Confidentiality Procedure for Foster Carers

Foster carers are entrusted with personal and confidential information about children and their families in order to help them to care for children in care. As the placement progresses foster carers will receive minutes of meetings, children's reviews, reports etc. and will complete Foster Carer Recordings for each child placed with them which record information regarding the child.  Foster carers will be working with other professionals who are also involved with the child, e.g. teachers and health professionals, and care needs to be taken in how and when information is shared.

Foster carers need full information about a child’s family background and current needs, initially to enable them to decide whether or not they can meet their needs and accept the placement, and later to help them meet the child’s ongoing needs as the placement progresses. Foster carers need to consider carefully what information their immediate family need to have about the child to ensure they and the child remain safe. Children in care and their families have the right to expect that information about them is kept confidential and secure. Information should not be shared other than on a 'need to know' basis.

All foster carers agree and are expected to adhere to, as part of their conditions of approval, the procedure on confidentiality. Failure to comply could result in suspension of registration or in some circumstances, termination of approval via the review process.

Foster carers will be given confidential information about the child or young person in their care and their birth families. Foster carers should treat this information with respect and have due regard to confidentiality. There are certain circumstances where it may be appropriate to share some information with certain identified people outside the immediate family.

Carers will find that their friends and family are likely to ask questions about a child who is placed with them. Carers need to be clear that no information can be shared with them about the child’s background or circumstances.

Foster carers need to ensure that when they are discussing a child’s situation with those who need to know, that this is done in a safe, secure environment where the conversation cannot be overheard.

It may be appropriate to share some confidential information with other professionals involved on a ‘need to know’ basis. Carers should only discuss information about a child in placement with those who ‘need to know’ i.e. the child’s social worker, supervising social worker, teacher, GP and other professionals working with the child. Other foster carers who will be caring for the child will need to know some information to meet the needs of the child and this will be provided by the Service or, where agreed, by the foster carer.

No information should be shared with the public.

Foster carers must not discuss placement requests from the Service with other foster carers.

People caring for the child or young person on a temporary basis such as child sitters, friends (of the child or foster carers) and the carer’s extended family should be given basic information to enable them to care for the child appropriately. This level of information would not include details of the child or young person’s family background. It could, for example, include details of current medical treatment, allergies, likes/dislikes, or fears and how they would manage a range of specific behaviours. It may be appropriate to give information about possible contact with the birth family.

Such temporary carers should be given limited information to ensure that they are not placed in a vulnerable position which could lead to allegations being made against them. They should be advised of Safe Care routines.

Support from other foster carers and/or Fostering Support Groups are valuable to all foster carers. Any information shared in Support Groups must be kept confidential to the group. Sensitive information regarding a child’s history should not be shared but discussion can take place around issues in placement for which the foster carer is seeking support such as managing behaviour, working with others and issues arising for the foster carer. Carers should be supported to show sensitivity to information regarding the child and their birth family.

All information about the child should be kept in a secure, locked place within the foster home or stored securely electronically. Cabinets which contain personal information must be kept locked when unattended. Whilst out of the home, written information should never be left unattended e.g. in the car. Records kept on behalf of the Service may include Minutes of Child in Care Reviews and other meetings and Minutes of Child Protection Case Conferences. All information should be returned to the child’s social worker at the end of the foster placement.

Any record or reports written by the foster carer should be sent securely or handed over in person. Information regarding the child and their family such as reports or Foster Care Recordings which are sent by email must only be sent through a secure system such as Egress. 

Carers are required to keep Foster Care Records as records of the children they care for according to the Record Keeping for Foster Carers Procedure.

Foster carers must not share any information about or place any photographs of any children in placement or engage in any discussion about children placed with them on social media sites. Permission is required for any photographs of children in care to feature in the media.

Carers also have a right to confidentiality. Any information relating to carers will be kept securely electronically or on a file in lockable filing cabinets within the Family Placement Service or stored within archives according to the archiving procedures.

Carers should not disclose information about other carer’s circumstances.

Children may need help and support in what explanation to give their friends and members of the foster carer’s family about why they are living with foster carers rather than their own family. Foster carers and the child’s social worker should support the child with this.

On occasions children may seek to tell foster carers something if they promise not to tell anyone else. Foster carers can never agree to this as the information may be a child protection issue, or significant for Court proceedings. It is important that children feel supported and listened to but know that anything they share with a foster carer may need to be reported to their social worker. A record must be made of any such conversations and the information passed on as soon as possible to their supervising social worker and the child's social worker.

Copies of foster carer’s Supervisory Visit Records are for them to keep as a record of their practice and need to be stored in a secure, locked place.

Following approval, expectations regarding record keeping and confidentiality will be covered in the carer’s induction with the supervising social worker, and training is available for all foster carers to update this. Training on Record Keeping is provided through the Learning and Development Calendar or through the supervising social worker. Foster carers will be provided with the procedure on confidentiality as part of their induction by their supervising social worker and will be asked to sign an agreement regarding confidentiality.