Hi,
This announcement made my blood boil. It has to be said that this is mostly because I worked on ContactPoint, which for those who don't know was a "Child Protection - Information System". This was turned off in August 2010 following election promises by Lib Dems and Conservatives to do so, despite the obvious benefits to all who knew the detail of the system.
I suspect that the "new" system will be sold to the public as better than ContactPoint because it only serves to identify those children already known to social care, rather than show all the services working with a child which was felt by some to be an invasion of civil liberties rather than a useful tool for professionals to be able to find out who they need to be discussing the needs of the child they are working with. (As an aside, since ContactPoint's demise there have been many new initiatives to share information about who is working with a child (the SEN Pathfinders) or indeed the whole family (Troubled Families). Some of this goes much further than ContactPoint ever did, and the only real difference is that these are local rather than national).
To answer your question Brian, there will be mechanisms I expect (as there were with ContactPoint) to extract a data record from the system for subject access requests. To answer your second question - If a referral is made to social care and the child placed on a Child Protection plan, the parents will know about it. In the case of any contact made to social care investigations will take place with the child/family to establish the facts and it is not until a decision is taken as to whether the case will be assigned a social worker that the Child Protection "label" (for want of a better term!) is given. If the case does not reach the threshold for Child Protection then Child in Need status is given, or the case is closed. If the child is taken into care, then obviously the parents will also know. We currently deal with data subject access requests from parents for their child's social care record, and very little information is ever withheld and usually only that which would place the child or another adult at risk, information which might prejudice the case, or a related case. The usual.
My questions about the system would be whether or not it will flag any social care involvement at all. For example, Child In Need status children who have a social worker but are not being served under Child Protection. These children have a social worker but with the consent of the parents. It could include those families not coping well for a number of reasons, or those children with a disability/complex needs. Will a child who is Looked After be flagged as being in the care of the local authority? And why only A&E? Why not police, fire and rescue services, drug and alcohol services, GPs...
The cynic in me suspects that the Government are reluctant to make such a huge U-turn, even though it appears to me that they are doing so.
18 months of hard work by me and my colleagues across the county down the drain, only for it to be resurrected in the health service another 18 months on. Bitter? You bet!
Good luck to those who are tasked with trying to implement this... and apologies for the rant. Those who worked with ContactPoint will understand I'm sure!
Best wishes,
Michelle Peel
CYPS Information Governance Officer
Trafford Council
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