Question by Anaethema X: My kids childcare is asking for the notes from counseling their sessions. Is that even legal?
1. I am in a custody battle with their dad who thinks that he can abuse meth and still be a good parent.
2. I have been dealing wih issues with this childcare for months. Even my employer believes they are targeting me. I have had to leave important meetings at work to take them to the doctor to have “marks diagnosed” which turned out to be the contact rash that I said it was!
3. I have never had an open CPS case, and I am scared to death to not do as the child care wants.
4. My 5 year old only has 2 days left there (I am transferring them) and my 2 year old is there for another 3 weeks. I am afraid to even tell them that I am transferring them because it feels like her finger is ready to dial DCFS.
5. This started in February when I mentioned that they had stayed at the crisis nursery. I have depression, and 4 children and NO FAMILY here to give me hand when things get rough. I have never hurt my kids, and I advocate use of crisis nurseries openly.
Best answer:
Answer by branofwinterfell
No that isn’t legal. They have overstepped their bounds.
Give your answer to this question below!
Yes it is indeed legal.
no it isn’t legal. Therpay sessions are closed/private. They have absolutely NO right to this information.
No, no one is allowed to see counseling notes. No one. Let them dial DCFS, an investigation will show nothing. If they do call DCFS tell them you are filing a slander lawsuit against them and you are going to pull your child out immediately, and make their life miserable by calling DCFS on them constantly making anonymous calls and the Health Department. You can make their life hell too. Remind them of that and they will leave you alone. ( Of course don’t do this while they are still caring for your child)
It is in NO WAY legal for ANYONE to see counseling notes without a court order subpoena!!! I worked in a child and adoloescent psychiatric hospital for three years. Do not give in. Contact an attorney if you have to.
I would loose the money you have already paid and transfer them now. You don’t want your kids some where when they are treating them like that.
I am not a lawyer but I have worked at a University Daycare for many years and then private daycares.
To answer your question I would say no that there are no legal grounds for you to give them your personal information of this sort unless otherwise ordered by the courts.
They are probably asking to better prepare and serve your child for while he/she is going through this transition.
I would tell them that this is a personal matter and that you would prefer not sharing intimate details but (if you are up to it) you will provide updates on what you might think would help your child and for them to let you know if they see any changes in him/her.
Sometimes individuals are just being noisy buy in others they may be trying to help. I would say if your not comfortable giving the information then don’t give it.
Good Luck!
If you have the extra $ you may want to consider pre paid legal. Even though I would prefer not to spend the $ it gives me a little peace of mind. (cheapeast plan is about $17/month)
With prepaid legal if they ever try to take my daughter (God forbid) I will have 24 hour legal assistance. In your case it will give you the peace of mind to know that even if the daycare does “call” you will still have someone on your side.
Personally I do not believe that you are obligated to share confidential information, to utilize this childcare. If I were you I would seek help through a legal counsel, or try calling legal aid.
At best if advised that you should not provide this information to them, and they continue to insist, then I think I would seek another childcare provider.
Hope this helps and good luck to you and your children.
Why are they going there another day get them out now! your children are going threw enough with you and your husband going threw a custudy battle, Let them call dcfs if you are being a good mom you have nothing to worry about it sounds like you are doing everything right you took them to the dr when the child care requested you to if your children were being abused at all the hospital would have called dcfs, stop worring and don’t let this child care center bully you.
no they can’t ask for that info thats personal and private and for the councilor only they have definetly over stepped there bounderies just make sure you keep notes on everything they said and did and your result for example telling you to go to the doctor that rash was not an emergency you shouldnt of had to leave work and keep the doctors result so that way if they start to do stupid things like calling dcf on you you have all your notes to prove how nosey they are thats not there bussiness its personal and i wouldn’t wait to transfer them i’d take them out now
They only have access to them if you give them access to them, they are not doctors, tell them no!
They can ask all they want, but they’re not entitled to them. I volunteer with a national grief support group, and occasionally get calls from a spouse’s lawyer asking for notes and transcripts from our sharing sessions and lists of attendees. They can ask, but they don’t get them.
You can give them a letter that states your children are seeing a counsellor, but they cannpt demand to know what goes on in those sessions. Call CPS yourself, and tell them your problem..tell them how the daycare is hassling you, if you are doing everything right for your children, there will be no problems. If you have used the crisis nursery, then I’m sure they report to CPS. Hang in there. Don’t let the childcare people bully you. You do not have to devulge what goes on in your children’s counselling session.
First of all, the childcare providers are not in charge of you, they are working for you. They are not in charge of your children- you are in charge of your children. Somehow, because you are feeling unsure of yourself, you have gotten into a position with them where both you and they feel that they are the primary party in charge. Remind yourself that you are paying them to perform a service for you and that you are under no obligation to buy this service from them or anyone else.
Secondly, it seems that when they heard “crisis nursery,” they assumed “abuse.” Perhaps they do not know that non-abusive parents can voluntarily make use of the crisis nursery during an illness or other crisis. I would be willing to bet that their understanding of the crisis nursery is that it is only used in abuse or neglect situations. I don’t know if it would be possible to clear this up at this point. Also, could it be that, without being aware of it, you are showing some signs of depression (for example, being disorganized or forgetful, speaking unusually slowly, or lax grooming/hygeine/dress), that make them wonder if the kids are well cared for?
Do not give them access to the kids’ counseling records. They are not entitled to see these records unless a judge, parent or guardian gives written consent. Instead, ask them what their concerns are and tell them that if there is any info they need to take good care of your children, you can tell it to them orally.
Finally, transfer all of your children as soon as possible. When you tell them, don’t act guilty or afraid Practice with someone first, or tape yourself to see how you come across. If you can, think of a true reason for the transfer, like “the location and hours of the new provider work out better for us” or “the new provider has more staff diversity, and can offer a
beautiful new facility” (or whatever).
Also, consider the possibility that the children’s father, or this daycare, may call the new daycare and tell them that they suspect the children may not be well cared for. How can you immediately build a positive relationship with the new daycare so that if this happens, they will react like your employer has.
Good luck.
no that isnt legal they cant ask
No you do not have to give them confidential information…. this is where the HIPAA law comes in. Just tell them that under the HIPAA laws you are not required to release this information to them but assure them that the children are just fine.
I think that you should find a different childcare provider. A childcare provider should be a nurturing place and it sounds like these people are not doing their job. They are causing more stress in an already stressful situation.
Be sure to give proper notice I would be very careful in what information you tell these folks, they don’t need to know everything.
Talk to the counselor! When my kids were in a DHS family improvement plan for some bullcrap our psycho neighbor cooked up they wanted MY notes from my counseling sessions for my bipolar disorder. My therapist gave them one set of notes and their caseworker promptly twisted them around and blew them out of proportion.
My therapist was PISSED. She called DHS and ripped them a new one and instituted a new policy that she would write a summary of her clients progress but would NEVER release actual notes again except directly to her clients (and even then only for cause — if a client told her DHS for example was pressuring them she would simply refuse to do it — for the benefit of her client because of course someone in therapy should be able to talk about bad stuff happening to them without fear of repercussions.)
So…talk to your kids therapist about your concerns and see if in response to DHS they will write a summary of the notes. Maybe they will put a note on your children`s file so they can send the summary and not release the notes.
Good for you taking them to the crisis nursery when you need help. There is no shame in that and you are doing the right thing. Do you have a therapist or doctor? Maybe they can also help rip DHS a new one or at least point out for their files that you are doing all you can to treat your depression and they need to kindly f*ck off.
WTF. They need to chill out. They are totally targeting you. It is what ignorant people do when they find out a mom has depression or bipolar. They think about bizarro ripped from the headlines stories about really out of control moms who did not seek treatment or use the help available to them.
Then they start gossiping among themselves.
Then they see bruises and burns that are not there or are really mosquito bites or sunburns.
They call DHS because they are “so concerned“ when really they have passed condemnation because of a mother`s biomedical condition.
And if there is a custody battling father involved — they think “Look — he is concerned about these kids with their mom.“
F&ck em. You know you are doing the very best you can. Hopefully you at least have a supportive relationship with your doctor or therapist as well as your kids` and you do not let your pride get in the way of doing what is right.
Again I commend you for using a crisis nursery. That is what they are around for and there should be more of them.
Be well but be prepared for a fight against bulls&it and bureaucracy.
If it begins then answer every report or memo they send out with one of your own detailing the factual incorrectness — correcting it with corroboration if you have it — and stating the correct version of events.
Send copies to DHS to your lawyer if you get one and to the court for the children`s file and for their guardian ad litem to see if it gets that far.
They expect people to be intimidated by their legal mumbo kumbo and plethora of letters and status updates and files. You won`t be. You will stand up to them. And they will retreat — eventually.
Be well good mom. Email me if you ever want to talk.