By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information.
PreferencesDenyAccept
Cookie Preferences

Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Ontario Adoption Matching (“OAM”, “We”, “Our”, “Us”) is a company located in Ontario, Canada that operates a private adoption profile hosting platform. OAM provides various services, including profile hosting, writing, and editing, therapeutic support for adoptive parents, as well as initial support and referral services for birth parents. Because We respect the right to privacy, We have developed this Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) to inform users (“You”, “Your”) about Our privacy practices regarding the data collected in relation to the use of Our website, located at www.ontarioadoptionmatching.com (the “Website”) and Our web-based adoption profile matching platform (the “Services”). The Website and Services may be used to directly or indirectly distinguish, identify, or contact a specific individual (“Personal Information”). We may collect and store Personal Information in order to provide You with access to and the use of the Website and Services.

2. Scope of this Privacy Policy

In keeping with Our commitment to Your privacy, this Privacy Policy will apply to:

  • The type of Personal Information We collect, use, and disclose;
  • How the Personal Information We gather is used and to whom it is disclosed;
  • Your ability to opt-out of future notifications and withdraw consent; and
  • Security procedures We have put in place to protect Your Personal Information from loss, misuse, or alteration.

3. Our Commitment to Privacy

We recognize the importance of privacy and are committed to protecting the privacy of all of those who use Our Services. This Privacy Policy sets out Our practices regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information in connection with the Website and Services. If You are using the Website or the Services, You may be asked to provide Personal Information. Please note, We only ask for this information for the limited purposes as defined in this Privacy Policy. By using Our Website or Services, You consent to Our collection, use, and disclosure of Your Personal Information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy. We do not sell the Personal Information You provide Us to any third party without Your consent.

4. Application

This Privacy Policy applies to all Personal Information We collect for the purpose of providing access to and use of the Website and the Services. We may require the involvement of trusted third parties to facilitate the provision of the Website and the Services.  We strive to provide the highest level of privacy possible, and therefore require that any third parties offer no less protection than that offered in this Privacy Policy and as otherwise required by law to meet the data protection requirements of Canada’s federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

5. Personal Information We Collect from You

5.1 How We Collect Personal Information from You

We collect Personal Information from You when You interact with the Website and the Services through:

  • Access of the Services: To access the Services, You may be required to register for a user account. Registering for a user account may require You to provide certain Personal Information, including Your name, home address, date of birth, location, email address, phone number, and adoption assessment reports.
  • Use of the Services: Your use of the Services may involve the creation of a user profile that will be associated with Your user account. Your user profile may disclose Personal Information that will be available to other members. You have full discretion as to the extent to which You chose to disclose Your Personal Information and will be able to modify your member profile at any time.
  • Membership Payment: To subscribe to the Services, You will be required to provide payment details to a trusted third party payment service provider.
  • Communicating with Us. You may disclose Personal Information to Us via direct email or verbal communication in connection with the Website or the Services.
  • Visiting the Website. When You visit the Website, We may collect non-identifiable information about Your visit. Your visit to the Website may also include the collection of cookies to improve Your user experience.
  • Marketing and Analytics: We may collect and analyze certain data related to the performance and use of the Services for marketing and analytics purposes. This data is used to improve the Services and provide You with the best possible experience, as well as inform You about Our Services.
  • Subscribing to Our Mailing Lists: You may disclose Personal Information to Us when You subscribe to Our mailing lists. Such Personal Information may include, Your name, email address, or home address. We may use a trusted third party to facilitate the collection of Personal Information for the purposes of generating Our mailing list.
  • Surveys and Feedback: From time to time, we may conduct surveys or request feedback for the strict purpose of improving our Services. Participation in these surveys or providing feedback is completely voluntary and you have a choice whether to disclose any Personal Information.
5.2 Personal Information

We may collect Personal Information from You that You voluntarily submit to Us, including Personal Information that You provide when engaging with the Services. We do not collect any Personal Information from a visitor to the Website unless that visitor explicitly and intentionally consents to providing it. You may disclose highly sensitive Personal Information while using the Services through Your user profile at Your discretion. Such highly sensitive information may include, health or medical information, religion, political affiliations, or ethnicity. You will have the ability to edit and remove any Personal Information, including highly sensitive Personal Information in Your profile at any time. If You are simply browsing Our Website, We do not gather any Personal Information about You. We do not knowingly collect, use, or disclose any Personal Information from minors.

5.2.1 Profile Writing Guidelines

When You create Your user profile, We will provide You with profile writing guidelines that contain information relevant to the adoption process that We recommend You include in Your profile. Such information may consist of Personal Information, including potentially highly sensitive Personal Information, such as:

  • Opinions about personal and family values
  • Daily activities and lifestyle
  • Attitudes towards discipline and parenting
  • Career
  • Financial wellbeing
  • Age
  • General location
  • Family constellation (e.g., children, extended family)

Please note that these profile writing guidelines are recommendations only and the amount of Personal Information that You chose to disclose in Your profile is completely within Your discretion. You are free to add or remove information contained in Your profile at any time.

Personal Information will only be collected for specific identified purposes and consented to at the time of collection or as otherwise outlined in this Privacy Policy.

6. Purposes for which We Collect and Use Your Information

6.1 Facilitating the use of the Services

When You interact with the Services, We may collect Personal Information for the purpose of setting up a user account, verifying Your identity, confirming adoption assessment reports, or providing You with requested information. We use this Personal Information to operate, maintain, and provide You with the features and functionality of the Services. 

6.2 Communicating with You:

We may use the Personal Information that You disclose to Us to communicate directly to You to respond to any inquiries (e.g., support requests or account verification) or service-related emails (e.g., technical and security notices). This communication is necessary for Our legitimate interests, namely administering the Services and communicating with You in relation to the Services. We may also use Your Personal Information to send You communications regarding news, alerts, and marketing communications. We will only process Your Personal Information in this manner to the extent that You have given Us consent to do so and will only communicate with You in accordance with applicable Canadian anti-SPAM legislation.

6.3 Sharing information with other users:

‍Your Personal Information may be shared with other users of Our Services through the creation and posting of your user profile. You will have discretion as to the extent to which You disclose Your Personal Information to other users through Your profile. Prior to sharing any Personal Information with other users, You will be informed as to the nature of the information and extent to which it will be disclosed. Such Personal Information will only be shared with other users with Your express consent.

6.4 Services optimization and improvement:

To improve the Services and provide users with the best possible experience, We may collect and analyze certain data related to the performance and use of the Services. Such data relates only to the use of the Services and is not associated with any Personal Information or information specific to a particular user. We use this data only for Our legitimate business purposes and to improve the Services.

‍6.5 Marketing and advertising:‍

We may use the Personal Information We collect from You to send You promotional messages, content, and other information that may be of interest to you based on Your preferences and use of Our applications. Such advertising and marketing messages and content may be displayed via email, regular mail, or through the Services. Your Personal Information will only be used for these purposes if you provide explicit consent.

6.6 Payment processing, hosting, and related services:

Third party vendors and other service providers may be required for the provision of the Services, including web hosting, video services, mailing list software, payment processing, email, phone, and other service providers. If payments are processed through credit card or electronic funds transfer, You may be required to provide Your Personal Information, including credit card details to appropriate financial institutions, processors, and trusted third parties under contract with Us for providing payment. In each case, the distribution of Your Personal Information will be used by such entity for its internal use related to fulfilling the transaction services for Us, will be treated as confidential by this entity, and will be provided to this entity only via encrypted means. Please note, that this Personal Information is only used to facilitate transactions. We do not have access to or store any payment information provided to third parties through Our Services. We recommend carefully reviewing the privacy policies and terms of use for any third party payment services prior to providing any Personal Information to these entities.

7. Consent to the Collection of Personal Information

We use Your Personal Information only with Your meaningful legal consent, except as otherwise permitted or required by law. The consent provided for the use of Personal Information is for the specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes as outlined in this Privacy Policy, and/or as otherwise specified prior to You providing express consent. You may withdraw Your consent to the use of Your Personal Information by contacting Our Privacy Officer at info@ontarioadoptionmatching.com. When We collect Personal Information from You, You will be given the opportunity to opt out of receiving further Personal Information from Us. We will explain the consequences if You decide to withdraw Your consent for Us to use Your Personal Information. Any request to withdraw consent will be processed within the legally required time periods.

You may explicitly and intentionally provide Us with, and consent to, Our collection of certain Personal Information by:

7.1 Email Requests for Information:

‍We use links throughout Our Website to provide You with the opportunity to contact Us via email to ask questions, request information and materials, or provide comments and suggestions. To satisfy Your request, We may request additional Personal Information from You, such as Your name, email address, and/or telephone number.

7.2 Access and Use of the Services:‍

To facilitate Your access and use of the Services, We may require that You register for a user account. During the process of setting up a user account, You may be asked to provide Us with Your name, home address, email address, phone number, location, date of birth, and adoption assessment reports. Your use of the Services may require You to set up a user profile. Your profile may include any Personal Information that You chose to disclose. Such information may include a photograph, video, health, or medical information, in addition to any other Personal Information that You chose to disclose.

By corresponding with Us, accessing, or otherwise using the Services, You consent to Our collection, use, and disclosure of Your Personal Information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.

8. New Consent Required

Before We collect, use, or disclose Your Personal Information for a new purpose, We will disclose the new purpose and request Your consent. ‍

9. No Consent Provided

Although You are not legally required to provide Personal Information, We reserve the right to withhold or deny access and use of the Services where the appropriate Personal Information is not provided to carry out the associated purpose.

10. Withdrawal of Consent

You can withdraw Your consent to the collection, use, and disclosure of Your Personal Information at any time by contacting Us and informing Our Privacy Officer at info@ontarioadoptionmatching.com. Please note that Your withdrawal of consent may impact Our ability to provide You with the Services.

11. Disclosure Without Consent

We will only disclose Your Personal Information without consent to third parties, government authorities, or law enforcement to the extent that We are permitted or required to do so by law.

12. Accuracy of Collected Information

We implement policies and procedures to ensure that the Personal Information in Our possession is accurate, complete, and up to date. You can submit updates to Your Personal Information to Our Privacy Officer at any time. Any changes to Personal Information in Our possession that is used by trusted third parties to facilitate Our Services will also be updated of any new changes.

13. Collection of Personal Information from Minors

We do not knowingly collect, use, or disclose any Personal Information from minors under the age of 13, except as otherwise permitted or required by law. In the event that We become aware that Personal Information has been collected from an individual under the age of 13 without the consent of a parent or legal guardian, We will take reasonable steps to promptly delete such Personal Information from Our records.

For minors who are 13 years of age or older, We may collect limited Personal Information, including proof of address, name, email, and phone number, with the explicit consent of the minor and, if required by applicable law, the consent of their parent or legal guardian. This Personal Information will only be collected for the specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy and as necessary to provide access to and use of the Website and the Services.

14. Access to Personal Information

An individual may request access to the Personal Information that We hold about themselves at any time. We will respond to requests for access promptly and within the legally mandated time frame subject to any refusals permitted or required by law. Any refusals to grant access will be accompanied by associated reasons and information regarding available recourse. Requests for access to Personal Information can be directed to Our Privacy Officer at info@ontarioadoptionmatching.com.

15. Retention of Personal Information

We retain Personal Information only for as long as needed to perform the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy. Once Personal Information is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected, We will apply all commercially reasonable safeguards to safely and securely destroy said Personal Information. The information stored in Your user account is retained only for as long as You require. If You choose to delete information in Your user account or profile, We do not retain back-up copies of such information.

16. Public Access to Our Website

We provide public access to information regarding the Services and other adoption-related resources via the Website.

16.1 Statistical Information About Your Visit:

‍When You visit the Website, Our computers may automatically collect statistics about Your visit. This information does not identify You personally, but rather provides Us with information about Your use of the Website. We may monitor statistics such as how many people visit the Website, the user's IP address, which pages people visit, from which domains Our visitors come, and which browsers people use. We use these statistics about Your visit only to help Us improve the performance of the Website.

‍16.2 Use of Cookies:

‍We only use "cookies" as described in this section. A "cookie" is a piece of information that Our Website sends to Your browser, which then stores this information on Your system. Cookies are required to provide access Our Website. When Your browser window is closed; however, the cookie is automatically deleted from Your system. You should be aware that cookies contain no more information than You volunteer, and they are not able to access Your hard drive and return to the sender any personal or other information from Your computer. You have the option to restrict or deny the use of cookies on the Websites through Your browser settings; however, this may result in the inability to access or otherwise interfere with the use of the Websites.

‍16.3 Links to Third Party Websites:

The Services may contain links to third party sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, privacy statements, acceptable use policies, or any other content regarding these other sites. We share these third party websites for informational purposes only and do not endorse or recommend any third party that may be linked to Our Website. We strongly recommend that You read the privacy policies and terms and conditions of use of any third party to understand how they collect, use, and share information. 

17. Collection of Usage Data

With the goal of improving our Services and providing You with an optimal user experience, We collect and analyze certain data pertaining to the use and performance of the Services. This information, referred to as "Usage Data," includes but is not limited to, details about how You interact with our Services, the features You use, the actions You take, the time, frequency, and duration of Your activities. Usage Data is collected in a way that it is not associated with any specific user and does not include Personal Information. This data is purely statistical in nature and is used to understand trends and patterns, fix issues, optimize our Services for better performance, and improve the overall user experience.

18. Opting Out of Future Notifications

From time to time, We may notify You of new products, announcements, upgrades, and updates. If You would like to opt-out of being notified, please contact Us via info@ontarioadoptionmatching.com. 

19. Security Procedures and Safeguards

We consider the protection of all data and Personal Information We receive from You as critical to Our corporate mission. Please be assured that We have security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of any Personal Information We receive from You in accordance with applicable law.

19.1 Procedural Safeguards:

We maintain physical, technological, and procedural safeguards in connection with the collection, disclosure, storage, use, and deletion of Personal Information. Proof of identity may be required upon request to disclose Personal Information to You. You should protect against the theft of Your Personal Information through safeguarding Your passwords and devices.

‍19.2 Technological Safeguards:

As with any transmission over the Internet, there is always some element of risk involved in sending Personal Information. To try and minimize this risk, We encrypt all Personal Information that You submit to Us in relation to the Services.

‍19.3 User Account Security:

Each user account on the Services is protected by a unique password created by You, the user. This password is encrypted and not accessible to Us or any third parties. It is your responsibility to keep Your password confidential. This is to ensure that only You, as the user, have access to Your account and the Personal Information contained within it. 

‍19.4 Personnel Safeguards:

Our employees who have access to Personal Information receive privacy training and are required to respect the confidentiality of such Personal Information pursuant to their employment agreement with Us. Restrictions to access to Personal Information at the personnel level include restricted access to physical locations in which Personal Information is held, as well as technological protections (e.g., passwords). Disclosure and access to Personal information by personnel is limited to the extent required to reasonably fulfill the specific purposes for which it was provided.

20. Notification of a Security Breach

In the event that a security breach of the abovementioned safeguards involving Personal Information in Our control presents a real risk of significant harm, a notice of the breach will be provided without undue delay to the affected individual(s).

21. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may revise or update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If a material change is made to this Privacy Policy and/or the way We use Your Personal Information or other data, We will post prominent notice of the nature of such changes on the first page of this Privacy Policy.

22. Inquiries Regarding this Privacy Policy

Questions, complaints, or requests for further information regarding this Privacy Policy or Our practices related to the collection of Personal Information should be directed to the Privacy Officer at info@ontarioadoptionmatching.com. Please specify "Privacy Policy" in the subject line of Your email. All complaints We receive related to Personal Information are investigated.

This Privacy Policy was last modified on December 5th, 2023.