Organizational Confidentiality Policy
I. PURPOSE
Hogar Cuna San Cristóbal establishes the Confidentiality Policy in order to guarantee that ethical principles, good practices, state laws and standards regarding confidentiality are complied with. Additionally, this policy is intended to outline the limits of confidentiality and the parameters under which mandatory reporting of child abuse is necessary.
II.SCOPE
This procedure applies to all HCSC staff, members of the Board of Directors, staff and support professionals in the operation of Hogar Cuna San Cristóbal.
III. POLICY DECLARATION
Aspects of confidentiality in the relationship between the participant and the service professional. The social work professionals at the Hogar Cuna San Cristóbal must:
a) Respect the participants' right to privacy and should not request private information from/about them, except for professional reasons. Once private information is shared, confidentiality rules apply.
b) May disclose confidential information when appropriate with the written consent of the participant or a person legally authorized by the participant.
c) Protect the confidentiality of all information obtained in the course of a professional service, unless there are compelling professional reasons. The general expectation that social workers will maintain the confidentiality of information is not applicable when disclosing the information is necessary to prevent serious, foreseeable and imminent harm to a participant or others. In all instances, social workers should disclose the least amount of confidential information necessary to achieve the desired purpose; only information that is directly relevant to the intended purpose; Only information directly relevant to the purpose for which it is disclosed should be disclosed.
d) Inform participants, to the extent possible, about the disclosure of confidential information and the potential consequences, when possible before the information is revealed. This applies both when social workers reveal confidential information due to a legal requirement or due to the participant's consent.
e) Discuss with your participants and other interested parties the nature of confidentiality and your participants' limitations on the right of confidentiality. Social workers should review with participants the circumstances under which confidential information may be requested and that disclosure of confidential information may be legally required. The discussion should be held as soon as possible (first contact) in the social worker-participant relationship and when necessary in the course of the relationship.
f) When social workers provide counseling services to families, couples or groups, they must seek an agreement between the parties involved regarding each individual's right to confidentiality and the obligation to preserve the confidentiality of information shared by others. This agreement should include consideration of whether confidential information may be exchanged in person or electronically, between participants or with other persons outside the
formal counseling sessions. Social workers must inform participants in a family, couple or group session that social workers cannot guarantee that all participants respect these agreements.
g) Inform participants involved in a family, couple, marriage, or social worker, employer, and agency counseling group of the policy concerning the disclosure of confidential information between parties involved in counseling.
h) Protect the confidentiality of participants during legal procedures to the limit permitted by law. When a court of law or other legally authorized body orders a social worker to disclose confidential or privileged information without the consent of the participant and this disclosure could cause harm to the participant, the social worker may petition the court withdraw or limit the order as much as possible or keep the records under seal, not available for public inspection.
i) Protect the confidentiality of participants when answering questions from members of the press.
j) Protect the confidentiality of written and electronic records and all other sensitive information of the participants. Social workers must take reasonable measures to ensure that the records of the participants
k) Take reasonable measures to maintain and protect the confidentiality of electronic communications, including information transmitted to participants or third parties. Social workers should use applicable security measures (such as encryption, firewalls and passwords) when using electronic communications such as email, online messaging, online chat sessions, mobile communications and text messages. of text.
l) Develop and disseminate policies and procedures to notify participants of any breach of confidential information in a timely manner.
m) In the event of unauthorized access to the participant's records or information, including any unauthorized access to the social worker's electronic communication or storage systems, the social workers must inform the participants. participants in such disclosures, in accordance with applicable laws and professional standards.
n) Develop and inform participants of its policies, consistent with prevailing social work ethical standards, on the use of electronic technology, including Internet-based search engines, to gather information about participants.
o) Avoid seeking or collecting participant information electronically unless there are compelling professional reasons, and when appropriate, with the participant's informed consent.
p) Avoid posting any confidential or identifying information about participants on professional websites or other forms of social media.
q) Transfer or dispose of participant records in a manner that protects participant confidentiality and is consistent with state regulation and social worker licensure.
r) Take reasonable precautions to protect the confidentiality of the participants in the event of termination of the professional practice by the social worker, their disability or death.
s) Protect the confidentiality of deceased clients in accordance with the above regulations.
The social work professionals at the Hogar Cuna San Cristóbal must not:
a) They must not reveal information to third parties unless the participants have authorized them to reveal such information.
b) They should not discuss confidential information, electronically or in person, in any environment unless privacy is guaranteed. Social workers should not discuss information in public or semi-public areas such as lobbies, waiting rooms, elevators, and restaurants.
c) They must not reveal identifying information while discussing their participants for teaching or training purposes unless the participant has consented to reveal confidential information.
d) They should not reveal identifying information while discussing participants with consultants unless the participant has consented or unless there is a compelling need for such disclosure.
Aspects of confidentiality for all professionals, board members, volunteers,
concerned parties:
It is the policy of Hogar Cuna San Cristóbal to ensure that its operations, activities, relationships and information, both those of the minors and the staff, are kept confidential. If during your employment or provision of services you obtain confidential information from Hogar Cuna San Cristóbal, its staff or the participants served, said information will be handled in strict confidentiality and may not be disclosed or discussed with anyone.
It is the responsibility of all staff and support professionals to maintain the confidentiality and internal security of said information and it should not be disclosed unless it is in the discharge of the duties and responsibilities of the position held by the employee when so. deserve it.
No staff may steal, or show to third parties, documents related to the operations of Hogar Cuna San Cristóbal or the participants served during their employment, provision of services or after termination of employment.
Disclosing information related to participants, personnel and Home data will be considered a violation and the corresponding corrective action will be applied, which may culminate in dismissal from employment or severe legal action. Participants receiving our services must be protected by all staff, volunteers and visitors; Violation of their privacy will not be permitted at any time. To guarantee faithful compliance with this policy, procedure CR-2-PR-01 was developed.
IV.REVISION HISTORY
Date Revision # Change
8/19/22
Agreement on Confidentiality Policy
The Social Work Professionals of Hogar Cuna San Cristóbal, due to professional ethics and state laws, are prevented from sharing information unless you authorize us in writing. In this way we guarantee your privacy and confidentiality of the therapy or service offered. However, we cannot promise that everything you tell us in the intervention, investigation and/or
offer of the service, it will never be revealed to another person. There are limits to our confidentiality, in that the law requires us to communicate certain information to other agencies, people and/or professionals.
It is in our interest that you clearly understand what we can and cannot keep confidential before you reveal something to us as a "secret" that we cannot keep secret. Please read this document carefully and keep a copy. At the beginning of our first intervention we can discuss any questions you have about it so that we all have a clear understanding of our purpose and our role as an institution and human services professionals. The following are all the circumstances under which as professionals we cannot maintain confidentiality:
When you or others are in physical danger, the law requires me to tell you:
to. If as a professional we believe that you are threatening to seriously harm another person, we are obligated to try to protect that person by notifying them that they are in danger and contacting the police, or perhaps admitting them to a hospital.
b. If you make serious threats or act in a way that is very likely to cause you harm, we may need to find a hospital for you or call family members or other people who can help protect you. If such a situation arises, we will fully discuss the situation with you before taking action, unless there is a very strong reason not to do so.
c. In an emergency where your life or health is in danger, and we cannot obtain your consent, I may give another professional some information to protect your life. We will try to obtain your permission first and discuss this with you as soon as possible.
d. If we believe or suspect that you are abusing a child, elderly person, or disabled person, we must file a report with a state agency. "Abuse" means to neglect, hurt, or sexually abuse another person. We have no legal power to investigate the situation and/or to find out all the facts. The state agency will be in charge of investigating. If this could be your situation, we should discuss the legal aspects in detail before you tell us anything about this topic. You also have the right to consult and/or speak with your attorney.
In any of these situations, we will disclose only the information necessary to protect you or the other person.
In general, if you become involved in a court case or proceeding, you can prevent us from testifying in court about what you have disclosed to us. This is called "privilege" and it is your choice to prevent us from testifying or allow us to testify. However, there are some situations in which a judge or court may require us to testify, such as:
to. In custody or adaptation procedures for minors in which their suitability as a parent is questioned or doubted.
b. In cases where your emotional or mental state is important information for a court's decision.
c. During a malpractice case or an investigation of us as professionals or another therapist by a professional group.
d. In the absence of civil commitment to decide whether he will be admitted or continue in a psychiatric hospital.
and. When you are seeing us for court-ordered evaluations or treatment. In this case we have to discuss confidentiality, because you don't have to tell me what you don't want the court to find out from my report.
There are a few other things you should know about confidentiality and its treatment:
to. Sometimes we may consult to "talk" to another professional about your treatment. This other professional is also ethically bound to keep your information confidential. Likewise, when as professionals we are outside the country or are not available, another professional will be available to help our participants. Because of this we must share some information about our participants, like you.
b. We are required to keep records of your treatment such as the notes we take at each intervention. Here's what you need to know about special confidentiality rules regarding working with children and families.
to. When we intervene with children under 12 years of age, we must inform their parents or guardians what they ask me to share. As children become more able to understand and choose, they assume legal rights. For minors between 12 and 18 years old, most of the details in the things they reveal to us will be treated as confidential. However, parents or guardians do have the right to information, including how the therapy is going. We may also need to tell parents or guardians some information they have revealed to us about other family members. This is especially true if the shares
of these others put them or others in any danger.
b. In cases where we intervene with several members of a family (father and children or other relatives), the confidentiality situation can become very complicated. We may have different duties towards different family members.
c. If you reveal something to us that your spouse does not know and not knowing could harm you, we cannot promise to keep it confidential. We will work with you to decide the best long-term way to handle situations like this.
