Privacy Policy

Purpose

To maintain compliance with privacy legislation applicable or relevant to Adopt4Life, and to provide the public with information regarding Adopt4Life privacy policy and practices.

Policy

Adopt4Life (“we, “us”, or “our”) is committed to meeting or exceeding privacy principles and obligations with respect to personal information under applicable Canadian privacy legislation.

The purpose of this statement is to inform our clients, community, and other individuals we deal with (“you” or “your”) how we collect, use, disclose, retain and dispose of personal information, as well as the safeguards in place to protect that information. This statement also provides information on how to obtain access to or request correction of a record of personal information held by our organization, how to contact us, and how to make a complaint about our privacy practices.

What is Personal Information?

Personal information means recorded information about an identifiable individual. Information will be about an identifiable individual where there is a serious possibility that an individual could be identified through the use of that information, alone or in combination with other available information.

Personal Information We Collect about You

We only collect, use, and disclose personal information necessary for the delivery of our services, operation of the organization, and fulfillment of organizational obligations. We will not collect personal information if other information will serve the purpose of the collection, use or disclosure.

Adopt4Life and its agents and representatives collect personal information directly and indirectly in a number of circumstances in the course of delivering our services to members of our community. This includes through registration requests, intakes, social media interactions, correspondence, event registrations, or other forms of communication. Personal information we collect includes:

  • name, address, telephone number, and other contact information;

  • email address;

  • social media username;

  • information about your family, including family structure, health information, adoption arrangements, social history;

  • financial information from our donors; and

  • such other information we may collect with your consent or as permitted or required by law

How We Use Your Personal Information

We generally use your personal information for the following purposes:

  • processing registrations for our programs and services;

  • contacting and communicating with individual parents or caregivers in the Adopt4Life community to provide parent and caregiver support;

  • contacting third party agencies or individuals, with your explicit consent, to provide and advocate for services or supports for your family;

  • contacting individuals regarding upcoming events, activities, or resources of potential interest to our community;

  • contacting parents and caregivers in our community for quality assurance purposes, such as to obtain feedback on service delivery;

  • activities to improve or maintain the quality of a service, including completing program evaluation and research, and preparing program proposals;

  • planning, managing or delivering services, evaluating or monitoring those services, or detecting, monitoring or preventing fraud or any unauthorized receipt of services or benefits related to them;

  • disposing of the information or modifying the information in order to conceal the identify of the individual;

  • meeting legal, regulatory, insurance, security and processing requirements; and,

  • otherwise with consent or as permitted or required by law

Disclosure of Your Personal Information

We will only disclose your personal information with your consent or if we have legal authority to do so, such as in the following circumstances:

  • Service Providers. Adopt4Life may transfer personal information to outside agents or services providers where required to provide certain services on our behalf such as data hosting, payment processing, marketing and communications, analytics and customer service.

  • Child Protection. Adopt4Life may be obligated to disclose personal information to protect an individual from harm, including to law enforcement and/or the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) if we learn or suspect that another person/people have been harmed, or may be at risk of harm (including but not limited to abuse or neglect); or,

  • Legal. Adopt4Life may disclose personal information as necessary to meet legal, regulatory, insurance, audit, and security requirements, and as otherwise with your consent or as permitted or required by law (including as required by applicable Canadian and foreign laws applicable to us or our service providers).

We never sell, rent, or share our registrant or donor lists with any third party.

Non-identifying Information

As part of our commitment to anti-oppressive values and practice, we aggregate non-identifying information, in compliance with applicable laws, to help us better understand the cultural, racial, ethnic, and family demographics of our community. This enables us to ensure appropriate referrals and resource matching, and to meet funding agreement obligations and further develop our supports and services to be reflective of the make-up and needs of our community.

Adopt4Life will periodically share non-identifying information about registrants for reporting and funding purposes. In such situations, all identifying information is removed so that it cannot be traced back to individual registrants.

Cookies and Analytics

We also use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your visit to our website, to remember your preferences and settings when you navigate through our website, and for security purposes.

Many web browsers allow you to manage your preferences. You can set your browser to refuse cookies or delete certain cookies. You may be able to manage other technologies in the same way that you manage cookies using your browser’s preference.

We also use Google Analytics to better understand who is using our website and how people are using it. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect information such as website pages visited, places where users click, time spent on each website page, Internet Protocol address, type of operating system used and location. Please see http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/ for information about how Google Analytics uses this information, and visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout for information about the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. Google may track your activity over time and across websites.

Links to Other Websites

We may offer links from our website to other websites, including social media platforms, controlled by separate entities. However, we are not responsible for, nor do we accept any liability for how such other entities collect, use and disclose personal information. You should consult the privacy policies of these other websites before providing any personal information.

Safeguards

Adopt4Life respects the confidentiality of personal information and takes reasonable steps to protect your personal information with safeguards that are appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, which may include safeguards to protect against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. Access to personal information is granted only to those employees and authorized volunteers or agents whose duties require them to see the information for Adopt4Life purposes. Access is limited to the specific information needed to carry out the particular Adopt4Life activity.

Your Consent

You may withdraw your consent to further collection, use, storage, or disclosure of your personal information, at any time, by contacting us at privacy@adopt4life.com. In this case there may be certain information we are required to store even after consent has been withdrawn, such as the minimum documentation required to meet record-keeping standards and regulations.

Data Retention and Disposal

We retain your personal information for as long as is reasonably necessary to provide services to you and so that you can request access to it. When personal information is disposed, we protect it against theft, loss, and unauthorized use or disclosure. We also ensure that it cannot be reconstructed or retrieved after disposal.

Access, Correction and Complaints

You are entitled to know whether we hold personal and/or health information about you, see that information, and ensure that it is accurate. In some exceptional situations, Adopt4Life may not be able to provide access to certain personal information, such as when doing so would reveal personal information about a third party. If access cannot be provided, Adopt4Life will notify the individual of the reasons for refusal, in writing. If you would like to access your personal information, or have any complaints or questions about the protection of your privacy, please contact: privacy@adopt4life.com. Access requests will be at no charge. The Privacy Officer will aim to provide the relevant data within 30 days. Complaints may also be directed to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario.

For More Information

If you have additional questions about our privacy policies or practices, we invite you to contact Adopt4Life at:

By Phone: 1-888-274-6222 x 106 By Email: privacy@adopt4life.com

By Mail: 147 Liberty Street, Suite E01, Toronto, ON M6K3G3