Victims of childhood abuse have reacted angrily after the Scottish Government asked for information about their cases to be transferred to a new support service for abuse survivors.
The clients of Open Secret and the In Care Survivor Service say the move risk breaching their confidentiality, despite the fact that the government says data will by anonymous.
It has left victim support charity Open Secret blocking the request to work with the new initiative.
The new In Care Survivor Support Fund Service opens next month funded with £13.5m over five years to expand support for abuse victims.
It aims to direct people to the help they need, and could send them back to Open Secret, which would be paid for each case they take on.
But the charity's chief executive Janine Rennie said she would rather shut than risk the privacy of clients."The Scottish Government has asked for details of vulnerable survivors to help them "transition" to a new service. We have said under no circumstances will we be passing on any confidential information, even if that means our service comes to an end," she said.
"We will not be handing over any files without our clients' permission."
In March it was announced that the new service will be run by a consortium involving the charities Health in Mind, the Mental Health Foundation, and Penumbra. They will 'broker' abuse victims to services run by another 26 partner organisations.
However Ms Rennie said abuse victims had not been consulted and resented the strong mental health emphasis of the new organisation. "A lot of people are very angry, but they are also incredibly vulnerable", she said. "It is a direct risk for them to go and see someone new."
While the Government had initially requested only a few details from case files, the information Open Secret is now being asked to hand over risks identifying people inadvertently, she said. "Originally they wanted age, gender and the area they come from, but now they want us to provide a spreadsheet of different things including what kind of service they have had and whether they a 'risk'."
She said the situation had been at an impasse since a meeting last month.
Yvonne Smith, a 54 year old survivor of abuse in Glasgow's Nazareth House was just two and a half when she was sent to a school run by the now notorious Sisters of Nazareth. She said she would be appalled if her details were handed over. "I only just found out about this. I don't know why they want this information. There is information in my records which I have only just got and the Government want to take it back," she said.
"It took me a long time to open up to someone about my past. I wouldn't go to someone else."
However a Scottish Government spokesperson insisted nothing was being asked for that would identify victims of childhood abuse.
"We have been working hard with partners to deliver the expanded support system that we promised," she said. "To ensure consistency of care we asked groups already working with us to share anonymous data. We have never asked for any information that would compromise data protection.
"It will be for Open Secret to decide if they wish to provide their services via the new support fund, to date they have refused to engage in the mechanisms to enable that."
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