confidentiality
by: ginnie - 05-04-06 14:05
I recently attended an interview at Surestart for a deputy manager post, the interview consisted of an in tray exercise and a half an hour interview.
Unfortuntely i did not get the job the reason being over a child protection question.
The question that I was asked was a case scenerio, what would you do if a mother comes into nursery and tells you that her partner hit her last night, due to the mother being upset by what had happened she sent her child to bed without having eaten any food, the mother tells you not to tell anyone.
My response to this question was firstly I would have to be honest with the parent and explain with much due respect that I would have to speak to another member of staff about this due to a child being involved in the situation, secondly, to gain clarity with regards to this and offering the mother support from myself and a family worker or offer mother with confidential free contact numbers in which she can talk to.
Most importantly giving the child food and asking the mother if this siutation is a frequent if mother is willing to disclose such information.
I also told the interview panel that although we have to respect confidentiality, as childcare workers we have a duty to report matters such as these to the line manager.
Surestarts reponse was that they would not report this matter at all. I was very shocked to hear this and demanded that I spoke to the programme manager regarding this, programme manager stated that she would have done the same thing that I had done. I therefore wrote a letter to head office based in London abou this as I would be extremely worried if childcare workers and managers did not report such things and kept them to themselves.
I would like to hear your views as to what your response would be and also your views on as to whether I have gone to far in writing to head office about this.
confidentiality - 05-04-06 17:33
by: newsetting
Hi ginnie,
Firstly, Im sorry that you didnt get the position!
I think that I would have said that if the mother was prepared to disclose this information to me, its almost like a cry for help on her part. She is almost asking for your advice or help. I think it would depend entirely on your capacity in that situation, for example as a nursery nurse, you probably should refer it to higher management. However, as the deputy manager, you should probably have the knowledge and skills to deal with the situation without involving any third party AT THIS STAGE. Obviously you would have to keep an eye on the situation closely.
Im guessing that SureStarts reasons for not disclosing the information at all is due to the fact that the child is unharmed in the situation where the partner hit the mother. Tricky one though.
And no, I dont think you have gone too far in writing to head office. You have every right to appeal their decision and question their judgement. I do hope that you find a new job soon!
confidentiality - 14-04-06 09:57
by: Frances
I would have to agree with the response from newsetting. I have been working with staff in a children's centre with many issues such as this. It is very difficult. My concern would be did the child witness the incident between their parents? In any situation it is a cause for concern, whether or not they witnessed the incident it is unfortunately a child protection matter and we would normally report this situation. I would have spoken sensitively to the parent and made them aware that I would have to report this on, even if they asked me to keep a confidence because sometimes you can't make that promise. it is a difficult one and for you a difficult position to be in, but you have a duty of care to the child. As a nursery nurse it should be reported to your manager who will have the skills and knowledge of how to deal with this and be able to support you in managing the situation. A lesson I learnt a few months back was that you can only provide the support for the parent and be there to listen. We had a situation where the parent came to us for help and we did help her, but it was always at the back of our mind that she could decide at any point to change her mind. We had to live with that as it is not for us to judge just to help. My colleague who works in social services, found this difficult, but it was just something we had to resign ourselves to.
