To be annoyed that my friend ( a teacher) may be disciplined for telling parents one of her pupils took a pregnancy test?

[NiceTry]

The girl had confided in her and the test was arranged, via school nurse but my colleague decided that the girl's parents should be informed and may now face disciplinary procedures because the girl had not consented to this (the test was negative by the way). Obviously the girl (and parents) are very upset. But did she do the right thing?

You never really can "know the family" though, can you? There are certainly a few skeletons in closets in my family, and I bet we're not alone.

if she knew the family that well, she would ahve known that the girl had not told her mother for a good reason....

I would not have dome what she did but I admire her for having the guts to do it. I feel a parent should know if their child is sexually active (or taking drugs, shoplifting etc)and although the child may not want them to know I feel parents should be told if a child tells another adult (but that is me-not her). She would not have told any parent as a matter of course, she felt that in this instance it was in the girl's best interest for her parents to be informed.

Also, if she had gone to social services the parents would have been infomed anyway-so same result.

If you are to stand any chance of advocating fro this woman in a disciplinary, she is going to have to tell you all the details she knows - and presumably she told all those details to the CP officer?

Adherence to the CP policy will be a condition of her contract - she should have thought v carefully before agreeing to sign such a contract if she was not prepared to abide by it. If she was making a stand against some moral standard, or serious social vulnerability, she needed to have sought support and advice before breaking her contract.

IF it is found as part of the disciplinary that the risk was so great to the child and that it did warrant her taking maverick action, then i daresay that wil be recognised.

But all you have been able to give us is a picture of advanced busy-bodying.

And no, I am not in unqualified support of 14 year-old girls having intercourse - especially if they feel pressurised, and especialy if they are at risk of pg and STDs through lack of protection.

Good post, Christie.

If the girl had been the victim of sexual abuse by a family member my colleague would not have contacted that family member to tell them.

Where CP is concerned, anyone, literally anyone is entitled to report their concerns. Better this than a Victoria Climbie a week. People make mistakes, even trained CP people (we all see the effects of their errors unfairly bandied about the media). As many people (mostly the teachers) where CP is concerned, it's mostly damned if you do, damned if you don't. It is surely much better that many eyes are available to watch children than not, even if it means that sometimes people overstep the mark and meddle a little.

Ultimately, Nicetry, your friend stuck her neck out probably in good faith for something she believed was right. Would that we would all live a little more by our principles. Ultimately though she did go against policy (which I am sure she was aware she doing at the time, so more kudos to her).

A more sensible approach from her point of view would have been to inform social services as a concerned adult in the girl's life, which as you say would have led to the girl's parents being informed anyway, but might have prevented your friend's head from being put on a spike.

your colleague is blessed with psychic powers then? if so, how didn't she see this shitstorm approaching?

Well since you appear not to know why exactly she decided to tell, i don't see how you can say for sure that her cations haven't compromised some other aspect of CP.

If what she did turned out to be for the gtreater good and was in the end a carefully assessed and correct decision, then i hope the disciplinary will not be upheld. if she simply decided that folowing a detailed and carefully thought-out policy wasn't waht suited her, then she deserves to get a warning.

None of us can realy say because she, an you in turn, are offering patchy information.

Nicetry, the teachers on here (myself included) are agreed that she overstepped the mark...she should have used the correct procedures for this. If I'd done what she did, I would be grateful to get away with an interview without coffee aka a severe bollocking.

I think that parents should know that their kids are sexually active when they're that young, but it isn't my place to tell them about it in my professional capacity. There are very clear dividing lines in my eyes between my role as a teacher and my role as a friend if I teach the DCs of a friend.

And in your OP and early posts, you imply that the matter was asa simple as this woman believing that the parents should be informed that the girl had taken a pg test. No mention of serious extra child protection issues. If she had explained all the facts to the CP officer, who did not think the parents or outside agencies should be informed, and your friend was still concerned that the girl was at risk, she could have gone to the head.

Mostly your opinion about why she did the right thing (in your eyes) seems to be that 'parents have a right to know'. If you are her union rep, why hasn't she told you the complications that make this a particluar case in the face of the CP policy? Very odd.

And actually, i don't think the parents "have a right to know".

I've said it before NT,and I'll say it again: the statistics of posters on here are very clear:

99% YABU

1% you might have had limited justification in very specific circumstances.

You don't even have to admit you're wrong and she's wrong. But please, give it up now, it's embarrassing to your own professional reputation TBH.

Good point Christie.

As other have said if she was so concerned that it was a cp issue and she did not agree with the judgment of the child protection officer she should of gone to the head or Social Services not the parents. This would of been following correct channels and would not result in disciplinary action being taken. It would also of meant that the 14 yr old would of had support through all of this. Can you imagine what it must of been like for her to be confronted by her parent over something that she was already distressed about and had told someone in confidence. I could understand the confidence being broken by sharing the information with the appropriate people who are of course the CP offier, Head of year, Head teacher and social services, not the parents!

Nicetry - if there were child protection issues here then your "friend" should have referred the matter either to the head of year of the headteacher. she should not have taken it upon herself to inform the parents directly.

you say that if there was abuse happening then your friend would have known? how do you know that the police involvement isn't precisely because of abuse within the family?

it seems to me that your friend agrees she was in the wrong, but you're on some sort of mad campaign to stop teenagers having sex! if i were your friend i would be seriously considering asking for someone else to represent me as a union rep!

oh, and due to your mention of Nazis i am invoking Godwins Law and thus anything else you say will be irrelevant.

Nicetry -so far you have sniped about punctuation, invoked Godwin's law, digressed and bellyached,to avail.

you cant fool MN jury - you are so so wrong

NiceTry i have to ask is your friend really you

Hi everyone
There have been more developments here. Apparently the girl was having a sexual relationship with an adult who is addicted to heroin. The child protection officer and School Nurse did not think this was a child protecion issue because the sex was consentual, it was not the girl's first sexual relationship and the drug issue was only hearsay. This man has since been arrested and charged with unlawful sexual intercourse, it also turns out the girl had been smoking heroin with him but the police cannot prove this. The police officer who interviewed my friend thought she had done the right thing in contacting the girl's parents and implied thar social services were next to useless in cases like this. It will be interesting to see if my colleague will still face disciplinary action over this.

but i still invoked Godwin's law.

nicetry - whenever you are challenged or appear to have a weak case suddenly another titbit of information that favours your friend emerges. is all this emerging ongoing - do you plan to unfold it bit by bit, or is there any chance of getting a straight story.

fwiw, i still think teacher should not have breached confidentiality, certain protocols and polices were in plac- and breached