confidentiality issue

[kazminx]

im in a position of mega confidentiality..a client has confided in me that another clients kids are suffering neglect...im distraught..im obliged (through work) not to disclose her concerns, but also as a mother..these kids are suffering...now im upset..what do i do? ps the person who confided is very scared of the mother and feels she will be connected to any reports..complicated i know...i would never ever put a child in danger, but the reporter is also in danger..bloody hell, im in a pickle!!!

[El D]

Tough one - are you involved in a caring or health profession? If so, you may have an ethical duty which overrides confidentiality. It might even be written into your organisations regs or charter. Personally I would have a chat with the boss off the record as to what company policy on this is.

[Trojanfarce]

If you can get this raised anonymously then you should do it as quickly as possible. To me, the children must come first. I appreciate the confidence aspect of this but if something serious happened to the children (or the reporting client), you'd probably feel dreadful. If the danger is as you fear, then something must be done sooner rather than later and if there's a conflict of interestor confidentiality, that should be dealt with later.

Good luck.

[noxlumos]

You need to tread very carefully too.It's not unheard of for people to tell lies to cause people they don't like or are afraid of trouble. You have to be able to get to the bottom of this calmly and carefully to ensure that you are fair to both the mother ( who may have done nothing wrong) and to the children who may be in danger.

What is the form of this neglect? are they beaten and unfed, or simply allowed to run riot? What is the person actually saying?

Do you know these children concerned personally? Can you get to spend more time with the alleged abuser preferably with her kids as well so you can make a more rounded judgement?

If you are in any doubt at all then your concerns as a human being outweigh any confidentiality and you must report it, but I think you really should be careful that you are not being manipulated as if the informant was that worried they would have reported it themselves anonymously however afraid they were.

[malaise]

See your standards manual on whistle blowing / reporting a complaint or concern from a service user.
Either that or you could anonymously phone the social services?

[kazminx]

thanks for this guys...i know who the mother is but not in a personal way. kids are neglected due to the mother being out of her face all the time. ive heard they dont go out, live on microchips etc. she has only just got them back from social services but she is very very clever and when they come round, everything looks fine as she has a nice, clean home....looks very normal.

[dmaxxx]

children *** first.......enough said

[dmaxxx]

children come first...enough said!!!! dunno why that last post was cut out?

[noxlumos]

How old are the kids as what you are describing sounds a bit circumstantial to me? Lots of kids live on chips and if Social Services are already involved then generally they aren't as stupid as some high profile cases suggest. If the kids are clean, fed, cared for and not in danger then I'd imagine there isn't a lot more social services could do. They must think she is fit to parent or they would not have returned the kids to her in the first place.I'd be careful if I were you as professionals are already involved and it sounds like flimsy hearsay from someone who doesn't like her.

If her house is clean and tidy when they come round and there appear to be no problems perhaps that's because there are no problems.On the other hand you can judge better as you know who your informant is and presumeably can judge their character.It does just sound a bit vague though and unproveable as in my experience if you are out of your face all the time everything slips, personal hygeine, housework, appearance etc and I think Social Services would have noticed that.Perhaps also she might be aware she has problems and is working with social services to try and break them.

I dunno, just trying to play Devil's advocate but if you are truly deeply concerned call Social Services, but I'd hate for the woman to lose her kids again if she's done nothing wrong so bear that in mind.