Safeguarding / Security

[trekker]

Hi just thought I'd post a quick query - on several occasions in the past I have had new children start having moved due to family violence or other issues and when they enrol request that if anyone phones or enquires about the child we do not give out any onfo nor confirm that they are at the setting.

 

I just wondered if others have had the same issue and how they manage this.

If someone calls do you simply say, whoever it is, no sorry no one of that name or what?

It may be that a social worker or police or whatever that calls...but how do you know they are who they say they are?

How do you verify identity over the phone ...and wouldnt this alert the caller that the child is there anyway?

 

Does anyone have a written policy / specific procedure for this type of thing...I just feel it would be handy to be able to make clear what staff need to do.

[redjayne]

If somebody was to call about a child our procedure is to take thier name and phone number and tell them we will call them back - we then contact the parent (if it's a 'barred person')or the file to confirm this person is /or isn't allowed any info then will return the call - that way you can check if it is a social worker or health visitor on the return call as they are usually in an office and you have the numbers.

You could also say you don't recognise the name -tell them you are new/need to check/ take the phone number and offer to ring back when you have checked.

[Fredbear]

Hi we do get parent/carers to sign a consent form before their child starts to have contact with other agencies.

If they are part of our area Senco team we know them through our training, Children Centres or Cluster meetings.

However I have had two occasions when i had people call that were not known to us, one was a social worker, the other a health visitor i took their name, department number, clinic number and then verified before discussing anything with them.

I just said that unfortunately i was unable to confirm..... at this time and could i take their number and then i would get back to them.

On a recent integrated workforce training day, i was advised that this was good practice to challenge if you are unsure.

Will be interested to hear what others do too.

[meridian]

I have had similar incidents where someone has rung to enquire if a child attends the setting to confirm child tax claims and asked for the person's contact details to check they were genuine and then rung later that day to speak to them. I am sure under the Data Protection we are obliged not to divulge information without seeking consent (which obviously we do to speak to other professionals). I also had an incident where a child's dad turned up to speak to me about his children (parents are split up although I knew dad had contact and more important parental responsibility). This was a difficult situation because I had not had any contact with him before this and his children were both in when he called. I spoke to him to share information and when his ex turned up to pick up her children shared that he'd been in; she was not very happy I reminded her that as he had parental responsibility I was obliged to share information with him, but would not have let him collect them because he was not named on their contacts as a person to collect. This puts us in a very difficult situation and feel 'sandwiched' in the middle of a domestic!

[Lyanne]

We say 'I'll have to phone you back, what office are you based at?' without giving a reason why we have to phone back. & professionals will understand and I'm finding they increasingly expect to be phoned back. So if someone gets stroppy, it's a sign they might not be legitimate...