Asking for consent

1. 63. You need consent or other legal authorisation to carry out any child protection examination, including a psychiatric or psychological assessment. You can get consent or authorisation from:
   
   
   1. a. a child or young person who has the maturity and understanding to make the decision^†
   2. b. a person with parental responsibility if the child or young person does not have the capacity to give consent (it is usually enough to have consent from one person with parental responsibility)
   3. c. the courts – for example, the family courts or the High Court.
2. 64. You must be satisfied that the person giving consent understands the purpose of the examination and what it will involve. This includes whether photographs or other images will be taken and how the results of the examination might be used – for example, as evidence in court.^*,²⁸ You must explain to the person that they have the right to refuse consent, and what may happen if they do this. You must record the discussion in the child or young person’s medical record.
3. 65. If the police or another agency tells you that a person with parental responsibility has given consent, you should check that the person has been given the information described in paragraph 64.
4. 66. You must keep to the terms of the consent. For example, if someone has given consent for images to be taken for forensic purposes, you should not use the images for other purposes – such as education or training – unless you get separate consent to do this.
5. 67. Advice on testing children and young people for a serious communicable disease is set out in paragraphs 12–16 of our supplementary guidance Confidentiality: disclosing information about serious communicable diseases.^†,30