Social networking sites are a popular way of keeping in touch with family and friends. However, there are some potential dangers, especially for foster parents, although you can avoid many of these by using privacy settings effectively.
If you use social networking sites such as Facebook, there are two important things that you need to consider: who can see what you post, and what will be the effect on your reputation?
Our advice:
- Make sure that your profiles are private so that only friends can see what you post.
- Consider what you post, like and share online. Could your posts embarrass or offend anyone? A good rule of thumb is to consider “would I say this in real life?” or “would I be happy for the whole world to see this?” Even if your profile is private, any of your friends could share something you post.
- It is important that you do not post photos of foster children on social networking sites or breach their right to privacy. You should not share any confidential information on social networking sites, including anything that might identify a foster child. There is always the possibility that the child’s birth family might see what you post. This could be particularly dangerous if they are someone who is legally prevented from having contact with the child.
- Consider who you make friends with online. You should not be online ‘friends’ with young people whom you are not caring for (unless they are former foster children and their local authority agrees), your supervising social worker, your children’s social workers or your children’s teachers.
At your annual fostering review, the assessing social worker will discuss this with you. They will also conduct a social media check to see if anything is visible to the public, and advise you to apply any privacy settings that are available.
Book on our training course: Safe Social Networking