The controversy over Scotland’s named person service has placed government intrusion and parents’ rights firmly in the spotlight. Here Susan Walls from Contact, the charity for families with disabled children and chair of the Getting to Know GIRFEC Project Advisory Group, talks about how Contact deals with the issue of consent and why it’s so important.
At Contact we talk to families of disabled children all the time about the challenges they face when trying to access the right support for their child.
Not being able to share information, when done effectively, should never be another barrier to families getting the right support at the right time.
However, obtaining consent from parents before sharing information is paramount to the way we work.
It’s vital we do this because placing the families we work with at the centre of what we do and gaining their trust, means they are able to help them find the services they need.
We do this in a number of ways. When a parent gets in touch, and at the appropriate time, we explain how we keep their personal information secure, and only use it for the purpose of contacting them.
It’s important that we are explicit about the sharing or recording of information
Susan Walls
We follow the data protection and confidentiality laws that keep us both safe and secure. We often signpost parents to other organisations.
Our aim is for families to support themselves and when they want us to contact someone else on their behalf we seek their consent to share their information. It’s important that we are explicit about the sharing or recording of information.
The Supreme Court recently instructed the Scottish Government to make changes to information sharing provisions in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 and this has put services sharing information when working with families under scrutiny.
It’s raised some important questions about whether families are aware that information about them is being shared or if are they at the centre of that power to share.
These concerns show how vitally important it is for any organisation that works with children and young people and their families to be honest and explicit about sharing information at all times.
It calls on us to review how we share information with and about families and to ask ourselves if we are promoting, supporting or safeguarding their disabled child’s wellbeing by sharing information.
It makes us revisit our policies and practices, ensuring they continue to be compatible with existing law on Data Protection, Human Rights and Confidentiality.
The children and young people (information sharing) (Scotland) bill aims to change the information provisions in the act and bring consistency, clarity and coherence to the practice of sharing information, so families can be confident with the advice and support they are entitled to under the act, if they choose to seek that help.
The bill states the legal requirements that must be compiled with before information can be shared, including data protection, confidentiality and the European Convention on Human Rights which holds the respect for the views of the child among other principles - and this can only be a good thing within this bill.
Contact hopes that these proposed changes to the act in this bill will ensure that services are able to work together in the best interests of children and their families.
