The philosophy of confidentiality is paramount to the Child Bereavement Charity (CBC). Each individual member of the team is responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of service users. Failure to do so will be regarded as serious misconduct and disciplinary procedures will be initiated.

A caller to the telephone line, user of the email support service or forum user, is assured that any information they provide will not be divulged to an external party, outside the support and information team, by CBC without the prior consent of the individual concerned, except in certain exceptional circumstances as detailed below:

• If callers for the service have left a message on the CBC answer phone and staff are returning the call, they will ensure that no third party can identify the source of the call.  The Child Bereavement Charity subscribes to a ‘number withheld' service to safeguard this policy and practice
• Any information gathered will only be used for the purpose of collating audit statistics for service development and research.  There will be no identification of service users in statistics or information used outside the service
• The Child Bereavement Charity works in full compliance with The Data Protection Act (1998)
• All professional callers will be asked if they wish for their names to be entered on the CBC database to receive further information and mail outs (Data Protection Act 1998)
• Callers or forum users will be given information about the way their details are recorded if they request it

Exceptional Circumstances In Which Confidentiality May Be Broken

Any information from any source that gives rise to concern for the safety and well being of a child will be made known to the Director of Bereavement Services and responded to in line with the charity's Child Protection Policy.

The contract of confidentiality can be broken when a person (child or adult) is perceived to be in a dangerous or life threatening situation, is threatening to harm others, or cases governed by the Prevention of Terrorism Act (1984)