FamilyFriendFinder Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

This policy explains how FamilyFriendFinder handles personal information for members in the United States and Canada. It sits alongside our U.S. Children's Privacy Notice, Canada Privacy Notice, U.S. State Privacy Rights Notice, California Privacy Notice and Cookie Policy.

2. Who we are

FamilyFriendFinder operates a parent-controlled platform that helps parents and guardians find compatible families and arrange friendships, playdates and activities for children aged 2 to 20. The adult is the account holder and the customer. A child is a dependent profile, never a user.

3. Information we collect

• Account details: first and last name, email address, mobile phone number, and a password that is hashed by our authentication provider.
• Location: city, state or province, country, postal or ZIP code, and - only if you allow it - approximate coordinates used for distance matching.
• Parent profile: optional photograph, languages, interests, family description, availability and preferred way to be contacted.
• Child profiles: the nickname, age, birth date and preferences you enter for each child.
• Platform activity: interest requests, matches, messages, reports, blocks and activities.
• Consent records: what you agreed to, which version, and when.
• Technical information: IP address, device and browser information, and security and error logs.
• Billing identifiers from our payment processor. We never receive or store your card number.

4. Information about children

Child information is provided and controlled by the adult account holder. Children do not create accounts, sign in, search, send or receive messages. We do not collect a child's full legal name, government identification number, exact home or school address, or medical information. A birth date is stored only to calculate the age we display, and the date itself is never shown to another member. Photographs and faith preferences are optional and off by default.

5. How we use information

• To create and operate your account
• To suggest matches based on the preferences you enter
• To enable parent-to-parent messaging after both parents accept
• For safety, moderation, reports, blocks and fraud prevention
• To bill your membership
• To send service emails such as a new request or message notification
• To send marketing email, only if you separately opted in
• To meet legal obligations and to resolve disputes

6. Matching

Matching runs on our servers and returns only shareable fields. It never returns another member's exact location, surname, email address or phone number. Faith is used only if you turned on faith-based matching for that child.

7. Location information

Location is stored in a form suitable for matching. Other members never see an exact address, house number or coordinate - only something like “approximately 3 miles away”. You can search another city or postal area manually, and you can turn on Hide my location from other users, which removes distance from what others see while still letting matching work within the settings you chose.

8. Messages

Messages are between adult accounts and are private. They are not routinely available to administrators. Access for moderation is limited to a legitimate safety purpose and is recorded in an audit log, as described in our Moderation and Enforcement Policy.

9. User content

Profile text, photographs, activity listings and messages are used only to operate, secure, support and improve the service. Child photographs are never used for advertising, facial recognition or AI training, and are not sold or licensed.

10. Cookies and 11. Analytics

We use the cookies and local storage needed to sign you in and keep the account secure, plus privacy-respecting aggregate analytics. We do not place advertising trackers, including on child profile pages. See the Cookie Policy.

12. Payments

Payments are processed by our payment processor. It receives the information needed to take the payment and to prevent fraud. We receive a billing identifier, the amount, the currency and the status.

13. Service providers

Categories of provider we use, or will use, to run the service:

• Hosting and application delivery
• Database and file storage
• Authentication
• Transactional and notification email
• Payment processing
• Analytics and error reporting
• Security and abuse prevention
• Customer support

Providers act on our instructions and may not use the information for their own purposes. We publish a category list rather than naming a provider we do not actually use.

14. Information sharing

We share personal information only:

• With another member, limited to the fields your privacy settings allow
• With service providers acting for us
• Where required by law, or to address a safety, security or fraud concern
• In connection with a corporate transaction, subject to this policy continuing to apply

15. Advertising and 16. No sale of child information

We do not sell personal information. We do not sell, license or broker child profile information. We do not run targeted advertising to children, and we do not launch with advertising built around children's profiles.

17. International data transfers

Our providers may process information in the United States or other countries. Information processed outside your country may be accessible to courts and authorities there under their own laws.

18. Data security

Access to records is enforced at the database level so your data is readable only by your own account. Search results come from server-side functions that return only shareable fields. Passwords are hashed by our authentication provider. Administrative access to sensitive data is logged. No service can promise perfect security.

19. Data retention

We keep information while your account is active, and afterwards only where a legal, security, fraud-prevention, accounting or dispute purpose requires it. Consent records are kept as a permanent history because we must be able to show what you agreed to. Retention periods by category are set out in our internal Data Retention and Deletion Policy and are reviewed by counsel. We do not keep child information indefinitely.

20. Children's privacy

See our U.S. Children's Privacy Notice. In Canada, a parent or guardian consents on behalf of a child who cannot meaningfully consent.

21. Canadian privacy rights, 22. U.S. privacy rights, 23. California, 24. Other states

Rights depend on where you live. See the Canada Privacy Notice, the U.S. State Privacy Rights Notice and the California Privacy Notice. Whichever applies, you can submit a request in one place.

25. Access and correction

You can view and edit your profile, family details and each child profile in your account, or ask us through the Privacy Request Center. You can also request a copy of your data.

26. Deletion

You can pause or delete any child profile, and you can delete your whole account from Settings. Deleting your account disables it, removes your profiles from search, and deletes personal information we no longer need. We keep only what a legal, fraud-prevention, security, accounting or dispute purpose requires. We do not claim that every record can always be erased immediately.

27. Consent withdrawal

You can withdraw optional consent at any time from Your Privacy Choices - marketing email, faith-based matching, a child photograph, location visibility. Withdrawing consent that is necessary to run the service means the service can no longer be provided, and you can delete your account.

28. Privacy complaints

Tell us and we will investigate and respond. In Canada you may also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or your provincial regulator. In the United States you may contact your state attorney general.

29. Security incidents

We maintain an internal incident response process covering detection, containment, investigation, documentation, risk assessment, notification and remediation. Where an incident requires notification, we notify affected members and regulators as required by the law that applies. We do not promise a specific notification period here beyond what the law requires.

30. Changes to this policy

Each version of this policy has a number and an effective date, and previous versions are retained. Where a change is material we notify account holders and, where appropriate, ask you to accept the new version.

Contact

Privacy questions: privacy@familyfriendfinder.com
Legal notices: legal@familyfriendfinder.com
Everything else: support@familyfriendfinder.com

You can also submit a privacy request through our Privacy Request Center. You do not need a paid membership to make a privacy request.

This document is a draft prepared for FamilyFriendFinder and is pending final review and approval by qualified privacy and technology counsel in the United States and Canada. It is not a statement that the service has been certified as compliant with any particular law.