CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY

The Confidentiality Policy is explained to all Centre staff during initial training. It is a condition of working at the Centre that this policy is understood and accepted.
 

This policy is to be read in conjunction with the Data Protection Policy.
BCCC will respect the confidentiality of all family members other than in the following circumstances:

A concern about the welfare of a child, which will be passed to Children’s Services and/or the Police.
A concern about physical violence to a user, or member of staff, of the Contact Centre.

These circumstances apart, we will ensure that:

Staff do not discuss or disclose any details relating to a family outside of the Child Contact Centre.
Staff do not make verbal or written reports in any family proceedings.
The dates and times of a family’s attendance will be made available to referring agencies upon request.
A parent’s details such as his/her address and telephone number will not be passed to any other person (including their former partner) or agency without their permission.
Unless there is prior agreement which permits them to do otherwise, Solicitors, CAFCASS Officers, Social Workers or any other individual or agency will not be allowed to carry out family assessments on BCCC premises.
All potential staff must have checks undertaken by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) prior to taking up post.
All information relating to families and staff will be always kept in a secure place.
All information relating to families and staff which has not been used for three years will be treated as confidential waste and disposed of as such, except in the case of the accident book, which will be kept indefinitely. 
BCCC users, referrers and staff will all be made aware of the existence of this policy and have access to it upon request.