Who is collecting and using your personal data?

Devon County Council will act as a ‘data controller’ for any personal data that you provide to us. As such, we will ensure that the data you give us is processed in line with our organisation’s data protection policies and in line with your rights under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulations.

Should you wish to find out more about Devon County Council’s data protection policies please contact our Data Protection Officer.

Please note that failure to provide your personal data may make it difficult for us to either approve or use you as a foster care, or if approved, either approve or process any home adaptations.

Why are we collecting your personal data?

We are collecting your personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to initial enquiries about foster care.
To assess prospective foster carers.
To place children in foster care placements.
To arrange home adaptations where required.

We rely upon the following laws to process your personal data:

Adoption and Children Act 2002.
Care Standards Act 2000.
ChildCare Act 2006.
Children Act 1989, Guidance and Regulations Volume 4 Fostering Services.
Children Act 2004.
Children and Young Persons Act 2008.
Article 6(1)(e) – UK General Data Protection Regulation
Article 9(2)(h) – UK General Data Protection Regulation

Who will we share your personal data with?

Your child’s name, address and the unique identification numbers that are assigned to your child in our education, health and social care systems will be imported into a data matching tool that is used by the Children and Education Service to improve the efficiency of data matching.

This will help us to deliver integrated care and educational services to you and your child, and will enable Devon County Council to continue to better discharge our safeguarding responsibilities to children at risk.

To deliver services to you, may also be necessary for us to share your personal data with the following organisations/partners:

Fostering agencies.
Foster carers.

How long will we hold your personal data?

We will retain your personal data for only as long as is necessary and in line with our organisation’s record retention schedules.

Automated decisions

No automated decisions are made using personal data supplied as part of the fostering process.

Exercising your rights

Under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulations you have the following rights:

The right of access to your personal data.
The right to request rectification or deletion of your personal data.
The right to object to the processing of your personal data.
The right to request a copy of the information you provide us in machine-readable format.
The right to withdraw your consent to any processing that is solely reliant upon your consent.

Should you wish to exercise any of your rights, you should contact the Data Protection Officer.

Your right to complain

If you wish to complain about the way that your personal data has been handled by Devon County Council, you should write to the Data Protection Officer and clearly outline your case. Your complaint will then be investigated in accordance with the Council’s customer feedback procedure.

If you remain dissatisfied with the way your personal data has been handled, you may refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office whose contact details are below:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

Changes to how we may process your personal data during the COVID-19 crisis

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be necessary for Devon County Council to change the way that we process your personal data, to ensure we can protect public health and deliver essential services to you and the public during this crisis. For more information read our COVID-19 privacy notice.