Policy Overview
The Children’s Village is committed to the protection of the personal information of its clients. Our Privacy Policy ensures our agency’s compliance with the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
Personal Information
Personal information is defined as any information, recorded or not, that is about an identifiable individual. It can be objective information (e.g. a child’s age or home telephone number), or it can be subjective information (e.g. the progress of your child in childcare).
Accountability
The Executive Director of the Children’s Village is the Privacy Officer for the organization and is responsible for ensuring compliance with PIPEDA and with this Privacy Policy. Other individuals, such as Managers and certain staff may be delegated either to act on behalf of the Privacy Officer or to take responsibility for occasional collection, use and disclosure of personal information..
Why we collect Personnel Information
We collect, generate, use and disclose personal information for the following purposes only:
- To identify clients of Children’s Village
- To communicate with our clients
- To protect and ensure the health and safety of the children entrusted to our care
- To communicate daily activities of children to parents/guardians
- To monitor the quality of care and the progress of children in care
- To ensure that the care we provide is respectful of religious and cultural backgrounds and human rights
- To meet statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements of the agency
- To provide/send information to clients
- To process applications/requests for care
- To place children on a waiting list
- To determine eligibility for care and proper program placement of a child
- To assist parents/guardians in obtaining and maintaining fee subsidies from the City of Ottawa
- For the screening, assessment and approval process of prospective home child care providers
- To process payments to independent contractors
- To meet the record-keeping obligations required by the provincial Ministry of Education, the City of Ottawa and Canada Customs and Revenue Agency
- To assist Children’s Inclusion Support Services (CISS), when applicable, in determining the level of support that may be provided to eligible children
- To collect payment for services provided
- For the collection of statistics as may be required by our funders and Statistics Canada
- To administer our programs and services
Disclosure of Your Personal Information
Other than for the purposes indicated above or unless required to do so by law, the Children’s Village does not disclose the personal information under its control to any other parties. We do not trade, sell, barter or give away client information to anyone.
Consent
When Clients seek the services of the Children’s Village, they provide their personal information expressly through a registration/application/referral process. The Children’s Village then has access only to the personal information provided by the clients that is required to fulfill the purposes stated above. Clients may withdraw their consent at any time, with reasonable notice, subject to legal or contractual restrictions. Please note however, that due to statutory and regulatory obligations withdrawing consent may affect our ability to continue to provide a client with the services they have or would like to receive.
Limitation of the Collection of Personal Information
The Children’s Village will only collect, use and disclose your personal information in order to meet the purposes identified above. If we need to collect further information for a new purpose, we will seek new consent for that specific collection (for example, if we wish to use a photograph of your child in an agency brochure, your specific written consent will be required).
Retention of Personal Information
The Children’s Village will only retain personal information for as long as we have a purpose to do so and/or as is required by all the applicable legislation that governs our operations. For example, the provincial legislation upon which our license is based, the Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014, requires that we retain child files for three years beyond the date of discharge from any of our childcare programs. Once personal information is no longer required to fulfill the identified purposes or to comply with legal requirements regarding retention, it will be destroyed or rendered anonymous.
Accuracy of Personal Information
The Children’s Village will make every effort to keep personal information accurate and up to date. Clients are required to provide updates of any changes to personnel information in a timely manner, so that the personal information on file is accurate at all times. This is particularly important with respect to the health and safety of children. In the event of an emergency, for example, having quick access to current telephone numbers and alternate emergency contact persons is essential.
Security Measures
The security of Children’s Village information is a priority. The Children’s Village limits access to personal information only to those who require it to provide clients with access to service. Information stored on our computer information system is protected by firewalls and is password protected. All hard files are kept in locked cabinets. The Children’s Village employees are fully aware of their obligations to maintain the confidentiality and security of personal information. All The Children’s Village employees and independent contractors are subject to the agency’s policies and procedures with respect to confidentiality of parent/guardian and children’s information.
The Right to Access Your Personal Information
Individuals have the right to access their own personal information, or the personal information about their children, which is in the possession and control of the Children’s Village. Individuals also have the right to know if their personal information has been disclosed to any third parties.
Requests for access to personal information must be made in writing to the Chief Privacy Officer, Executive Director, Children’s Village.
The Chief Privacy Officer then has 30 days in which to respond to a request. Children’s Village does have the right to deny a request under certain circumstances. Those circumstances include but are not limited to: information which is protected by solicitor-client privilege; information which reveals personal information about another individual; personal information which was collected for an investigation or legal proceeding that has not yet concluded; if providing access to particular personal information could jeopardize an individual’s life or security; or if access to the personal information could reasonably be expected to threaten the safety or physical or mental health of another individual.
Acceptable proof of identification is required before access to personal information is granted.
The Children’s Village has the right to charge a reasonable fee should you request copies of your personal information.
Concerns
Should you have any questions or concerns related to the collection, use or disclosure of your personal information at Children’s Village, please contact our Chief Privacy Officer in writing (marked confidential) at the following address: Children’s Village, 333 Churchill Ave., Ottawa, K1Z 5B8.