Red flags! Parents’ perspectives on data led policy and practice in family intervention

Family services in the UK are becoming increasingly reliant on technologies which merge and analyse personal data trails to inform policy and practice. Complex AI enabled tools are now regularly used to monitor and profile households, allocate resources, risk assess and target family interventions. This paper explores the impact of this technological transformation on parents by centring their views and experiences. Drawing on a mixed methods study we demonstrate how digital infrastructures are re-ordering family–state boundaries, bypassing the knowledge and consent of those impacted. The punitive, inflexible and in some cases deeply harmful consequences of data led practice for children and families are highlighted. We show how such negative encounters are cultivating mistrust and leading parents to actively avoid services seen as likely to link and profile personal data