Confidential child protection information

In re W (children) (care proceedings: disclosure) FD TLR 21 July

It is vital that the police give local authorities sensitive information which directly relates to child protection and equally vital that local authorities use that information in a way which protects children without compromising either police activities or sources of information. The police told social workers that a suspected drugs supplier was living at the mother’s address where the children had been placed, but said that they were not at liberty to disclose the information to any family members or their legal representatives because that might jeopardise both a large police operation and the informant’s life. The local authority felt obliged to alert the mother to the allegations and sought the Court’s guidance on disclosure. Held: The mother’s advisers were entitled to know the wider picture; to be satisfied that the process had been fair; that a series of applications had been made and to see the evidence placed before the Court, provided they undertook not to pass onto the mother any information, other than the substance of the allegations, without the Court’s permission. The mother herself was under a duty to preserve the confidentiality of the information. What was required was a structure within the local authority which could properly process the information and decide how it should be acted on, preferably in consultation with the police.