Welcome to the Adopting.com Privacy Policy ("Policy"). This explains how and what information we collect and store. By joining our service, you agree that we can collect and store your information as described in this Policy. If you have any questions or comments about this Policy, please feel free to contact us at info@Adopting.com.
Registration Information When you join our service and create an account ("Account"), we will collect the following information ("Registration Information") about you: Username; Email address; State;
In addition, for Adoptive Parent users we will collect:
Home address; Phone number; Home Study verification file;
You will be required to create a username and password in connection with the registration of your Account. Once you register, you will be able to review and change this information at any time.
This information helps to enhance the service and verify our Users. Only your username will be visible to the users you choose to communicate with, unless you choose to reveal additional information to your profile, such as an email address or phone number.
Home Study Verification Submission Upon joining our service, adoptive parent members only are required to submit a digital file verifying their home study certification. This file and its contents are not ever made publicly available on the Adopting website. Although these files are stored on our servers as part of the user's Account, they are kept private at all times. The information in the verification file is used for the purpose of admission to the service only and its contents are never used for any other purpose.
Additional Information We may also collect additional information in connection with your use of Adopting, such as your comments to us or on our discussion boards. If you contact our Customer Support team, we will receive your email address, and may track your IP address as well as the information you send to us to help resolve your query. We will keep records of our communications with you, including any complaints that we receive from you about other Users (and from other Users about you).We recommend and encourage you (and all our members) to think carefully about the information you disclose about yourself. We also do not recommend that you put email addresses, URLs, instant messaging details, phone numbers, full names or addresses, credit card details, national identity numbers, drivers' license details and other sensitive information on your profile which is open to abuse and misuse. Please be careful about posting sensitive details about yourself on your profile such as your religious denomination and health details. When you use the messaging function, the amount of personal information you share is at your own risk. If you post anything that is inconsistent with our Terms and Conditions of Use, we reserve the right to terminate your Account.
Usage Data Our servers automatically record information ("Log and Usage Data") created by your use of the Service, which helps us to improve our service. Log and Usage Data may include information such as your IP address, browser type, the referring domain, pages visited, access times, your mobile carrier, and search terms. Other actions, such as interactions with Adopting.com, may also be included in Log and Usage Data.
Device Information We may collect information about your device when you use the Website including the unique device identifier, device model, operating system, and MAC address.
Our main goal is to ensure your experience on Adopting is a useful one. In order to deliver a quality experience to you, we may use your Registration and other information to: - Display families in your state (Expectant Mother members only); - Contact you with information about the service (e.g., updates and new offerings); - Personalize the service and the content we deliver to you; - Conduct research and analytics about how you use and interact with the service; - Resolve disputes between you and other Users; and Investigate fraud, protect our legal rights, and to enforce our Terms & Conditions.
Our policy is to not disclose your Registration Information, except in the limited circumstances described here: Law and Harm - It is very important that all Adopting users behave appropriately while using the service. We will cooperate with all third parties to enforce their intellectual property or other rights. We will also cooperate with law enforcement inquiries from within or outside your state of residence. This may include preserving or disclosing any of your information, including your Registration Information, if we believe in good faith that it is necessary to comply with a law or regulation, or when we believe that disclosure is necessary to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal request; to protect the safety of any person; to address fraud, security or technical issues; or to protect our rights or property or those of third parties. In such cases we may raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us.
Our service is designed to make it easier for you to connect with other Users and to interact with them, while preserving your privacy. You understand however that the information you make available via the service, including information you provide directly or indirectly through, may be viewed and shared by Adopting users with individuals who may or may not be Users or via third party website applications. For example, a User may review your communications with an adoption attorney or agency. You might share information like the family photos and messages you view and any metadata provided with those messages. When using Adopting, you should assume that anything you submit on the Website may be publicly-viewable and accessible, both by Users of the Website and non-Users of the Website. The exception, for adoptive parent members, is the home study verification file which is a private file viewable only by Adopting staff.
You may access or modify the Registration Information you provided at anytime or permanently delete your Account. When your Account is deactivated, we take reasonable efforts to make sure it is removed from the Website. We are not responsible for any information, comments, or other content that is deleted from our systems resulting from the deactivation of your Account.To prevent abuse and/or misuse of Adopting by a User following termination or deletion of a profile/Account we shall retain such information as we deem in our sole discretion may be necessary to ensure that User does not open a new Account and profile in breach of our Terms and Conditions of Use and to ensure compliance with all laws and regulations. Warning: Even after you remove information from your profile or delete your Account, copies of that information may still be viewable and/or accessed to the extent such information has been previously shared with others, or copied or stored by other Users or to the extent such information has been shared with search engines. We cannot control this, nor do we accept any liability for this. If you have given third party applications or websites access to your personal information they may retain such information to the extent permitted under their terms of service or privacy policies. Removed and deleted information may persist in backup copies for up to 30 days to enable restoration, but will not be available to others in the meantime.
As Adopting evolves, we may revise this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version of the policy will govern our use of your information and will always be at Adopting.com. If we make a change to this policy that, in our sole discretion, is material, we will notify you, for example, via an email to the email associated with your Account or by posting a notice within Adopting. By continuing to access or use the Website after those changes become effective, you agree to be bound by the revised Privacy Policy.
At Adopting we pride ourselves on taking commercially reasonable security measures to help protect your information against loss, misuse and unauthorized access, or disclosure. We use reasonable security measures to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal information such as secured servers using firewalls. Unfortunately no website or Internet transmission is ever completely 100% secure and even we cannot guarantee that unauthorized access, hacking, data loss or other breaches will never occur. But here are some handy tips to help keep your data secure:
Please make sure you log out of your Account after use as you never know who may stumble onto your Account! Change your social media password periodically. We cannot guarantee the security of your personal data while it is being transmitted to our site and any transmission is at your own risk.
WE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO ANY BREACHES OF SECURITY, DAMAGE TO YOUR DEVICE, OR ANY LOSS OR UNAUTHORIZED USE OF YOUR REGISTRATION INFORMATION OR OTHER DATA.
Your access to the Website, as well as this Privacy Policy are governed and interpreted by the laws of the State of California, other than such laws, rules, regulations and case law that would result in the application of the laws of a jurisdiction other than the State of California. By using the Website, you are consenting to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the United States and the State of California. You agree that such courts shall have in personam jurisdiction and venue and waive any objection based on inconvenient forum. You agree that you will not file or participate in a class action against us. In the event there is a discrepancy between this English language version and any translated copies of the Policy, the English version shall prevail.
Adoption Connect Technologies is registered in the United States. Our registered address is 2244 Faraday Avenue Suite 138, Carlsbad CA 92008
Effective date This Privacy Policy was last updated on 13 February 2020.