Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

DaycarePal ("we", "us") is an independent directory of daycares in the United States at daycarepal.com. This policy covers the website and the services on it. For any privacy question or request, use our contact form.

2. What we collect

Information you give us

• Contact messages and reports: your name, email address, the topic, the daycare you mention and your message.
• Reviews: your first name (shown with the review), your email address (never shown; used to confirm the review and tell you when it is published) and what you write.
• Requests to a daycare (for example a tour or an openings question, on daycares that accept them): the details you enter. We pass them to that daycare and keep a copy.
• Provider accounts: name, email address, a password (stored only as a one-way hash), your role at the daycare, the listing you manage and what you add to it, including photos.
• New daycare submissions: the daycare's details and state license number, and your contact details.
• Payments for provider plans go through our payment processor. We receive the plan, the payment status and your email address. We never see or store your card number.

Information collected automatically

• Server and security logs: IP address, browser and device type, the pages requested, the referring page and the time. We use them to keep the site running and secure.
• Cookies and similar technologies, as section 5 explains.
• Page counters on daycare pages count views and taps on Call, Website and Directions. They record the listing and the kind of tap, nothing about you.
• Your location, only if you tap "Use my location". Your browser asks you first. The position is rounded to about 1 km before it leaves your device, used for that one search and not stored.

3. How we use it

• To run the directory, answer your messages and fix listings you report.
• To confirm, moderate and publish reviews, and to tell you when yours is published.
• To pass your request to the daycare you chose.
• To run provider accounts and plans, and to send the emails an account needs, such as account and plan notices, review notices and monthly reports.
• To keep the site secure and to stop spam, fraud and abuse, including a bot check on forms.
• To understand how the site is used and to improve it.
• To meet legal obligations and to protect our rights.

We do not use your information to make decisions about you that have legal or similar effects, and we do not add you to marketing lists.

4. Who we share it with

We do not sell your personal information. We share it only as follows:

• Service providers that run parts of the site for us: hosting, content delivery and security; email delivery; photo hosting for provider photos; the bot check on forms; and website analytics, which is Google Analytics (section 5). They may use the information only to provide their service to us.
• OpenStreetMap, for the maps on town and daycare pages. Your browser loads the map pictures from OpenStreetMap's servers, so they receive your IP address and the map area you view. No cookies are set for the maps.
• Our payment processor, Dodo Payments, which sells provider plans to you as merchant of record and handles your card details under its own privacy policy.
• The daycare you send a request to.
• The public: a published review shows your first name and what you wrote. What a provider adds to a claimed listing is public.
• Authorities when the law requires it, or to protect the safety of a child, our users or the public.
• A buyer or successor if DaycarePal is sold or merged. This policy keeps applying to the information you gave us.

5. Cookies and your choices

Cookies the site needs to work, such as the one that keeps a provider signed in, are always on. Analytics cookies (Google Analytics) are set only if you choose "Accept all" in the cookie banner. With "Necessary only", no analytics cookies are set and Google receives only cookieless signals. Change your choice at any time with "Cookie settings" at the bottom of every page.

If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal and you have not made a choice, we treat it as "Necessary only".

We do not show ads. You can also set your browser to block cookies. The directory works with cookies blocked.

6. Do we sell or share your information?

No. We do not sell or share personal information, and we do not use it for targeted advertising. We show no ads.

7. Home daycare addresses

We never publish the street address of a family child care home (home daycare), even when a state record includes it. A home daycare is a private residence, so its page shows the town and ZIP code only, with no map pin and no distance from you. To arrange a visit, contact the provider.

8. Daycare records and business information

Listings describe businesses, not private individuals: license and inspection details from state licensing agencies' public records, and business details such as name, phone, website and hours. A provider can ask us to correct our copy if it does not match the state's record, or to correct business details. The license and inspection record itself belongs to the state: to change it, contact the state licensing agency that issued it.

9. How long we keep it

• Contact messages and reports: while we work on them, and afterwards as a record of corrections. Ask us to delete yours at any time.
• Reviews: while the review is published. Reviews we do not publish are kept in our moderation records.
• Requests to a daycare: kept so the daycare and we can follow up, and deleted on request.
• Provider accounts: while the account is open. Payment records are kept as long as tax and accounting laws require.
• Server logs: for a limited time, then deleted.

10. How we protect it

The site is served only over HTTPS. Passwords are stored as one-way hashes, forms have a bot check and rate limits, and access to our systems is restricted. No service can promise perfect security, but we keep what we hold to a minimum and protect it with care.

11. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you have the right to:

• Know what personal information we hold about you and get a copy of it.
• Correct information that is wrong.
• Delete your information.
• Limit the use of sensitive information. We do not collect sensitive information as these laws define it.
• Not be treated differently for using these rights.

These rights come from the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act, and from similar laws in other US states, such as Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Virginia. We honor the same requests from every visitor, wherever you live.

How to make a request: use our contact form and choose "Privacy request". We confirm your identity by writing to the email address the information belongs to. An authorized agent can make a request for you with your signed permission. We answer within 45 days. If we decline a request, you can appeal by replying to our answer, and we will review it again.

12. Children

DaycarePal is for parents, caregivers and daycare providers. It is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. Daycare listings describe businesses and never name the children in their care. Our review guidelines forbid naming a child. If you think a child has given us personal information, contact us and we will delete it.

13. Links to other sites

Listings link to daycares' own websites, to state licensing agencies and to map services for directions. Those sites have their own privacy policies, and this policy does not cover them.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the site changes. The effective date at the top shows the current version. If a change is significant, we will say so on this page.

15. Contact

Questions or requests about privacy: use our contact form. See also our Terms of Service.