Contact Point
September 10th, 2008 | 
Author: ARCH MEMBERS’ HELP NEEDED
You will probably have heard that the launch of the Contactpoint database – the index of all children and young people in England – has again been delayed because of security concerns.
A major difficulty has arisen in ‘shielding’ records on the system. Because the security of Contactpoint cannot be guaranteed, the records of some children will be hidden. This applies to those escaping domestic violence, to children whose whereabouts need to be kept secret following adoption/fostering or because their family is in witness protection, and also to children of public figures.
Unfortunately the government did not make plans to ‘shield’ children’s records as soon as they were put on the national database, instead leaving it to local authorities to apply shielding once they had joined the scheme – a process that will take place gradually over many months. This would leave some especially vulnerable children’s records open. The full story appeared in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/02/schools.children1
THIS IS WHAT WE ARE ASKING YOU TO DO:
We want as many ARCH members as possible – ‘all of you’ would be fantastic – to contact your local authority children’s services to ask them the following:
(a) When will the local authority actually join Contactpoint? The government has set out ‘deployment slots’. Which one is your local authority in?
(b) What are the arrangements for ‘shielding’? How does a family go about applying to have their children’s records shielded?
(c) Can the local authority guarantee that shielding will be applied as soon as a child’s record is put on the national Contactpoint database – even if the LA is not joining for several months?
(d) How will people in the area be told that they need to apply for shielding? Not all vulnerable children will be known already to the local authority – people don’t tend to ring them up to say “Hi, I’m running away from a violent partner and I’ve just moved into your area!”
(e) Will young people be told how to apply for shielding on their own behalf? What happens, for instance, about girls escaping forced marriage? Can they get their records shielded as a matter of urgency?
Please can you get as many answers as possible, and then email me with the results: terri@…
It’s really very important that we find out quickly what is going on at local level.
Thanks,
Terri
Terri Dowty
Director
Action on Rights for Children
020 8558 9317
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