Petition Make Body Worn Cameras Mandatory for Social Workers in Wales
When decisions can change a child’s life forever, there should be an accurate record of what happened.
We are calling on the Welsh Government to introduce mandatory body-worn cameras for social workers carrying out home visits, child protection enquiries and family assessments.
Crucial observations and conversations are currently recorded through case notes, assessments and reports. Children are too important for safeguarding decisions to depend solely on recollection and paperwork.
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The deaths of Logan Mwangi in Wales and Sara Sharif in England are devastating reminders of why safeguarding systems must build the clearest and most accurate possible picture of a child's circumstances.
Body worn cameras could provide vital transparency. They could preserve what professionals actually witnessed, identify discrepancies in subsequent reports, protect families from inaccurate recording and protect social workers from false allegations.
But above all, this is about protecting children.
Police officers use body worn cameras because evidence, accuracy and accountability matter. When social workers enter children's homes and make assessments capable of influencing life-changing safeguarding decisions, those principles matter just as much.
Appropriate safeguards must protect children's privacy and strictly control how footage is stored, accessed and used.
If it matters enough to change a child's life, it matters enough to record.
At 250 signatures...
All petitions with more than 250 signatures will be discussed by the Petitions Committee
At 10,000 signatures...
Petitions with more than 10,000 signatures will be considered for a debate in the Senedd