Information sharing
There may be circumstances where social workers wish to check the social media accounts of children and families in order to obtain information about a child's welfare.
Where social workers wish to check the social media accounts of children due to concerns about exploitation this must be done in line with the procedures set out in the Use of social media sites policy and the Social media surveillance procedures.
Social workers may wish to obtain open-source information about families available on social media during the course of section 47 enquiries; guidance on this is available at Chapter 3 section 8 of the London child protection procedures.