Information About Adopting Parents Shared With Birth Parents

Information About Adopting Parents Shared With Birth Parents
Short Title	Family Had to Move Homes After Their Information Was Mistakenly Shared With Birth Parents of Their Child
Location	London
Date	2016
Solove Harm	Insecurity, Breach of Confidentiality, Disclosure
Information	Identifying, Location, Contact, Demographic, Professional, Family
Threat Actors	Hackney Council, Solicitor working on the case
Individuals
Affected	A family that adopted a child
High Risk Groups
Tangible Harms	Loss of Trust, Anxiety, Changed Behavior

Hackney Council mistakenly disclosed information of new parents of a child to the birth parents. The family decided the breach was serious enough, and moved homes and changed names.

Description

In the London Borough of Hackney a family adopted a child and the details of who they were and where they lived were meant to be withheld from the birth parents. 

However, during the adoption process in 2016, a solicitor appointed by Hackney Council mistakenly included an unredacted copy of the application form. Sensitive data included the couple's names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and occupations.^{Breach of Confidentiality Disclosure}

The family ultimately decided that moving home and changing their names was the safest option for their adopted child. 

Hackney Council acknowledged their mistake and paid out £106,000 ($131,000) in damages, which also helped facilitate the house move. The council apologized to the couple for the "human error." This can be seen as Insecurity.

Sources

https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-data-breach-forced-this-family-to-move-home-and-change-their-names/