e shared because consent has not been provided. Don’t let this happen; ensure you understand the correct lawful basis to use 12 information with other people, agencies or organisations about the children and families you are working with. If they have a choice about whether and how their information is shared or used, you should make this clear to them. If you have concerns about a child’s safety or welfare, and you are considering contacting support services about providing them or their parent(s) or carer(s) with specific support; being upfront, transparent, and honest about your concerns can give children the confidence to open up. It may also increase a parents’ or carers’ willingness to engage with services that provide family support. If you have concerns about a child’s safety and have decided to share information to protect them from a risk of harm, whenever it is safe and practical to do so, you should engage with the child, their parent(s)or carer(s) and explain who you intend to share information with, what information you will be sharing and why. This is unless seeking to discuss a potential concern would put the child or others at risk of harm. If you have a professional or legal duty to share certain information, and the child or carer therefore does not have a choice about information sharing, they should still be informed about what information sharing has taken place and how the information will be used, wherever possible and safe to do so. However, you should not inform the child or their parent or carer about your decision to share information if doing so could put a child or others at further risk of harm, or could compromise effective safeguarding arrangements, including police investigations. In any situation where children or their parent(s) or ca