Yorkshire Adoption Agency’s Privacy Policy

This notice is effective from 1st June 2025

Our contact details

Name: Ms S May (CEO)

Address: Yorkshire Adoption Agency, Clayfields Industrial Estate, Loversall Court, Tickhill Road, Balby, Doncaster, DN4 8QG

Phone Number: 01302 638337

E-mail:  smay@yorkshireadoptionagency.org.uk or  info@yorkshireadoptionagency.org.uk

The type of personal information we collect

The information we will gather may include:

  • Personal identifiers, contacts and characteristics (for example, name and contact details)
  • Personal data may also include special categories of personal data. Special category data is personal data which needs more protection because it is sensitive such as race, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, health data or sexual orientation.
  • Demographic information
  • Contact information.
  • Financial information
  • Profile data – job title, interests, preferences, message, enquiry, and feedback.
  • Any other information to assess if adoption is right for you and your family and that you are able to adopt a child or children who currently need adoptive families.
  • Your skills and knowledge in becoming an adoptive parent.
  • Specific information about your current and historic circumstances
  • Other factors/information that could identify an individual.
  • ‘Online identifiers’ and technical data may be collected from your use of the website such as
    • internet protocol (IP) address
    • browser type and version
    • time zone setting and location.
    • browser plug-in types and versions
    • operating system and platform
    • other information about the technology on the devices you use to access this website.
    • Usage Data including information about how you use our website and services.
    • Marketing and Communications Data including your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.

How we get the personal information and why we have it

Most of the personal information we process is provided to us directly by you for one of the following reasons:

  • As part of an enquiry/referral process
  • As part of Stage 1 – Statutory checks
  • As Part of Stage 2 – Assessment process
  • During Family Finding and matching
  • Referrals to third party services
  • As part of Adoption Support

We also receive personal information indirectly, from the following sources in the following scenarios:

  • Through analytics such as location, gender and data via google analytics

The information YAA collect from you will be used solely for adoption purposes, to ensure all checks are made to give full consideration and ensure you are able to care for a child/ren through to adulthood.  Personal data, or personal information, means any information about you from which you may be able to be identified.  It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We do not sell or share your personal details with third parties for either fundraising or marketing purposes.

We may share this information with the relevant individuals, agencies or organisations to verify the information you have provided. These may include contact with the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS), YAA medical advisor, other partnership agencies, the NHS or other agencies deemed appropriate.

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful bases we rely on for processing this information are:

(a) Your consent. You are able to remove your consent at any time. You can do this by contacting Ms. May as above.  Please be aware some data must be retained to meet the Adoption Regulations. 

(b) We have a contractual obligation.

(c) We have a legal and/or Safeguarding obligation.

With your consent we will share your information with over 60 external local authorities for the purpose of family finding.  This information is limited but is still personal data.  What can be shared and how this will be agreed with you during your assessment process.  You can withdraw consent to this sharing of your profile at any time, but this will limit your opportunities in family finding. 

How we store your personal information

Your information is securely stored.

Prospective adopters’ information is securely stored on the CHARMS database which is fully GDPR compliant. (socialcarenetwork.com)

Prior to the use of Charms, 2020, paper files and Teams was used to store prospective adopters’ information.  Paper files are securely stored in the office in a locked archive room.  Teams is only accessible by members of the agency and documents are uploaded to Charms if applicable. 

The below table shows the retention period for each category

Category

Retention period

Details of Adoptive parents with children placed (including children’s files), other household members included in any assessments and any carers of children under an EPP arrangement

On granting of an Adoption order all records are stored for 100 years

Details of adoptive parents who were approved but they decided not to proceed further and did not have a child placed with them

100 years from the date of withdrawal

Adoption Panel records

100 years after the date of an adoption order

Prospective adopters who had their application refused or withdrawn following a Registration of interest being accepted and did not proceed to be presented at Panel.  

6 years after the date of withdrawal

Enquiry made but did not proceed to a Registration of interest

3 years after enquiry

Details of families receiving Post – Adoption Support

On granting of an Adoption order all records are stored for 100 years

 

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

  • Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
  • Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
  • Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances. We must retain a record of an application to adopt and are required to share this information if a person applies to adopt subsequently.
  • Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
  • Your right to object to processing – You have the the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
  • Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.

You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights, however we are allowed to charge where there is a cost to the agency such as provision of a fully redacted case file. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you, in certain circumstances this may be extended to three months. Should we require an extension we will write to you to explain why.

If you wish to make a request, please contact Ms S May (Agency Director)

Yorkshire Adoption Agency, Clayfields Industrial Estate, Loversall Court, Tickhill Road, Balby, Doncaster, DN4 8QG

Phone Number: 01302 638337

E-mail:  smay@yorkshireadoptionagency.org.uk  or  info@yorkshireadoptionagency.org.uk  

How to complain

If you have any concerns about our use of your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at Yorkshire Adoption Agency. 

You can also complain to the ICO if you are unhappy with how we have used your data.

The ICO’s address:           

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Helpline number: 0303 123 1113

ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk

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