What do you think of the Children's Database?

Question

What do you think of the new database for all of England and Wales' children? it will be used across services to highlight if a child is at risk of abuse and/or neglect.

Apparently professionals will be able to flag up children's details on the database when they suspect a child may be at risk. Along with serious signs of abuse they will also flag for things like low birth weights and if a parent is being treated for depression.

If a child's profile receives 2 flags or more the family will be investigated.

Being a woman who has given birth to to low birth weight babies (who are completely healthy) and suffered depression in the past I am quite worried about the affect this database could have on normal families like mine and yours. And who will regulate the access to this database? child predators could be working in even the highest of departments, having access to our kids details at the click of a button. Of course I want children at risk to receive the help they need but I don't want to be investigated if my depression returns and my next baby is born underweight. What do you think?

Answer 1

Your concerns for this new database shouldn't be any different to what happens with government info now.

For example, there is the Child Benefit agency who hold millions of children's information already. As do social services.

There are also currently measures in place to investigate if a child is believed to be at risk, however, this system seems to have failed several times, as well as, in some cases worked.

Answer 2

This is the first ive heard about it and it sound like a load of Boll**ks to me!! Like you said, of course children that need help from social services and so on should get it but they already have a system for this, why put every child into a database and risk them all!! Especially with all the trouble weve heard about over the last few months with discs with everyones personal details on going missing!

Answer 3

I think our government needs to be taken out and shot.  Seeing as how there have been so many databases lost and information passing into public hands that should never have, the last thing we need are kids at risk too!

Also, I think, that social services are fast becoming the kind of place that ignores the abusive, nasty parents because they are afraid of them - the ones who are in the press killing their kids, and makes villains of parents who really just needed a hand from time to time.

I have always felt this resentful of them, since they put all the divorced parent kids in a "high risk" class in the late 80's at my school and had us "interviewed and tested" for signs of abuse.  They are no less stupid now.  

If they are investigating underweight babies, or depressed mothers, instead of getting mothers more support and reassuring parents then I feel this power needs to be taken from them.

Some of the parents who lost babies because they had water on the brain were accused of child abuse, and are STILL on at risk registers and could have their future children taken from them, purely because social services are too stupid to wait for a correct diagnosis before persecuting parents like a Salem witch hunt.

I totally agree that this stuff should never be on a database.  In the cases of children who have been killed, it often becomes apparent that Social Services knew fine well there was abuse, and yet, left the child in the care of the abuser with "appointments" to check up on them.  It's about time they did their jobs, instead of persecurting parents and making them worry like this!

Answer 4

I have actually seen this database through my work and it's nothing at all to worry about.

It holds on basic details on children - sometimes only name, address and date of birth.  It then lists any professionals involved in the child - social workers, doctors, etc.

Only children who a concern has been expressed over are investigated.  They would not investigate anyone just because a baby has a low birth weight.

Surely a system that protects children is worth having?

Edit:  Also - anyone with access to children's details will have to have a CRB check which will go someway to ensure that children are safe.  Obviously, there will always be high profile cases when someone slips through the net - but these instances are so few and far between.

Please don't be worried about it.