I have no knowledge of the law regarding child protection etc, but at a
certain age I would have thought that a child would be considered to be
mature enough to be told that she was considered to be at risk from a former
abusive carer.
After all, one assumes that at 18 the child can no longer be protected in
the way that is described, and therefore the decision would have to be taken
at some stage to tell the child, and not simply to set the child "free" at
the age (of 18 I presume).
Presumably if the child who is not yet 18 then chose to contact an abusive
carer (which teenagers could presumably do, in the same way that a child
under 16 might wish to have a sexual relationship with an older person) then
the child I presume might be made a ward of court, for their protection if
it was considered necessary.
I am neither a lawyer nor a social worker.
Nick Landau
London, UK
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Tim Trent
>> Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 1:14 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Phot Image consent
>>
>>
>> There is one extra and important element here. That of abusive ex carers
>> who may be restrained from contact with a child.
>>
>> I can cite an example where my wife teaches of a child whose pictures may
>> not ever appear in any form in a way to make the child traceable by her
>> absent abusive ex carer. The child's school surname is unrelated to the
>> "real" surname. The child may not even be aware of this, but the
>> parent has
>> given a blanket refusal, supported by court papers, to seek to ensure
>> that
>> the child's picture never appears, for the child is in real danger.
>>
>> If that child overrode the parental prohibition because he or she was
>> unaware of the possible consequences, and the school were not
>> properly aware
>> of the issues (which happens because staff change and things do get
>> misplaced, or buried in files beneath a welter of papers) then major
>> problems would arise.
>>
>> Those whose role involves the safekeeping of children have a very
>> challenging tightrope to walk ensuring that the child's rights and the
>> child's safety are correctly balanced with the child's need to know about
>> potential danger.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lee Gardiner
>> Sent: 31 March 2006 11:38
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [data-protection] Phot Image consent
>>
>> I certainly don't see a major conflict in the two pieces of advice. The
>> Teachernet advice only says that 12 year olds are presumed to be able to
>> exercise their own rights but it doesn't say that parents can't
>> be consulted
>> or that consent can't be obtained from them. In fact the Teachernet
>> advice
>> encourages schools to include parents in the process if children are over
>> twelve.
>>
>> Just because a child is 12 years old doesn't mean they have sufficient
>> maturity, its only a presumption and isn't a hard and fast rule.
>> The fact is
>> some 12 year olds are more than mature enough to make an informed
>> decision
>> while other older children quite clearly aren't so the school/LEA
>> must make
>> a judgement based on the individual cases or, more reasonably given the
>> numbers of children starting at new schools every year, have a policy to
>> notify the parents and obtain their consent for processing. There
>> is nothing
>> to stop the school involving the children in this process.
>>
>> Regardless of this I hardly think the ICO is going to have major
>> issues with
>> a school which errs on the side of caution and follows the 'actnow'
>> advice
>> and obtains consent from the parents of a 12 year old rather than
>> the child
>> themselves.
>>
>> A general rule of thumb test I employed at the ICO and that was
>> said to data
>> controllers asking for any advice was 'what would you expect to be done
>> if
>> it was your data being processed?' or in this case if it was 'your
>> son/daughter's data being processed?' I think in the vast
>> majority of cases
>> people, as parents, would expect to be consulted and if in doubt for
>> schools/LEAs to err on the side of caution. Better to get it 'wrong' by
>> being too rigid than get it wrong by being too lax.
>>
>> As Tim has just said though consent lasting for 5 years is
>> probably pushing
>> it but as to whether it should be obtained annually or maybe
>> bi-annually is
>> a different matter My view is annual but obviously others may disagree.
>>
>> The only remaining consideration is of course once a child reaches their
>> mid-teens they may be inclined to withdraw their consent for certain
>> non-essential processing (photographs etc) and schools/LEAs should have
>> mechanisms in place to allow for that.
>>
>> Lee Gardiner
>> Records Manager
>> x4140 or 01942 404140
>> [log in to unmask]
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