Privacy Policy

This privacy policy applies between you, the User of this Website and Fostering Families, the owner and provider of this Website. Fostering Families takes the privacy of your information very seriously. This privacy policy applies to our use of any and all Data collected by us or provided by you in relation to your use of the Website.
Please read this privacy policy carefully.

Definitions and interpretation

In this privacy policy, the following definitions are used:

Data	collectively all information that you submit to Fostering Families via the Website. This definition incorporates, where applicable, the definitions provided in the Data Protection Laws;
Cookies	a small text file placed on your computer by this Website when you visit certain parts of the Website and/or when you use certain features of the Website. Details of the cookies used by this Website are set out in the clause below (Cookies);
Data Protection Laws	any applicable law relating to the processing of personal Data, including but not limited to the Directive 96/46/EC (Data Protection Directive) or the GDPR, and any national implementing laws, regulations and secondary legislation, for as long as the GDPR is effective in the UK;
GDPR	the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679;
UK and EU Cookie Law	the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 as amended by the Privacy and Electronxic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011;
User or you	any third party that accesses the Website and is not either (i) employed by Fostering Families and acting in the course of their employment or (ii) engaged as a consultant or otherwise providing services to Fostering Families and accessing the Website in connection with the provision of such services; and
Website	the website that you are currently using, https://fosteringfamilies.com, and any sub-domains of this site unless expressly excluded by their own terms and conditions.

Scope of this privacy policy

This privacy policy applies only to the actions of Fostering Families and Users with respect to this Website. It does not extend to any websites that can be accessed from this Website including, but not limited to, any links we may provide to social media websites.
For purposes of the applicable Data Protection Laws, Fostering Families is the “data controller”. This means that Fostering Families determines the purposes for which, and the manner in which, your Data is processed.

Data collected

We may collect the following Data, which includes personal Data, from you:

1. name;
2. contact Information such as email addresses and telephone numbers;
3. IP address (automatically collected);
4. web browser type and version (automatically collected);
5. operating system (automatically collected);
6. in each case, in accordance with this privacy policy.

How we collect Data

We collect Data in the following ways:

1. data is given to us by you; and
2. data is collected automatically.

Data that is given to us by you

Fostering Families will collect your Data in a number of ways, for example:

1. when you contact us through the Website, by telephone, post, e-mail or through any other means;
2. when you complete surveys that we use for research purposes (although you are not obliged to respond to them);
3. when you elect to receive marketing communications from us;

Data that is collected automatically

To the extent that you access the Website, we will collect your Data automatically, for example:

1. we automatically collect some information about your visit to the Website. This information helps us to make improvements to Website content and navigation, and includes your IP address, the date, times and frequency with which you access the Website and the way you use and interact with its content.
2. we will collect your Data automatically via cookies, in line with the cookie settings on your browser. For more information about cookies, and how we use them on the Website, see the section below, headed “Cookies”.

People who use our LiveChat service

We use a third-party provider, Zendesk, to supply and support our LiveChat service, which we use to handle enquiries in real time.
If you use the LiveChat service we will collect your name, email address and the contents of your LiveChat session. This information will be retained within the Zendesk database for a maximum period of 28 days
You can request a transcript of your LiveChat session from us and we will send this to you providing your request is received before the transcript has been deleted.

Cookies

This Website may place and access certain Cookies on your computer. Fostering Families uses Cookies to improve your experience of using the Website. Fostering Families has carefully chosen these Cookies and has taken steps to ensure that your privacy is protected and respected at all times.
All Cookies used by this Website are used in accordance with current UK and EU Cookie Law.
Before the Website places Cookies on your computer, you will be presented with a message bar requesting your consent to set those Cookies. By giving your consent to the placing of Cookies, you are enabling Fostering Families to provide a better experience and service to you. You may, if you wish, deny consent to the placing of Cookies; however certain features of the Website may not function fully or as intended.

This Website may place the following types of Cookies:

Type of Cookie	Purpose
Strictly necessary cookies	These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart, or make use of e-billing services.
Analytical/ performance cookies	They allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
Functionality cookies	These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
Targeting cookies	These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.