One remedy, advocated by some experts, is to change the law.
Michael Preston-Shoot, an emeritus professor of social work at the University of Bedfordshire, argues that legislation could be amended in England to make it possible for social workers to have a warrant to interview a person on their own – without needing to take legal action. This is already the case in Wales and Scotland.
“Sadly there are too many cases where practitioners cannot reach individuals because somebody else is getting in the way,” he says.
But Iain Mansfield, director of research at Policy Exchange, urges caution.
“I think this term ‘misinformation’ could be used to tilt that balance in quite a dangerous direction away from parents in favour of [the] state, which even if we trust it now to act well, it might not act well in future.”
“It really comes back to who defines misinformation,” he continues. “Who are you giving that power to? Do you want to give the power to a government? Do you want to give it to a large corporation or an individual billionaire?
“I think we need to err on the side of trusting parents here.”