How to maintain confidentiality in child care

How to Maintain Confidentiality in a Childcare Setting | Work

By Chron Contributor Updated July 08, 2020

Some states have regulations about privacy in childcare settings. Other states don't specify. Whatever the case, as a childcare provider it's important to have a privacy policy in place that you give to staff members and parents of children enrolled in your childcare. A privacy policy covers verbal and written information, including texts and social networking posts, photos and video. Having a policy helps to educate staff members and to avoid angry parents and legal snafus.

Check State Rules

Check whether your state has confidentiality in childcare provisions or regulations on privacy for childcare settings. For help, go to the National Database of Child Care Licensing Regulations website and find the interactive map for selecting individual states' childcare licensing regulations.

Write a Comprehensive Policy

When writing a policy, include your state's regulations, where applicable, and then layer in your own policies. State in the policy that you and your employees will treat all parent and child information as confidential, unless you receive written authorization from the parent to release the information.

Be specific about how you will protect the information. For example, state, "We will not release any spoken, written, videoed or photographed information about your child to anyone. This includes pictures, videos and posts on the Internet and in electronic texts." State that the only exception is if the state requires you to disclose confidential information to certain state agencies, such as child protection, child care licensing or law enforcement.

Consider How to Handle Addresses

For example, under your comprehensive policy, you would never give enrolled children's addresses out to parents who request them, no matter what the reason. For example, a parent might ask you for the addresses so that she can send classmates birthday party invitations. By handing over the addresses, this violates child and parent confidentiality rules. If you want addresses to be available to parents, ask the parents within your privacy policy to consent to providing their information for a parent directory.

Other types of things covered by a privacy policy should include:

• emergency contact information
• name
• address
• phone number
• date of birth
• immunization records
• notes about injuries or behavior
• enrollment forms
• progress reports
• observation logs
• dietary restrictions

Train Staff and Parents

Meet with all of your staff members and explain the privacy policy, line by line, to make sure everyone understands. Taking the time to meet with staff members will save you a potential headache down the line. Make sure your staff members understand that it's wrong to talk about a child in their care to anyone except you, the child's parents and any agency that they are required to report to under state law.

Give all parents and staff members two copies of the privacy policy. Ask them to read the policy and sign and date both copies. Ask them to return one signed, dated copy to you. This is a good way to make sure you are all on the same page.

Review Each Year

According to Managing Legal Risks in Early Childhood Programs: How to Prevent Flare-Ups from Becoming Lawsuits, you should look at your state regulations to see if anything has changed in the way of privacy for childcare settings at least once a year. Revise your privacy policy, as needed, and pass out new copies to parents and staff members. Even if no changes are needed, pass out a copy of the privacy policy at least once a year.

References

• University of California San Francisco: Maintaining Confidentiality in Childcare Settings
• Westbend: 3 Easy Ways to Meet a Parent's Privacy Expectations
• Child Care and Education: Penny Tassoni
• National Database of Child Care Licensing Regulations

Tips

• Types of things covered by a privacy policy include emergency contact information, name, address, phone number, date of birth, immunization records, notes about injuries or behavior, enrollment forms, pr ogress reports, observation logs and dietary restrictions.
• If your building uses video surveillance footage of the childcare setting and occupants for staff training, or if you label children's cubbies or artwork with their names, list the practices on the privacy policy and have parents initial them if they consent.

Warnings

• Make sure your staff members understand that it's wrong to talk about a child in their care to anyone except you, the child's parents and any agency that they are required to report to under state law.
• Never give enrolled children's addresses out to parents who request them -- no matter what the reason. For example, a parent might ask you for the addresses so that she can send classmates birthday party invitations. Handing over the addresses violates child and parent confidentiality rules. If you want addresses to be available to parents, ask the parents, within your privacy policy, to consent to providing their information for a parent directory.

Confidentiality: Respecting the Privacy of All Families — Learning Links - Center for Community Inclusion and Disability Studies

These resources are intended as a starting point to learn more about respecting the privacy of all families, and confidentiality. Some resources may require a subscription or have restricted access due to a publisher paywall. You will need a PDF viewer for some of the resources – download Adobe Reader here.

Ethics and personal-professional principles:

Professional organizations representing the early childhood and school age communities recognize in their codes of ethics the importance of honoring family confidentiality. Some examples:

• The Division for Early Childhood Code of Ethics (PDF)
• National Association for the Education of Young Children Position Statements on Ethical Conduct
• Code of Ethics, National Afterschool Association (PDF)

Legal considerations and confidentiality:

• Caring for Our Children – As a collaborator with the National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness (NCECHW), administered by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the NRC manages the updating of the Caring for Our Children, 3rd Edition (CFOC3) standards. CFOC3 is a collection of 686 national standards that represent the best evidence, expertise, and experience in the country on quality health and safety practices and policies that should be followed in today’s early care and education settings. For information on confidentiality please see Standard 9.4.1.3: Written Policy on Confidentiality of Records.
• Federal and State laws and regulations such as IDEA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Family Education and Rights to Privacy Act  (FERPA), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as well as Maine Child Care Licensing Regulations hold child care professionals legally accountable for maintaining family privacy.
• Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) – The U.S. Department of Education established the Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) as a “one-stop” resource for education stakeholders to learn about data privacy, confidentiality, and security practices related to student-level longitudinal data systems and other uses of student data. PTAC provides timely information and updated guidance on privacy, confidentiality, and security practices through a variety of resources, including training materials and opportunities to receive direct assistance with privacy, security, and confidentiality of student data systems.
  • Student Privacy 101: FERPA for Parents and Students – Ever have questions about your rights regarding education records? This 4-minute video highlights the key points of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Exceptions to the rule about sharing information:

• “Need to know” situations exist that can be shared whether or not parental permission has been obtained, such as in cases of:
• Child abuse — If the child care professional has a reasonable concern that a child may be neglected or abused, as a mandated reporter, the professional is required by law to report this to the proper authorities. Child care licensing rules state how and where to report suspected child abuse and neglect. In Maine, contact Child Abuse Reporting.
• Health conditions that are notifiable (refers to any communicable disease, occupational disease, or environmental disease, the occurrence or suspected occurrence of which is required to be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services pursuant to Maine’s Disease Reporting Rules) — the director or designee must notify their public health department. In Maine, notify the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ME CDC). Staff and families should also be told about the illness but without disclosing the identity of the ill person. For a list of Maine’s Notifiable Conditions see Rules for the Control of Notifiable Conditions, Chapter 2(J).

Confidentiality resources:

• 3 Easy Ways to Meet a Parent’s Privacy Expectations – this article is based on a chapter in Managing Legal Risks in Early Childhood Programs: How to Prevent Flare-Ups from Becoming Lawsuits by Tom Copeland and Holly Elissa Bruno.
• ACF Confidentiality Toolkit (129 pg. PDF) — The Administration for Children and Families have updated their ACF Confidentiality Toolkit (129 pg. PDF) in 2021. The goal of the toolkit is to help state and local efforts understand how and when it is appropriate to share information about a family or individual, in order to provide more effective services, in ways consistent with confidentiality laws and requirements.
• Confidentiality and Information Sharing Guidelines for Early Childhood (PDF) — Access and privacy information recommendations from Toronto Best Start.
• Confidentiality – This online workshop/presentation on confidentiality is designed to meet federal requirements for staff training while increasing staff awareness of their responsibilities regarding privacy of student records.
• Confidentiality (Vodcast) – Expectations and requirements for the job as it relates to confidentiality. Produced by Better Kid Care, PennState Cooperative Extension.
• Data Privacy and Confidentiality Info Module Center for Inclusive Child Care — These free short Info Modules are designed to provide an overview on various topics around disabilities and inclusion. Developed in Minnesota, some information reflects Minnesota state laws/regulations.
• Family Child Care Association of Maine  (FCCAM) – This (2019, February) post on Confidentiality is part of the “Business Tool Kit” section of the FCCAM website.
• Maintaining Confidentiality in Child Care Ces (PDF) — Health and safety notes from the California Childcare Health Program.
• Sample Authorization to Disclose Confidential Child Information – Developed by Idaho STARS, July, 2014.
• Understanding the Confidentiality Requirements Applicable to IDEA Early Childhood Programs Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) – October 2016 (PDF): The purpose of this document is to assist early childhood programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)—Part B section 611 (Grants to States), Part B section 619 (Preschool Grants), and Part C (Grants for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities)—with addressing privacy and confidentiality questions.
• The Use of Technology to Support Early Childhood Practice: Protecting Child, Parent, and Practitioner Privacy (PDF) – This research-to-practice brief, from the Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation, presents some best practices that can guide early childhood programs in evaluating the use of online services to support practitioners in their work with children and families.
• Written Policy on Confidentiality of Records – Standard 9.4.1.3 of Caring for Our Children 3 (CFOC3) Chapter 9: Administration.

Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only. It is not and does not take the place of legal advice for any specific situation nor is it offered as such. 

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Updated: 07/11/2022

Child care allowance and part-time work

The state provided an opportunity for employees who have children under the age of 1. 5 years to work and receive benefits at the same time. However, they may work part-time or at home to be able to care for the child. The law does not establish restrictions on the length of working hours of such employees with the condition of maintaining benefits. In practice, there are situations when their working time was reduced by an hour or even 20 minutes. At the same time, in one case, the FSS of the Russian Federation and the courts recognize the reduction of working hours by an hour as legal, and in the other, they refuse employers to reimburse the amounts paid, because they believe that reducing work by an hour or less does not allow the employee to take care of the child, therefore, the payment of benefits is converted into additional material remuneration. Read in the article what recommendations government agencies give on reducing working hours, as well as how judicial practice has developed on this issue in recent years. We offer a sample request to the FSS of the Russian Federation for clarification of the legislation regarding the duration of part-time work for employees who are on leave to care for a child up to 1. 5 years of age.

Any member of the family, including father, grandmother, grandfather, can go on parental leave until the child reaches the age of 3. During the period from the day the vacation is granted, persons actually caring for a child up to 1.5 years old and on vacation are paid a monthly allowance for caring for the child (part 1 of article 11.1 of Federal Law No. social insurance in case of temporary disability and in connection with motherhood", Article 13 of the Federal Law of 19.05.1995 No. 81-FZ "On state benefits to citizens with children"). According to Part 3 of Art. 256 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, at the request of an employee, while on parental leave, he can work part-time or at home while retaining the right to receive state social insurance benefits.

Related material

Father or grandmother on parental leave: registration

No. 06 / 2018

See the article “Father or Grandmother on Parental Leave: Processing” in No. 6’ 2018

Related material

Father or grandmother on parental leave: receiving child benefits

No. 07 / 2018

See article “Father or Grandmother on Parental Leave: Receiving Child Benefits” in No. 7’ 2018

Related material

We transfer employees to part-time work

No. 07 / 2020

See the article “We transfer employees to part-time work” with sample documents in No. 7’ 2020

In accordance with Art. 93 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, part-time work can be set in the form:

• part-time or
• part-time work week.

At the same time, not a single regulatory legal act indicates whether there are some restrictions on the amount of time worked by an employee who is on parental leave. In other words, can any working time be considered part-time if it is less than the normal working hours (40 hours a week)?

Related material

What expenses does the FSS of the Russian Federation reimburse employers

No. 11 / 2021

See the article “What expenses does the FSS of the Russian Federation reimburse employers” in No. 11’ 2021

Position of state bodies

In letter dated October 14, 2020 No. 14-15 / 7710-4421l GU - MRO FSS of the Russian Federation indicated the main criteria for granting benefits for part-time work:

2) reduction of working time is calculated in hours;

3) the benefit compensates for lost earnings equal to the amount of the benefit;

4) the benefit does not acquire the character of additional material incentives.

Thus, the FSS of Russia directs employers and employees with children to the fact that reducing the working day by an hour or less or reducing the working week by several hours cannot be considered conscientious. In this case, with a high degree of probability, the employee will lose the right to benefits.

On the websites of the territorial Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation, there are consultations of specialists who suggest additionally being guided by Regulations on the procedure and working conditions for women with children and working part-time, approved by the Decree of the USSR State Committee for Labor, the Secretariat of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions dated April 29, 1980 No. 111 / 8-51 ¹ . In its paragraph 8, it is noted that the work regimes established when working with part-time work may include:

• reduction in the duration of daily work (shift) by a certain number of working hours on all days of the working week;
• reduction in the number of working days per week while maintaining the normal duration of daily work (shift), etc.

When establishing part-time work regimes for employees caring for a child, the length of the working day (shift), as a rule, should not be less than 4 hours and the working week - less than 20-24 hours, respectively, with a five- and six-day week .

At the same time, it cannot be concluded from the mentioned norm that the reduction of working hours, for example, by an hour, will not be a part-time regime in order to maintain benefits.

However, it should be borne in mind that the Regulation has become invalid on the basis of the order of the Ministry of Labor of the Russian Federation dated 29.12.2016 No. 848.

Consultants of Rostrud on the website online inspection.rf ² adhere to the position that reducing the working day by an hour is acceptable to maintain benefits.

According to Part 2 of Art. 91 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, normal working hours cannot exceed 40 hours per week. The provision of the ILO Convention No. 175 of June 24, 1994 "On part-time work" determines that part-time work should be considered working time, the duration of which is less than the normal working time. Therefore, any working time less than 40 hours per week is recognized as part-time employment.

However, it is the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation that is responsible for assigning and paying the child care allowance ³ . Therefore, in our opinion, it is better to be guided by the position taken by the FSS of the Russian Federation.

The position of the courts

There is still no unity among the courts on the issue of how long the working hours of employees with children under 1.5 years old should be in order to maintain the amount of benefits.

For example, the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District found it permissible to reduce the working day by an hour during parental leave.

Judicial practice

In the opinion of the court, the FSS of the Russian Federation did not provide evidence that the bank employees, if there were grounds for receiving benefits, did not actually take care of their young children during the disputed period, or that conditions were not created in their families for harmonious a combination of professional and family responsibilities, so that the mother of the child, taking into account the work schedule and the nature of the employment relationship with the employer, devotes sufficient time to caring for a minor child with a reduced working day.

The Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation could not prove that the child was actually cared for by other family members. The allegation that the reduction of working hours for employees by 1 hour a day cannot be regarded as a measure that allows them to continue caring for a child, and the benefit becomes an additional incentive, according to the court, is conjectural in nature and has not been proven.

The final conclusion of the court: The mere fact of reducing working hours for the insured person cannot indicate the abuse of the right to receive child care allowance (decision of the Arbitration Court of the North-Western District dated November 19, 2020 No. F07-13037/2020 in case No. A21-393/2020).

A similar position is held by the Arbitration Court of the Far Eastern District. True, in the case he considered, it was already about reducing the length of working hours by 2 hours a day.

Judicial practice

The court found it permissible to reduce the length of the working day by 2 hours. He pointed out that the fund could not prove that the employee's receipt of the childcare allowance had acquired the character of unjustified material incentives for her.

The employee exercised her right to simultaneously care for the child and work part-time with the condition of simultaneously receiving state-guaranteed benefits, which cannot be regarded as an abuse of the right /2020 in case No. A04-2798/2019).