PLEASE NOTE: New Standards Published

April 2011: The Standards no longer apply, Tri.x have published a web enabled version of the new Children’s Homes and Fostering Standards, please follow this link:

www.minimumstandards.org

2. Quality of Care	Size:
Privacy and Confidentiality

	OUTCOME Children’s privacy is respected and information is confidentially handled.
	STANDARD 9
9.1	The home and staff respect a child’s wish for privacy and confidentiality as is consistent with good parenting and the need to protect the child.
9.2	The registered person provides procedural guidelines on privacy and confidentiality covering:
	access to case records by staff and others passing on information with child protection implications, and disclosure of illegal activities practical details about the way children’s rooms are entered entry/interruptions without permission in emergencies or where children are considered at risk showering and bathing arrangements and use of toilets personal matters such as menstruation and washing clothes intimate personal care for disabled children, including administering medication and invasive clinical procedures where applicable.
9.3	Staff know how to deal with and share information which they are given in confidence for child protection purposes.
9.4	Any restriction on communication by the child must have been agreed by the child’s placing authority. If the child was not placed by a local authority or voluntary organisation, any restrictions on communication by the child must have been agreed with the child’s parent or a person with parental responsibility for the child.
9.5	The siting of the telephone(s) and arrangements for payment are convenient, private, and practical and accessible to disabled children if required. Arrangements regarding privacy and accessibility that differ from the above are agreed in placement plans and understood by the children.
9.6	Staff are sensitive to gender issues especially when dealing with children of the opposite sex.
9.7	Where the home accommodates children requiring staff help with intimate care or bodily functions or with lifting and handling, all staff involved have received appropriate training and are provided with clear and appropriate written guidelines on provision of such assistance, which are followed in practice. These guidelines cover boundaries to be observed (including provision of such care to children of the opposite sex), and the requirements for the child concerned, where practicable, to be enabled to express choices and to seek the child’s consent regarding provision of their intimate care.
9.8	The registered person provides guidance, for staff and children, on when it may be necessary to search a child’s possessions. They are searched only in accordance with the guidance, and only on clear grounds, which are explained to the child concerned, and where failure to carry out the search would put at risk the welfare of the child or others. All such searches are documented showing the time and the date and the reason for the search, noting what if anything was found, who carried out the search and who was present at the time. Such records should be signed by all those present. [Regulations 15: Children Act 1989, Sections 22/61/64]