Is it a breach of confidentiality if a daycare has no contract with the parent?

Question

I had three children from a couple that was not married and they split up, but I kept the child of the father from a previous relationship the contract I had was with the girlfriend not the father after the split I spoke to her and may have given her information I should not have. My question is if my contract was with her did I breach confidentiality?

Answer 1

I SAY YES ON THE LITTLE INFO GIVEN WE CALL IT GOSSIP IN GA AND YOU SHOULD NO BETTER AS A BUSINESS OWNER

Answer 2

Contract or not, you have no right to breach the confidentiality of any child ot family in your program unless it is a CPS matter.

Answer 3

I would have to guess that it depends on what you told the mother.  If it was personal information about the father then you should have told her to talk to him since if she was asking for personal info on him it would be obvious he did not share it with her which is why she is asking.

Answer 4

If it poses a problem I would tell them to find another daycare. If the contract was with her, and you gave her info... then no problem... their personal struggles have nothing to do with your legal contract. If they split.. they should have changed it.

Answer 5

you may very well be guilty of a confidentiality breach.  it may be implied that any child you care for is covered by certain inalienable rights, based on how you run your business overall.  if the info concerned the child or has the potential to cause harm to the child (like through the parent) you may be legally liable.

contact an attorney...

Answer 6

Both posts are great in that the seriousness of this is being brought out.  This is another component in ECE that isn't really taught in school.  I am not saying you were manipulated to share the information, but many couples who split will try to influence you. This is very common.  I always try to bring both parents in when ANY conferencing is taking place using the "Lets all get together on this for the sake of the child" method.  I do not know what information you shared? I think that you are thinking of being punished instead of what could be happening to the child as a result.  If these two are going into some type of custody ,or other legal matters this could be worse. In my opinion, I would talk to the woman and share with her that you had a "moral inventory" and want to tell her that it was not your place to share those items.  "For the sake of the child"  I cannot ever discuss matters relating to your X .  I think that the intent, and what you said are known only by you.  I am glad you got this one out.  Remember this time as a "sense memory" for the future when tempted/urged to share information in your center.  If I was the director of this center I would appreciate you bringing this matter to me instead of hiding it.  Perhaps your director would be better than this forum? I wish you will in resolving this.

Answer 7

I guess you should take this as a growing and learning experience of how to deal with couples, who are not married and have children from different relationships. You should have not disclosed information of a child, who was no longer under her care (due to the breakup with the father of the child), yet you probably weren't on guard or thinking. Hopefully, this incident does not come to haunt you in the future.

Next time, have both of them give you written permission to disclose information to them about each other's children or not.

Good Luck

Answer 8

Absolutely! Whether you have a contract or not, your responsiblity is to protect the children in your care. This means confidential information is not to be shared among parents. What if this person was trying to snatch the child? You may have done more damage than you realize.