All records and information shall be held confidential and may not be disclosed without the individual's consent, except as may be necessary to provide services to the individual mother or child or as otherwise required by law. This means that: Confidential information may be released without the patient's or parent's consent to agencies, institutions, or individuals who are authorized to provide maternal and child health services to the mother or child as a part of the program of the Maryland Department of Health. Confidential information may be released to other public agencies to the extent that they are authorized to provide services for the health and welfare of the mother or child for whom the patient, or the patient’s parent in the case of a minor, has requested services. In these circumstances, the information may be disclosed only if written assurances are given to the Maternal and Child Health Bureau that: The confidential character of the information will be preserved; The confidential information will be used only for the purpose for which it is disclosed; The purposes for the disclosure are reasonably related to the purposes of the program of the Maryland Department of Health and the functioning of the other agencies; and The standards of protection established by the other agencies to which the confidential information is released are of equal or greater stringency than those established by the Maryland Department of Health itself.