Children & consent
We should normally seek the consent of parents or legal guardians, or other person of eighteen or over in loco parentis before interviewing children or young people, or otherwise involving them in our output, and the younger and more vulnerable the child, and the more sensitive the subject matter, the more likely it is that consent is essential. In particular children should not be asked for views on matters likely to be beyond their capacity to answer properly without consent.
Content producers who are featuring children and young people in their output must:
- ensure that the child and, when necessary, the parent/guardian, or other person of eighteen or over in loco parentis understand the nature of the programme and are able to give informed consent.
- obtain the consent of the child or young person and respect any refusal to take part. In deciding whether a child can give consent, the stage of development and degree of understanding as well as their age should be taken into account.
- normally obtain the consent of the parents/guardians/other person in loco parentis to the child's participation or contribution, an exception may be when recording vox pops with children on non-controversial subjects such as pocket money or favourite singers.
- refer any refusal of parental consent to a senior editorial figure or for Independents to the commissioning editor, who should also consult Editorial Policy. Any decision to proceed without parental consent is normally only editorially justified on the basis of a clear public interest or the freedom of the child or young person to express themselves, this includes their right to speak out.
- ensure that any reasonably foreseeable consequences of the child's participation are made clear, for example, the possibility of bullying.
- not give any financial inducement to the child or parent/guardian to secure consent. The payment of expenses is acceptable as long as they are reasonable and legitimate.
- obtain permission from the head teacher for filming or interviewing on school premises or during school hours. In law, Local Education Authorities license all child performances during school hours.
When we ask children for personal information online we need to consider what degree of parental consent is appropriate.
Any proposal to reveal a child's personal information to a third party without consent, for example if we suspect child abuse, must be referred to a senior editorial figure or for Independents to the commissioning editor who may consult Controller Editorial Policy and Programme Legal Advice.
When we invite children to interact with us via the telephone we must tell them on air to obtain the consent of a parent or bill payer before making the call. If, in exceptional circumstances, calls last more than a minute, the message needs to begin by telling children that consent should be obtained. Call cut offs must be used for all children's services and the cost of calls for children's services should not normally be more than the cost of writing in.