Foster care records

[LaLaLands]

Hi all. Has anyone access their adopted children’s records from their time in Foster Carer prior to them coming to you? We are wondering whether we are entitled to see them or whether it is only the children that can access them when they are 18?

Thanks v much

As FC we are required too keep Medical records file, daily /weekly diary records of LAC meetings , these are passed too next carer with memory box's , books etc ., this has been the practice for a number of years.
SS Records will be more confidential and detailed. Would contact SS too require full history.

Thank you. Yes, we are wondering whether SS are obliged to provide us wirh access to the children’s files or whether they are sealed records only for the children to access when they come of age.

We received nothing from the foster carer- none of the daily records or anything. Under the data protection act you can access records social services hold on you or your children- I have just sent a data request form to our LA to try and access info our boys info about what happened to them prior to adoption. Apparently they have a month to respond- I'll let you know how it goes!

Yes please let me know! At the moment we are requesting the records informally but there is some resistance from the LA and we are deciding whether we want to put in a subject access request to obtain it. Under GDPR we THINK we should be able to see them but we just want to check other people’s experience before we push too hard.

It’s tricky to say too much on here but some of the detail will be sensitive from the time they were in FC because it will include those third parties. We wonder if that is a legal barrier to being able to accessing the data. We know the records of that time are definitely held on the children’s files as it says it in their procedures online. We just don’t know whether we should push it if we aren’t legally entitled. Difficult but we don’t want there to be anything we don’t know about our babies and what happened to them.

I put in a request to access the social services records to try to obtain some information for my DDs application for disability benefits ( I discovered that a BM member had applied for these and been granted then when DD was in F.C.).

It took months to get to see them and in the end they were so heavily redacted that they made no sense at all.

They should only have redacted information about birth family members or other clients. It was an open adoption so I already knew all their names and addresses ( as they did mine ) as well as names and addresses of former F.C.

But in fact they redacted everything that anyone said from another agency ( such as nursery, school, NHS staff, psychologist ) or any documents from other agencies or any documents that even referred to another agency .

So there was nothing of any use in the end, just pages and pages with just one of two sentences left.

And they would not give me a copy, I had to travel to another city 40 miles away to read then in their offices.

It must have taken weeks of their time to copy the records and then delete 90% and was all totally pointless as I knew the names of most people anyway .

Eg there would be a meeting with someone there from her nursery and the report would say

Xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx attended from xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx and she reports that DD was xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxx had visited and said xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx

A medical report was received from doctor xxxxxxxxx from xxxxxxx surgery .

Then the rest of the page would be deleted, with a few random words left for effect.

They obviously did it because they were pissed of at my requesting it. So just to warn you. They are well known for being VERY difficult if you are not 100% obedient and compliant.

I think Under GDPR they can only share the child’s information so anything relating to birth parents such as birth mother suffers from x or y would be redacted.

I am aware that my LA requested and received my full medical history (including previous miscarriages and various other health issues) this SHOULD not be shared. It may be part of a medical report that birth family have x genetic condition but anything That doesn’t relate to the child is not their information so cannot be shared.

I also suspect the LA will not want to give paper or digital copies and you will be permitted to view but not keep the information.

The sharing of this kind of information does seem a minefield and they need to be extremely careful not to breech anyone’s confidentiality.

YY you are totally right Our Miracle.

My problem was that they had also redacted everything about my child, if it was reported by anyone except the social worker. Which they should not have done. Given that most meetings are inter agency and most reports are shared with other agencies, this meant there was very little left.

They should protect the confidentiality of birth family members , who are also their clients. They don’t have a duty of confidentiality to other professionals working with a client.

But they can’t remove all reference to eg a head injury suffered by the child while with a birth family member because that person doesn’t want the child to know. They CAN redact that person’s name from the record.

They can’t delete it all because they don’t want to disclose the name of the hospital the child attended or the doctor who treated the child or the nature of the injuries.

That’s not how data protection and subject access is supposed to work. The child is entitled to their own information.

The worst thing about a child getting a head injury isn’t that it might make the person who did it look bad.

Think with ABI and seeking perhaps legal compensation for the child all avenues seem too close SS , Police and Medical and information becomes limited, May be there are worry's , of counter claims, litigations , duty of care neglected. For such children with lifetime disability's its a disgrace, especially the legal fee's they charge which would be taken off the legal settlement they receive. Its like robbing a baby.

We received so much information about our DC before they arrived with us, I have a full history, medical reports etc etc and there’s nothing known to social work that they haven’t passed to me. As a social worker though I know that you only see a) what the family are ok with you seeing (ie things they want help with) and b) things they can’t hide (because their lives are chaotic or the behaviour extreme). There’s a whole range of stuff between those two points that you may never know, because it isn’t known to services.

The other thing to remember is that you have the right to information about your children, but information about their birth family will be held in the files of the individual family members and you don’t have a right to that. With adoption there are always things you simply don’t know, my two were older when they were adopted and as time goes by they are able to talk about their early years and reveal things social work had no idea about.

My advice wouid be to request the information, accept you may get very limited further information because it actually relates to birth family who still have a right to privacy, and try to make your peace with not knowing everything that happened to your DC before they came to you. Even the fullest file won’t give you it all.

Thank you everyone it’s very helpful to have people’s points of view. The FC records we are interested in do not include records of any birth family members or issues. It purely relates to the standard of care provided in foster care. I imagine the answers will be the same regardless (I.e the Foster Family have a right to privacy etc). We are concerned specifically about the records social services have and the action they took to safeguard our children when under their care (rather than the birth family’s care).

LaLaLands all such information regards Safeguarding in care etc., will be run through SS Legal Services., will take some considerable time may be years, when a child may be needs additional support the delay's could prove insurmountable.

I think this could be a difficult path to tread. SS will be resistant to give anything that could give rise to a complaint or criticism. A culture of transparency is anathema to many departments.

What will actually help you and your child? Getting the information could help, but that has to be weighed against the battle to get it, and the strain of pissing off the SWs, and how awkward they can be. Don't assume SWs or departments will act professionally. Sorry.

Yes, you should be able to have this information. However, getting it may be more work than you need.

Thank you all. This is exactly what we suspected. Very grateful for your advice!

I am a foster carer and anything in my records would not give you an indication of my safer caring practice we are trained to write things that happen but I wouldn't for instance each time I bathed a child that I checked the temperature of the water ... so dependant on what you're looking for you may not get what you want from the records .

I would for instance write of a child had fallen if it was in my prescience but children for instance school children come back with bruises from school etc and I can't write all of these..

I understand - my close family members are Foster Carers so I understand the daily logs. Again, it’s the records social services have on the action they took to safeguard our children in foster care

Not sure I have made this point particularly clear but obviously I’m trying not to say too much so I can understand why it’s difficult to interpret what I’m asking. Appreciate your feedback!

Would suggest you ask Professional advice with Org which has legal support such as www.frg.org.uk if perusing proceeding's through court's, criminal injury's compensation board or such is a different position. A Child with brain injury for example actual criminal prosecution would not be required subject too actual concrete medical evidence that none accidental injury's did occur , this would apply too other areas as well. injury, mental health issues, disability and so on.

Is not uncommon for ss too secure financial settlements for children in their care, money settlement's will be held in a trust fund, many children for one reason or another will be overlooked. Always best too enquire pre Adoption if such process has or is being considered . Becomes a nightmare procedure post adoption how ever being in the best interest of the child, even if intentions are honourable and not against the system. SS if submitting claims have all supporting evidence which are reluctant too release post adoption.

It depends on the issues you are worried about (completely understand you have not shared these). If (i may be picking this up wrong) it was concerns about care/practice of the foster carers a lot of the info would be on their file which you could not access.

Have just been thinking- if you have specific concerns eg things the children have said etc a better approach may be to put in writing that you have concerns about xyz and could you get some information about the issues- for example detail of what happened and what steps were taken as a result and emphasise that your children have a right to this information. This might allow for information to be shared rather than a more generic request to access files that you will not be able to if they are about a foster carer. However your childs file should have records about any incidents of concern whilst they were in placement and there should be a recorded outcome which the children are entitled to access ( and you on their behalf if you have Parental Rights). If there are issues enlist local children's rights advocacy service/ advocacy for looked after children or similar.

Thank you ooples - you understand exactly and this is what we were thinking too. We now have to decide next steps forward - lots of weighing up to be done. Thank you.

Well I've just been refused access to our children's records. They state that under GDPR parents do not automatically have access and the adoption team have said it's not in the child's best interests. I have asked for clarification on why it isn't in their best interests!

Did you also post on this post in the adoption UK forum? If not there is a current interesting thread that you might find helpful.

forum.adoptionuk.org/forum-topic/seeing-childrens-files-social-services

Thank you pink lady - no I didn’t but I did see the useful advice! Glad it’s not just me. It’s most definitely a minefield and not one taken lightly!