Child Protection Guidance 2021

National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 Part 1: The context for child protection 29 Version 1.0 September 2021 1.137 There is no age limit on the right of the child to express their views. Practitioners must not begin with the assumption that a child is incapable of expressing her or his own views, but rather presume that a child has the capacity to form their own views and recognise that she or he has the right to express them. Advocacy, translation or communication support may be needed. 1.138 Practitioners must consider whether the child has the capacity to make their own decisions. Under the Data Protection Act 2018, a child under the age of 16 must be treated as though they have capacity to exercise their rights under that Act, if there is reason to believe that the child has a general understanding of what it means to exercise those rights. 1.139 If a child is too young or immature to understand the full implications of information sharing practitioners should seek the consent of the parent on behalf of their child unless there are good reasons not to do so, in which case these reasons should be recorded. 1.140 In general, it should be assumed that a child who is over the age of 12 years has reached the age where they have the necessary level of maturity to have this understanding, unless there is evidence to the contrary. 1.141 Implementation of Article 12 requires recognition of, and respect for, non-verbal forms of communication including play, body language, facial expressions, and drawing and painting, through which very young children demonstrate understanding, choices and preferences. Guiding principles 1.142 Information shared must only be that which is necessary for child protection purposes. 1.143 Individuals about whom information is being shared should not be put under pressure to consent to the sharing of their information. They should be informed and involved in such a way that they understand what is happening and why. 1.144 They should also be told what information about them is being shared, with whom and why this is necessary, unless to do so would be detrimental to: • the best interests of a child • the health or safety of a child or another person • the prevention or detection of crime (e.g. creating a risk of harm to a child) or • the apprehension or prosecution of offenders or • it is not reasonably practical to contact the person • it would take too long given the particular circumstances (e.g. where you have to act quickly) • the cost would be prohibitive • there is some other compelling reason