How your child’s information is protected

1. What information is collected

• Identifying information about the child and parents or guardians: names, dates of birth, identity numbers where required for billing, contact details and address.
• Health and developmental information: medical, developmental and family history relevant to the assessment.
• Educational information: school reports, workbooks, teacher observations and previous assessment or therapy reports.
• Assessment data: test protocols, scores, clinical observations and session notes.
• Financial information needed for invoicing and medical aid claims.
• Website information: anything you voluntarily submit through the enquiry form. The site does not use advertising or tracking cookies.

2. Why it is collected

Information is processed for the purpose of providing a professional psychological service: to conduct an accurate assessment, to formulate recommendations, to compile the report you have requested, to communicate with you, to bill you and, where you have asked for it, to support applications for accommodations. Information is never sold, rented or used for marketing.

3. Consent

Assessment of a minor requires the informed consent of a parent or legal guardian, obtained in writing before the assessment begins. Older children and adolescents are also asked for their own assent, and are told in age-appropriate terms what the assessment is for and who will see the results. Consent may be withdrawn at any time, although this does not undo processing that has already lawfully taken place.

4. Confidentiality — and its limits

Everything discussed in the consulting room is confidential. Reports and findings are released only to you as the parent or guardian, and are shared with a school, doctor, therapist or any other third party only with your specific written consent.

There are narrow exceptions, imposed by law and professional ethics, in which information must be disclosed without consent:

• Where there is a reasonable belief that a child has been abused, neglected or is otherwise in need of care and protection — a mandatory report under the Children’s Act, 2005.
• Where there is a serious and imminent risk of harm to your child or to another person.
• Where disclosure is compelled by a court order or by law.
• Where the HPCSA requires access to records in the course of a professional conduct enquiry.

Where such a disclosure becomes necessary, you will be informed wherever it is safe and lawful to do so, and no more information will be shared than is required.

5. Who else may process information

Limited information may be handled by operators acting on the practice’s behalf — for example a bookkeeper or an electronic billing service — and, where you submit a medical aid claim, by your scheme and its administrator. Operators are required to maintain confidentiality and appropriate security. Where a cloud or email service provider stores information outside South Africa, this only occurs where that jurisdiction offers comparable protection, as required by section 72 of POPIA.

6. How information is secured

• Paper files and test protocols are stored in a locked cabinet with access limited to the practitioner.
• Electronic records are password protected, encrypted where feasible and backed up securely.
• Reports are transmitted by password-protected document or another secure method wherever practical.
• Test materials are secured in line with copyright and professional test-security requirements.
• Any security compromise involving personal information will be reported to the Information Regulator and to affected parties as required by section 22 of POPIA.

7. How long records are kept

Health records must be retained in accordance with HPCSA guidelines. In general, records of a minor are kept until the child’s twenty-first birthday, and adult records for at least six years after the last consultation. Financial records are retained for the period required by tax legislation. Records are destroyed securely once the retention period has expired.

8. Your rights under POPIA

• To be told what personal information is held and to request access to it.
• To request correction of information that is inaccurate, misleading or out of date.
• To request deletion of information that the practice is no longer entitled or required to retain.
• To object, on reasonable grounds, to particular processing.
• To withdraw consent for future processing.
• To complain to the Information Regulator.

Requests may be made in writing to theresavdb@mweb.co.za. Note that raw test protocols and standardised test materials are generally not released to non-professionals, as their disclosure would compromise test security; the findings are, of course, fully explained to you and set out in the report.

9. Contacting the Information Regulator

Information Regulator (South Africa), JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg 2001. Email: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za. Website: inforegulator.org.za.

10. This website

This site uses Google Analytics to understand how the site is being used — how many people visit, which pages they read and roughly where in the world they are. This is done to improve the site, not to identify you. Google Analytics sets cookies in your browser and processes your IP address, which Google anonymises. No information you submit on this site is linked to that analytics data.

You can opt out of Google Analytics entirely by installing Google’s browser opt-out add-on, or by blocking cookies in your browser settings. The site works normally either way. Google’s handling of this data is governed by the Google Privacy Policy.

The site carries no advertising and no advertising cookies. Web fonts are loaded from Google Fonts and a map is embedded from Google Maps on the contact page; these providers may log your IP address as part of serving that content. Information submitted through the enquiry form is used solely to respond to your enquiry. Links to external organisations are provided for convenience and those sites have their own privacy practices.

11. Changes to this notice

This notice may be updated from time to time. The current version is always available on this page.