ParentShield Children in Care SIM Cards
ParentShield for Children in Care
- Connects to the UK’s best network
- Live Cell Tower Location
- 24/7 Missing Person Support
- Higher Fair-Usage Limits
- Central Control of access and features
- Special Numbering and Security Implementations
Mobile phone provision for Children and Young People in care poses special challenges. ParentShield understands that every use case is different and we set out to provide monitoring and control technology that is flexible enough to provide a service that respects the rights and expectations of all users.
Where a contract is needed by a professional organisation, ParentShield will need to liaise with the care company Safeguarding and Purchasing lead personnel to ensure the features of a ParentShield SIM align with the mobile phone policies of the care organisation.
As there are additional costs incurred in providing service in this capacity – staff training, handling multiple points of contact, compliance, audits, and providing support in the event of a child MISPER are a few examples – the Pro Plans are specifically designed to cover all the costs involved. Children in care tend to have additional communication needs compared to children in a home situation, and our Corporate Parenting specialists are available to assist. Call us on 03301221180 to discuss SIM cards for children in care if required
Because an individual care home may have many managers and staff it’s important that Head Office has full control and access over individual contracts. For obvious reasons ParentShield will need a role-based single point of contact. If you don’t have an account, please download the ParentShield Onboarding Document here. All ParentShield orders by Corporate Parents must be placed via your SPoC.
Pro SIM-Only Contracts – cancel at any time
Overspending is impossible – these are the prices you pay, and there is no way the user can ever run up a surprise bill.
“We have more young people who struggle to use the internet and this has been a helpful way of managing it.”
Sally McGowan, Senior Social Worker, Hull CC
Plans for Care Users
If you are a corporate parent we can supply activated SIM cards that are ready to use as a Young Person comes into your care using an Inclusive billing format. If that Care User leaves your system there is no ongoing contract.
Children in care being provided with mobiles tend to be older than the average ParentShield user and therefore the standard Unlimited and other monthly plans are often unsuitable. For these older users, pricing will be evaluated according to their usage levels. While we will attempt to maintain the pricing levels of the standard Safe Stage Tariffs if possible, usage that is considerably higher than usual will be reflected in pricing. Details of ParentShield Pro tariffs, which are the maximum pricing levels can be found in the Onboarding Pack.
Live Cell Tower Location
All ParentShield Pro SIM cards provide instant location by Cell-Tower showing the best available location of the cell tower the user is currently connected to. This provides approximate location even if phone location services are disabled by the user.
Special Requirements
Because all needs may vary in a care situation, ParentShield’s technical team can make various adjustments for Children in Care. For example: one of our care homes has a YP who needs to make outbound calls but can’t disclose their mobile number. Our Technical team was able to reconfigure the SIM so outbound calls will always appear to come from the Home number, and not their own Mobile number.
ParentShield also has many special features to cater for the most complex phone co-parenting and security situations.
Please do call us on 0330 122 1180 if you have any requirement that is currently not being met.
If you would like your ParentShield setting up in any of the modes below – contact us at any time.
In No Recording mode, the ParentShield SIM calls and SMS are unrecorded at all times. In addition we can set up to three numbers that can have recording turned off.
The Account Controller has no option to turn on recording.
Call records are limited to regular “itemised bill” lines showing the calling and called parties, date and time and call duration.
Unrecorded Line mode allows the provision of a third “Home Number” that is permanently set to unrecorded. All calls to or from the Unrecorded Line number are never recorded. There can be up to three of these.
The Unrecorded Line number is also unmetered and available regardless of the other settings such as Timed Mode or Ultra Secure modes.
This mode is often requested if there is a responsible third party – such as a social worker or natural parent or legal representative who requires private access to the phone user.
Contact us to discuss any special requirements. Call: 0330 122 1180
No. Because Mobile Voicemail is insecure – and vulnerable to hacking, and recorded by networks in an unsafe and unencrypted way, we completely disable this facility.
In many cases Voicemail is still used as a vector for bullying or inappropriate contact. Blocking a caller and then inviting them to leave a message is not ideal in a protection scenario!
Yes, if you need a users to be able to call out without revealing their own number, call us for information.
Yes – a real problem exists in a care situation where a resident might need their own mobile phone number to receive SMS, but doesn’t need a physical mobile phone. You can use the ParentShield Portal to do this.
Children in care are typically older than the children who use the Standard Safe-Stage Tariffs. Their usage levels can reach 100x the average usage of a 9 year old.
Yes – call the office 03301221180 and ask for ‘virtual numbers’ or ‘shortcode dialling’ on your ParentShield SIM. We can set up Number Aliasing so, for example, a social worker, court representative, or other contact can call the ParentShield SIM, and even be called by the ParentShield SIM without disclosing the phone number of the caller.
