1.8.16 Destruction and Retention of Files

1. Children Looked After Files

The area and looked after children teams hold these files.
Additional information held on file in the residential sector should be sent to the referring area team holding the case file when the service terminates.
Files should be sent for microfilming at the microfilm unit once a case has been closed for the current year, plus the previous year. So if, for example, work finishes in January 2001 the case would not be sent to be microfilmed until the following January 2003.
Case records (on microfilm) for looked after children who have been placed, are retained until the 75th anniversary of the child's birth, or for 15 years after death if the child dies before age 18.
Adoption files should not be microfilmed, as the files will often contain important information and documents (e.g. letters to children from their parents or other important people). It is vital that this information should be received in its original form.

Files are sent for microfilming by the responsible office once the case has been closed for the current year, plus the previous year, as exampled above.
Microfilm must be retained for seven years. .

All additional copies of Child Protection Case Conferences must be shredded when:
- A child does not become the subject of a Child Protection Plan.
- When a child is no longer subject to a Child Protection Plan.
A copy must be kept in the office.

Once the file has been microfilmed it is sent back to the originating office for storage.
The CareFirst record must indicate that the record is held on microfilm and the location of the microfilm.
To view a microfilm, a microfilm viewer is required. Each office has one.
If hard copies of the microfilm are required, the worker will need to make arrangements with admin. staff to book time to use their machine which transfers the microfilm back onto paper copies.

Files, once they have been closed, must be sent to the Fostering and Adoption Section for storage.
Files relating to an adopted child and the adoptive family are amalgamated with the child's files from the area teams. These are then stored for 75 years from the date that the Adoption Order was made.
Files for birth records counselling are retained for 15 years after closure, after which they can be shredded.

Files for foster children are copies of information contained in the child's files held by the areas. Fostering child files are therefore only retained for 3 years, after which they are closed.
Records for prospective foster/adoptive parents who are not approved, or who withdraw their application, must be retained for at least 10 years from the refusal or withdrawal. After this they can be shredded.

Files for foster carers are retained for 15 years after closure from the date of closure. After this they are shredded.

End