Online Children's Directory

[Doobydoo]

Have to be quick as running late!
Just wondered if anyone knew about this.Have read it in Paediatric Nursing mag this morning.
'A database containing basic information about every child in England'...it is called CONTACTPOINT and will be rolled out nationally over next 2 years.Every child's name,Date of Birth, address and gender as well as parents contact details and carers,GP's,schools any other practioner or services working with a child will be included but info on medical records will not be on it.
More info on
www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/_search/?s_keywords=contactpoint.
Just wondered what people thought?
I have heard nothing about it ntil now.

so what about all those families that are incognito due to violence in their history?

I'd be LIVID if my ex found out where we live...

This has been coming for a long time and has been extensively covered in the press. Your child's details will be kept until they are 24...I know because I rang and asked.

I am totally against this as the data will not be secure; you have to have a special exemption for your address to be private and it is open to so much abuse.

It will not come in if the current government are not returned at the election or so I read.

I don't trust it at all.

It was first suggested in the Children Act 2004, which was itself composed in response to the death of Victoria Climbe.

Well meaning, but indicative of the tenuous grasp of IT reality held by many of our elected and non-elected representatives.

I'm totally for it, despite experiencing domestic abuse myself Lewis, though I understand your concerns completely and don't doubt that there will be slip ups, overall it is a good thing and should aid partnership working massively.

If it works similarly to a TAC then there are systems in place so that one has to request the information securely with reasonable cause.

CAF not tAC, dur

My step father who abused me, my sister and my little brother whom is his biological father will be able to resend death threats to us, great idea!
How do you get an exemption cert? Anyone know yet?

Is he a children's services/health practitioner then Tyson?

He'd have tp be actively involved in their welfare to access it...

Good idea in theory; so many serious problems - even deaths - are caused by agencies not sharing information about vulnerable children/adults. BUT, having worked with SS databases, I'm aware of the reality of council systems and workforces. There are plenty of workers who operate within strict confidentiality codes, but there are also the low paid, unsupported admin staff, or people with grudges, who have limited training or motivation to treat the data with respect.

exactly what lowlevel says - sums up my thoughts and experiences entirely

Teachers will also have access to this. There has already been one case reported of misuse of the data in one of the trial areas.

I am really unhappy about this. I was going to send my ds back to the UK for 6th form, but if this comes in I will be reconsidering this.

If the child is not 'known to SS' and there are no concerns - why do they need to be on this database anyway?

because a child may be known to a pcso, a teacher, a doctor, police officer...and any of the aforesaid may have concerns

the info is not going to be available to any teacher willy nilly