1. If you work with young people you need to know about the information-sharing index. You might want to contact another practitioner about a young person you are concerned about. You might be contacted by a fellow worker and have to decide what, if any, information you want to share. You are also in a good position to help young people understand the index and think through what they feel about giving consent to agencies to share personal information.
2. The information-sharing index, sometimes called the children's index, will contain every young person's name, address, gender, date of birth, an identification number, name of parents or guardians, their school and their GP in England. It will also contain the contact details of anyone who is providing a specialist or targeted service to the young person.
3. Why is it needed? So workers can share information. If an adult has something they want to share with other professionals, is currently taking action, or has undertaken an assessment under the Common Assessment Framework, they indicate that on the database. There will be no details, just the fact that they have something to say. Other people can get in touch with them to find out what that is.
At one time, it was imagined that this would be strictly child-protection stuff - concerns about harm or abuse. But it has broadened since then.
It could stretch to information about a young person being at risk of drifting into crime, or dropping out of education, or just being poor or unhappy.
4. Even the bare bones of young people's lives can communicate quite a lot. It might be clear from a glance at the index that someone is disabled, that their parents have split up and that they have accessed a sensitive service. Not all young people are comfortable with that. What is shared between practitioners is generally permitted only with the consent of the young person. That, of course, obscures a minefield of pressures.
5. Helping young people think about how they value their own privacy can be a job for a youth worker. Barbara Rayment, director of support service Youth Access, points out that it is a lot easier to understand your rights and interests in a calm, neutral context.
A chance to discuss some of the implications in advance can be better for a young person than making a pressured decision when they are under stress.
6. Local authorities are key to the index. They will operate the databases and will need to explain the systems for using them. Many details have yet to be worked out and guidance is being drafted. There are lots of issues to discuss now - such as confidentiality, stigmatising and accuracy.
Ask about the database and pressure your organisation to provide training - in complete confidence, naturally.
