Fostering privacy notice

How we will use your information

Coventry City Council complies with the Data Protection Act and the UK GDPR and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as a Data Controller.

This Privacy Notice explains how personal information is going to be used, for what purpose, who it will be shared with and why.

Why we collect and use personal information about you

We collect personal information about you so that we can:

  • Provide advice and guidance to prospective or approved carers
  • Provide ongoing support and training to foster carers
  • Process foster carer applications
  • Assess suitability to become a foster carer
  • Develop and improve our services
  • Ensure that foster carers receive correct payments
  • Complete statistical returns to Government departments.

We process personal data because it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations (Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011 and the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010) and perform our public duty.

What Personal Data do we collect about you and/or your child(ren)?

  • Full name
  • Contact details
  • Date of birth
  • Family details
  • Lifestyle and social circumstance
  • Employment and education details
  • Housing information
  • Ethnicity and language
  • Religion / belief
  • NHS number and other identifiers
  • Health information including disability (see special categories below)
  • Personal history including any criminal convictions (see below) and educational and employment history
  • The outcome of any request or application made to foster or adopt
  • Family history and social relationships generally
  • Marital status and details of current and any previous marriage, civil partnership or similar relationship
  • Financial details if necessary.

We have legal grounds to process this information because it is necessary to comply with a legal duty or fulfil a public task.  These are:

  • Children Act 1989
  • Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000
  • Adoption & Children Act 2002 and associated regulations
  • Children Act 2004
  • Childcare Act 2006
  • Children and Families Act 2014, and
  • Children and Social Work Act 2017
  • Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011
  • Care Standards Act 2000
  • Children and Young Persons Act 2008
  • Independent Review of Determinations (Adoption and Fostering) Regulations 2009
  • Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010
  • The Care Planning and Fostering (Miscellaneous Amendments) (England) Regulations 2015
  • The Care Planning, Placement and Case Review and Fostering Services (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013.

Who we share your personal information with?

We may share data with:

  • Other children’s services teams within Coventry City Council
  • Adult services within Coventry City Council
  • Education providers
  • Employers, both previous and current including paid and voluntary employment
  • Disclosing and Barring Service
  • SSAFA (the Armed Forces charity)
  • NHS and other health agencies including Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership Trust (CWPT)
  • Other Local or District councils you have lived in or are currently living in
  • Voluntary and charitable agencies providing services to you
  • Courts and other judicial agencies
  • Probation Services
  • Youth Offending Team in your current or previous areas you lived in
  • Housing department and housing providers in your current or previous areas you lived in
  • Other central government agencies including government bodies responsible for providing funding for eligible services
  • Other public authorities
  • Department for Education (DfE) in respect of children in need and looked after children to help the DfE develop national policies, manage local authority performance, administer and allocate funding and identify and encourage good practice.  For more information about the data collection requirements placed on us by the DfE go to looked after children or children in need on GOV.uk.
  • Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
  • Other Fostering and/or Adoption agencies

Who we share with (from the list above) will depend on what service we are providing

We can share this information without your specific consent when it is reasonable and necessary to do so to fulfil our public tasks or it is otherwise in the substantial public interest to do so. 

We may also receive personal information about you from other parties

Depending on the service we need to provide to you, your personal data may be provided to us by:

  • Health agencies (including Health visitors)
  • Mental Health services (Local Authority & Health)
  • Other Local Authorities
  • Family Members
  • Previous partners about your relationship and/or capacity to care for children
  • Your current or previous employer
  • Charitable organisations
  • Other Fostering and/or Adoption agencies
  • Housing department and housing providers.

How long will we keep your information?

We will only keep your information for as long as we need to, so we can give you the service you need, unless we must keep it for legal reasons. The time can be different depending on the service you have asked for/are provided with.

Your rights

You have the right to:

  1. Ask to see the personal information we hold about you
  2. Ask us to change information we hold about you if it is wrong
  3. Ask us to delete the information we hold about you
  4. Ask us to limit the way we use your personal Information
  5. Data portability (have your data transferred to another Authority) 
  6. Complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office  

To exercise any of these rights, please contact the Fostering Service on  PSSFostering@coventry.gov.uk

We do not make automated decisions about you and your children.

Complaints

You have the right to submit a complaint if you are unhappy with the way your request is handled or disagree with a decision made by the council regarding your data. In these circumstances you can contact the Data Protection Team (DPO) and request a review of the decision. DPOTeam@coventry.gov.uk

If you are not satisfied with any outcome from the DPO you may wish to apply to the Information Commissioner's Office at:

The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF.

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