Photos at the daycare: consent, parents’ rights and safe sharing

A photo of a toddler proudly showing their finger painting brightens every parent’s day. But under GDPR, a child’s photo is personal data — and children’s data gets extra protection. That doesn’t mean you should stop taking photos. It means you need two things in order: valid consent, and a safe way to share.

Consent is the basis — and it has rules

For recognisable photos of children, consent from the parents is the lawful basis in practice. Valid consent is:

• Specific. Consent for photos in the daily report is not consent for your website, brochure or social media. Ask per purpose.
• Freely given. A place at the daycare can never depend on saying yes to photos.
• Withdrawable. Parents may change their mind at any time — and withdrawal must be as easy as consenting was.
• Documented. You must be able to show who consented to what, and when.

Ask at enrolment with clear, separate options, and ask again if a new purpose comes up. And mind group photos: one child whose parents said no means that photo can’t go on Facebook — blurring or cropping is not a workaround parents have to accept.

The real risk isn’t the camera — it’s the channel

Most photo problems in childcare don’t come from taking pictures but from how they travel: staff members’ personal phones, WhatsApp groups where every parent sees every child, photos forwarded outside the group. Once a photo is in a chat app, you’ve lost control of it — and no consent form covers that.

Sharing photos safely

A closed parent portal solves the channel problem. In KidLogg, photos reach parents through their own secure app account:

• Only the right eyes. Parents see their own child; staff see only the children in their own groups.
• No copies drifting around. Photos live in one place, stored within the EU — not on personal phones or in chat threads.
• Really gone when it matters. If parents withdraw consent or a child leaves, photos can be erased permanently — the stored files included, not just hidden.

Photos are one of the nicest parts of the parent relationship. With clear consent and a closed channel, they stay that way.

Want to see how photo sharing works in the parent app? Request a demo.