can photos of children be shown on facebook?

[woahthere]

I would have thought it would be a big no no to be honest, but I was just having a nosy on a Nursery facebook page, and it has absolutely loads of photos of all the children....what do you think?

When we registered we were asked if we consented for pictures to be used for promotional reasons. Of course we said no but some may say yes, I suppose. I would be furious if they put pics on FB without permission.

They must have permission to do it

I wouldn't be happy though if my children were put on facebook

They might have permission, I dont know, but I just find it odd that I can see all these photos of these little children. But then again, I suppose schools show photos of children on their websites so is it the same thing? It just doesnt seem right to me!

The schools that my children attend send out a letter at the start of each A/Y asking whether or not parents/carers are content for photos of their children to be used. The letter makes it clear that the consent only lasts for that A/Y so we get a letter every year. Such pictures may be on the school's website, the school prospectus or maybe in the local newpaper for example.

We were asked when DS started at nursery if we agreed. We were happy to, I can't see what possible harm could come from it. They never use names.

I love seeing what they have been up to on FB and often "share" the photos with family on there.

Where I work (ages 2 to 16) parents can opt out of us putting photos on the Internet or in the paper, however we agree to never use more than their first name, and we wouldn't name young children, tends to be our older ones if they have done something special, e.g. Alex has won the poetry competition next to a photo of Alex holding a certificate. If we mention full names we don't use a photo.

We have lots of photos of nursery aged children on our website for promotional reasons, but no names.

I can't see the harm... It's a lovely way to share special moments with friends and family. I think people can sometimes be a bit OTT about this sort of thing. It's a similar thing to not being aloud to record your child in a school play, because another parent hasn't consented. It's infuriating! I can think of only a couple of extreme circumstances where I wouldnt want my child recorded/photographed, but generally I don't see the problem.

Our nursery asked for permission including the first name of the child and what room they were in at nursery. I assume we weren't the only ones to say "no" as their facebook page and website still don't have any photos of children on them.

Recently stopped minding after 8 years and have a website full of photos of the children (of those who gave permission in writing). I also have a reasonable number of children I've cared for included on Facebook but only where parents have given permission specifically for FB i.e. some parents want me to 'share' photos of their children or I may have a lovely pic of my son with a mindee that I want to have on their (mainly children he's very close to, a couple of the children started here when they were 8 weeks old and are now school age so very close relationships). I think there's nothing wrong with it if parents are happy. I do, however, personally think that Facebook is different to a business website and therefore would expect a seperate permission for that if that makes sense.

We had to give yes/no permission for photos to be taken to be used in learning diaries, to be displayed in the nursery setting, and to be used in promotional materials (websites, local paper etc). You could opt in or out of any of them.

You have to be very careful what goes on any websites. I have just done an e safety course and it was a real eye opener. Apparently there is a face recognition device that if you have one picture of a child you can find all pictures of that b child that are on the Internet. You also need to be careful that you do not put pictures of other people's children without permission - especially school photos as there may be foster children or children who are protected from abusive parent etc and a school photo can lead b to them being traced. Finally as a childminder you do need a licence thing (can't for the life of me remember what is called) to store and publish digital information of the minded children x

As long as the parents give consent I think it's fine.

Unless you have special circumstances (adoption/fostering/escaping an abusive family/partner etc) I can't see what harm it could do.

Im a childminder, and I thought it would be massively frowned upon to put photos on facebook. In fact, Im careful with what I keep on my computer/laptop full stop....its all protected. Id be annoyed if my kids were on facebook because it could be shared instantly and then its gone and anybodies...but thats just me obviously. Interestingly, Im quite happy for my kids photos to be used on the schools website..but I suppose thats not so browsable.

its ICO doughnut x

If I was asked to give permission, I would not assume photo's to be shared via facebook I have to say.

woahthere - I agree that I would presume signing permission did NOT mean I was giving permission for Facebook. Hence me having that listed on a different tick box and I only started doing this when some parents started asking me to put the odd cute photo on there for them to share. And I know Ofsted would get involved if permission hadn't been given - I once got a letter from them about the fact I had some pictures on Facebook but I sent them my permission forms straight back and they were satisfied but they definitely wouldn't have been if I was only able to send them permisssion forms saying yes to my website.

I definitely think permission would need to be specific for facebook/website/newspaper etc.

Although probably worth remembering that once you've put pictures online pretty much anywhere they can be copied/shared/linked to woah

I'm a childminder with a Facebook page and, yes, it's full of pictures of children. I put a weekly album up so parents can see what we've been up to. All parents have signed a permission form with specific tick boxes for websites/promotional material etc.

I don't see the harm in it personally but would obviously not put any child on there without a parent's permission. In fact, I've sometimes accidentally caught other children in the background of photos when we're out and about and I always crop them out.

I thought Ofsted really frowned on this. It has been recently drummed into childminders in this area that we shouldn't even be storing images on electronic devices, eg computers, phones. Take the picture, print it off and delete it is what we've been told to do. We have been told its a safeguarding issue to store them and that we shouldn't be uploading them I don't take pictures off mindees now as it just seems there are to many rules and problems with it. Ofsted weren't bothered about the lack of photos either, I explained why there were none and they accepted my reasons.

That's such a shame Brown. I wonder what terrible horrors Ofsted imagine will come from photographs on a laptop?!

It was the training for the new eyfs last year... "What happens if your laptop gets stolen or you lose your phone". We were all encouraged to put a bit about images and photographs in our safeguarding policy. I do disagree with all the rules about taking and storing photos, I just don't do it as it saves me a lot of effort. But yes the horrors that my laptop may do with photos, they may well even get printed off and turned into actual photo more than once a year! :)