguard children – This means every single staff member within a setting; irrelevant of what role they may have there. This also includes non-staff members, such as volunteers, student’s third-party companies (visitors, service providers etc). Each setting should therefore adopt their own safeguarding policy, of which has to be kept up to date and followed at all times.

It is very important that anyone working with children should be able to recognise if a child is at risk of harm of in need because of their vulnerability. The earlier this is recognised, the better outcome for the child involved.

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.

Keeping in mind data protection, be aware of what is going on in a child’s life and any changes that may affect their behaviour

• 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.