Cornwall Council: Mum 'appalled' after she receives details about wrong child in care

A mum whose child is in foster care was left shocked and upset after Cornwall Council sent her sensitive, personal details about a completely different child in the care system instead of her own. The council has admitted the error and says it is undertaking an internal investigation.

Because of the sensitive nature of her own situation, we are simply calling the mother Jackie. She said she was left "appalled" this week when the council's social services department emailed her the private and upsetting details concerning another boy who is being fostered rather than her own son's information.

Jackie, from Truro, said: "I was in shock for two reasons. One, that I was looking at another child's information - I felt sorry for the boy that another person's reading about his difficult times and what's going on. It's extremely sensitive information. Then, if I'm receiving this about this child, there could be somebody that's received the sensitive information about my own child. That was what was more concerning for me."

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The email that she mistakenly received included the minutes of a Pre-Proceedings Meeting (PPM) concerning the child, which documents the council's concerns surrounding care for the boy. "I only read half of the first page and it's not very nice things he's suffering with and I thought, I can't read any more out of respect. It's not fair on him.

"It's quite awful. They've legally slipped up. It's crossing data protection lines. Somebody needs to look at all the emails this person at the council has sent - there could be more errors like this."

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Jackie added: "It's going to affect the child's parents. I'm concerned about my own child's information, which could have been sent out to someone else, or anybody else's child to be honest.

"Social services are being very quiet now, funnily enough. On Monday they were flapping quite a lot. A social worker has tried to blame it on admin and a manager wouldn't even speak to me. She asked the social worker to contact me, who asked me to delete it.

"When I wrote to my solicitor about it and said I was absolutely appalled, she said she was appalled too and told me I had to make sure that I ask social services to inform the boy's parents about what's happened and get proof it hasn't happened to my child. How they're going to do that, I don't know."

Jackie says she has been fighting to get her son back and says the council haven't communicated well enough with her. "Ironically, I'm still waiting for the minutes for my own son. I've asked them at least five times for them."

Her son was put into foster care around 18 months ago during a period when Jackie was finding it hard to cope after fleeing domestic violence. "I'm not angry at them for taking my son away, it was quite right as I wasn't in the right frame of mind to be looking after him. I needed some help and support. A judge has ruled that the intention is that I will get him back."

Jackie's life has now improved, which has included getting a new job, and as a result she ultimately wants her son back but, before that, she wants more communication from the council about her son's health and schooling, which she says hasn't been forthcoming.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: "We can confirm that details relating to a child in the council’s care were sent to the wrong recipient in error. We have apologised to all those involved and are undertaking an internal investigation to ascertain how the data breach occurred and prevent it from happening again.

"Such incidents are extremely rare but are taken very seriously. We would like to reassure residents and families that the council is committed to ensuring their personal data is treated with the utmost care and confidence."