St David’s Adoption Service – Adopter’s Privacy Notice
Introduction
St David’s Adoption Service is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Notice explains how we use the information you give us and the ways in which we protect your privacy.
Any amendments to this policy will continue to be in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation 2018. The Data Protection Act 2018 and Regulation can be reviewed at The Information Commissioner’s Office web site at www.ico.gov.uk.
Who we are
St David’s Children Society is a registered Voluntary Adoption Agency and a Registered Charity (Registration Number 509163) and a company limited by Guarantee (Registered Cardiff 1546688). St David’s Adoption Service is the brand name of the St David’s Children Society’s adoption service.
Under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 St David’s Children Society is the ‘data controller’ and is responsible for ensuring personal data held about you is used for the purposes set out in this notice.
St David’s Children Society
28 Park Place
Cardiff
CF10 3BA
Telephone: 02920 667007
Email: info@stdavidscs.org
Website: www.stdavidsadoptionservice.org.uk
Why do we collect your information?
Our primary activity is to assess and approve individuals who would like to adopt a child as suitable adopters. To do this we collect a range of personal information about the individual and others in their lives. This is due to the laws which relate to adoption.
We collect personal information:
- To respond to your enquiry, question or complaint.
- To assess you as a prospective adopter.
- To approve you as a prospective adopter.
- To link and match you with a child/ren waiting to be adopted.
- To support you post adoption order.
- To register your attendance at a workshop or event.
- To update you on our work and the services/activities we offer.
- To communicate with you about aspects of our work that are relevant to you.
- To keep a record of your relationship with us.
- To comply with our legal obligations, policies and procedures.
- To meet financial auditing requirements.
- To understand how we can improve our services, products or information.
What information do we collect?
St David’s Adoption Service collects and holds personal data which you share with us as part of an enquiry into adoption, as part of the adoption assessment process, or a request for post adoption support. This information can come from you and from a range of people in your lives, such as friends, family, ex-partners and referees. Additional information is gathered from external organisations such as GP’s, consultants, DBS and local authorities.
Throughout assessing suitability most information will come from you or the sources you provide and will include (not exhaustive)
- Information about your identity – full name, title, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, marital status, date of birth, gender, contact details etc. We will verify your identify by asking for see your passport, National Insurance Number, marriage certificate (if applicable), proof of address and driving licence.
- Data about your background – such as childhood, family history, personality, family and other relationships (including current and past marital status/relationships), qualifications, skills, education, experience, employment/voluntary history, finances, address history and previous adoption/ fostering experiences and confidential views of key people in your life about your potential to adopt.
- Details about your lifestyle – such as household accommodations, community, support networks, your schedule (working hours).
- Information about medical or health concerns – including full medical history and whether you have a disability for which we need to make reasonable adjustments.
- Details about your capacity/suitability to be an adoptive parent – i.e., experience in caring for children, providing structure, resilience, working with others, diversity and safer caring.
- Details about any complaints and concerns or investigations in which you may have been involved – this includes any warnings issued to you and related correspondence.
- Any other information provided by yourself that is relevant to your relationship with us and your correspondence with us.
We will also need to have a similar level of detail about anyone who lives with the prospective adopter.
Personal Data
The personal information we collect from you will be used solely for adoption purposes. This is to assess if adoption is right for you and your family; if now is the right time for you to adopt and if you are able to adopt the children who currently need adoptive families. From the point of your initial enquiry, during the adoption assessment processes, and beyond the making of the Adoption Order we will collect and hold personal information. We will also hold personal information on you if you contact St David’s Children Society to access further support in the years following the making of the Adoption Order.
Sensitive Personal Data
Data Protection Law recognises that certain categories of data are more sensitive than others. These are known as special categories of personal data and include information about a person’s health, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, and genetic and biometric data.
We do ask you for some of the information that is classified as special categories of data, as this is needed as part of an assessment of prospective adopters. The legislation and guidance around adoption assessments guides our data collection on these matters. The purpose of this data collection is to ensure that robust assessments are completed and are in line with adoption legislation and requirements.
When accessing support services, we may also ask for this data, for instance regarding your health, to make sure we provide appropriate support and facilities.
How do we collect information?
We obtain personal information from you when you enquire about our activities and services, ask a question, register to attend an activity, send an email, or otherwise provide us with your personal information.
This data may be collected from you in numerous ways – via online forms that you have completed, via the telephone, face to face meetings/conversations, receiving communications in writing from you via email or post, and from other individuals and agencies where you have given consent for us to contact and request information.
Is St David’s Adoption Service allowed to collect this information?
St David’s Adoption Service collects personal information about prospective adopters because the processing of this personal data is necessary for purposes of effectively assessing the individual as an adopter. The specific laws we follow to do this include,
- The Adoption Act 1976
- Adoption and Children Act 2002
- The Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005
- The Adoption Agencies (Panel and Consequential Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2012
- Adoption and Children Act 2002 (Joint Adoption Arrangements) Wales Directions 2015.
We also take into account any relevant subsequent guidance related to these laws.
Data protection laws states that we must have a valid lawful basis in order to process your personal information. We will process you information on the lawful basis of,
- Legitimate Interest – “Processing is necessary for the legitimate interests of the data controller or a third party, except where such interests are overridden by interests, rights or freedoms of the data subject.” This means that to enable us to process your request to become an adopter, and then to support you and your child post adoption order, we need to collect and process personal information.
- Any information we obtained will be used in the assessment of a prospective adopter. Information will contribute to whether the applicant is suitable to be approved as an adopter and to have a child placed with them.
- People who have accessed our service can return at any time for additional support, information, advice, advocacy and guidance.
- People who have received our service have an interest in receiving occasional updates from us about our activities and events.
Other occasions we have a legitimate interest in processing personal data are
- Maintain accurate and up to date records and contact details.
- Operate and keep a record of any complaints, concerns or investigations.
- Ensure effective general business administration.
- Respond to and defend legal claims.
- Respond to requests from regulatory bodies, i.e., CIW.
When using legitimate interest, we make sure we balance the legitimate organisational interest against your rights, making sure we only use your information in way and for a purpose that you would reasonably expect and does not intrude on your privacy.
- Consent
- Will be obtained when contacting third parties, i.e., referees.
- Will be obtained for sharing fundraising and marketing information.
- Legal Obligation
- In certain circumstances, we may process or disclose your information because we are legally obliged to.
When we need to collect special category (sensitive) personal information, we rely upon reasons of Health and Social Care purposes (Article 9(2)(h)), Explicit Consent (Article 9(2)(a)), Substantial Public Interest (Article 9(2)(g)). When we collect criminal offence information (i.e.., DBS check) we rely upon Health or Social Care “processing is necessary for health or social care purposes” (Schedule 1, part1, paragraph 2(1)) and consent “the data subject has given consent to the processing” (Schedule 1, part3, paragraph 29).
How is data used and who will see it?
Following an initial enquiry and during your assessment your data information will be shared with internal staff. During assessment we will share information with relevant individuals, agencies or organisations to verify the information you have provided. This will include contact with;
- Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS),
- the Local Authority in which you reside,
- present employers,
- financial checks,
- and if applicable schools and nurseries.
We will also share information with those individuals you have nominated as personal referees, and if applicable, contact ex-partners. We will ask you to consent to have a medical examination by your registered medical practitioners who will then send a written report to a designated medical advisor who reports to the Adoption Agency. If we feel that further enquiries from medical specialists are needed, we will contact you to ask for your specific consent to obtain further health information. This information is needed so we can be as sure as we can that you will be able to care for a child through to adulthood and these checks support our understanding.
At the end of an assessment a social worker will complete a Prospective Adopter Report (PAR) which contains all information gathered during an assessment. Prospective adopters will have access to Part 1 of their Report. They do not have a right to access Part 2 as this contains confidential independent reference information.
The law requires that assessment information (PAR) must be shared with and considered by an Adoption Panel. This information is heavily protected to make sure information cannot be seen by anyone else.
Post approval, during the task of family finding, when a potential link is identified, your completed report will be securely shared with the child’s agency who will read it to consider a link. The report is only used for the purpose of considering the link.
St David’s Adoption Service is a partner of the National Adoption Service (NAS) Cymru (https://www.adoptcymru.com) who are a collaborative organisation made up of local authorities through five regional adoption services, and three Voluntary Adoption Agencies, plus a central team. As a partner we work together and share information where it is necessary, there may be occasions where data sharing is required under the principles of the partnership arrangements, this does not happen often, but information may be share where there is a need for NAS to assist with,
- Enquiries
- Dissatisfaction or complaints
- Performance reports
- Marketing
- Other service queries or advice.
More information can be found on the NAS Information Sharing Policy available on www.stdavidsadoptionservice.org.
Information may also be uploaded to the UK wide database Link Maker, which support family finding for children and prospective adopters.
In exceptional circumstances (child protection/safeguarding concerns), or when we are required to do so by law (court order, witness summons, or complaint from governmental authorities), data may be shared with external parties in accordance with our statutory responsibilities. We are also obliged under statutory duties to provide information to external fostering and adoption agencies if an application is made, by you, to them.
We are signed up to the Welsh Governments Standards in respect of information sharing. More information is available WASPI – Welsh Accord on Sharing of Personal Information.
How long do we keep your information?
Prospective Adopters: Prior to an Adoption Order being made:
The Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005 state it is at the agency’s “discretion to keep records for such a period as is considered appropriate”. The periods stated below remains at the discretion of the agency and will be discussed and agreed on an individual basis as reasonable and appropriate.
- All data provided at initial enquiry/attendance at information workshop will be held for a period of 18 months or as deemed necessary.
- All data provided at initial visit will be held for a period of up to 5 years or as deemed necessary.
- All data provided on the Registration of Interest form and during Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the assessment process will be held in line with the following outcomes
- Agency decision to not approve prospective adopter will be held for a period of 15 years
- Agency decision to approve prospective adopter but no placement is made / decision to withdraw from adoption process / placement is made but disrupts will be held for a period of 15 years
- Agency decision to approve and following placement an Adoption Order is made, in accordance with Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005, will be held for 100 years post Adoption Order. This will include both your case record and your child(ren)’s case record.
Referee information is held in line with the adoption assessment in relation to the retention periods stated.
Feedback and Evaluation Information
Any feedback or evaluation forms should be destroyed after 10 years.
Case studies will be retained as deemed necessary by the agency or destroyed up on request by the case study participant.
Photographs/Videos
St David’s Children Society request ID photographs from adopters to go onto their PAR and Adopter Profile – adopters need to be aware what these photos are being used for and why and consent to this. Staff are reminded that consent must be obtained from all individuals and cannot be assumed if only one party consents.
Videos of adopters will be produced with the express consent of all parties and will be stored and shared in accordance with the permissions obtained.
Keeping your data secure
The information you provide is subject to rigorous security measures and procedures to make sure it can’t be seen. We have put in place appropriate physical and electronic measures (including Cyber Essentials certification), security policies and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure personal data we store from unauthorised access, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction or accidental loss.
- Prospective adopters/adopter information is securely stored, this is done through saving your information on the “CHARMS” database which is fully GDPR compliant.
- Your information at all other points of your adopter journey with St David’s Children Society will be saved on our secure IT systems and on our secure Servers.
Only authorised personnel will have access to your personal information. All personnel who have access to your personal data are contractually obliged to respect the confidentiality of your personal data.
Spouse or partner data
During an initial enquiry you will be requested to share information about a spouse or partner living with you. This information is collected in respect of Part 4 of the Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005 and will be processed in accordance with legitimate interests of the agency in providing the service requested.
Referee Data
Under the Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005 (part 1 of Schedule 4) St David’s is required to request that prospective adopters provided the names of three referees. This contact information will be held securely on the St David’s systems as necessary for the service being provided under ‘legitimate interest’ lawful basis. Under the regulations any information shared by a referee will be confidential and only shared with full consent.
Contacting us to access to personal data
Schedule 4 (3.1.2) of the Data Protection Act 2018 makes explicit that any information gathered under the adoption legislation is exempt from Article 15 of GDPR. This means that St David’s does not have to provide access to the content of any material gathered or prepared within the adoption process.
- Unless subject to an exception you have the right to request a copy of the information held on you by the agency.
- The right to request a copy of your personal data
- The right to request corrections of data if it is found to be inaccurate or out of date (unless the information is third part or gathered as part of a safeguarding process.
- The right to request your personal data is erased where it is no longer necessary for data to be retained.
- The right to request that the data controller provide the data subject with his/her personal data and where possible, to transmit that data to another controller where applicable.
- The right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.
- We have a separate policy on Subject Access Requests for this process. A Subject Access Request is free of charge. Should a request be manifestly unfounded, excessive or repetitive the agency maintains the right to charge a ‘reasonable fee’ or to refuse to respond with full explanation.
Adoption records fall under the jurisdiction of the Adoption Act which has a records retention policy of 100 years for adoption records, this overrides the data protection legislation.
If you have any other questions or concerns about our privacy statement and practices please contact us at info@stdavidscs.org
What if I am unhappy?
You can find out more about your personal data rights by going to the Information
Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website at https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/.
For further independent advice about data protection, and your personal data rights, you can contact:
Information Commissioner’s Office – Wales
2nd Floor, Churchill House
Churchill Way
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
Tel: 02920 678400
Fax: 02920 678399
E-mail: Wales@ico.gov.uk
Web: www.ico.org.uk
Changes to this policy
This policy was last updated in May 2024. We may update the terms of this policy at any time, so please do check it from time to time. We will notify you about significant changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the primary email address you have provided to us or by placing a prominent notice on our website(s)
