Made safeguarding referral to SS. What to expect re: anonymity?

[concernedconfusedcautious]

Posting here for traffic. Name changed.

Recently I made a safeguarding referral through the NSPCC who then forwarded my referral to the relevant Local Authority. I emphasised strongly that I wanted to remain anonymous. I used a burner email with a generic, common user name. I did not provide any other contact details but said that I was happy to follow up by email.

Both the NSPCC and LA are extremely interested in following up as they have a long ongoing case against the individual in my referral (I’ll refer to them as X), and my information is shedding more light on their case against X.

I’ve been careful to throw in some incidents that are untraceable to me (but I know to have happened as they have been witnessed and corroborated by several others) to make it harder to identify me. Reason being that the LA once shared a previous report IN FULL to X. Although that reporter’s email and name were redacted, the information in that report was enough to identity them. X went batshit and then embarked on a nuclear, year-long harassment campaign against the reporter.

NSPCC now want to follow up with me via phone call. They’ve emphasised that I am welcome to hide my phone number and remain anonymous. I am happy to speak to them but first, are there any other steps I need to take to preserve my anonymity? Has anyone been in a similar situation and can you tell me what to expect?

YABU: don’t make the call or follow up, it’s too risky

YANBU: go ahead and make the call, you’ve got your bases covered

Thanks in advance.

I haven't dealt with NSPCC much but I think it would be worth clarifying at the start on the call just for your own peace of mind.

It might be worth making some written notes for yourself before the meeting about whst you're prepared to talk about and what youre not and remember that you can always ask for a minute before replying so you don't hang up thinking "shit, that's going to expose me as the only person who knew it".

You can always call back but you cant rescind the info once youve said it. Perhaps ask for a list of questions in advance so you can consider your answer?

If it is played in court the accused could identify her voice .

It wouldn't be played in court. That's not how family court evidence works.

No. If a parent made a request it would be subject access request, rather than FOI. When they do so, they're only entitled to information about themselves, all third party info is redacted - this means even about other family members. SARs are usually dealt with by a specific person/team who knows the law on this very well.