Privacy Policy

Last Updated: October 18, 2012

Parent Scout is committed to protecting your privacy. We recognize that privacy is of utmost importance, and operate our company with protecting your sensitive personal information in mind. This privacy policy covers the service offered at the Parent Scout Website (the "Site") and outlines the type of information we collect, its uses, and steps we take to safeguard it.

Information We Collect
Parent Scout is committed to helping match users who are seeking family related services to users who are providers of family related services. Accordingly, we collect user submitted personally identifying information and other information specific to the services requested or provided. As part of providing you our services, we may obtain personal information from the following sources:

  • Information you provide to us on forms that you enter on the Site or that you provide to us in writing.
  • Information that you provide to us by telephone, such as when you contact our customer care department.
  • Information we receive automatically when you visit our web site. Please see "Cookies and other Technical Data" below.
  • Information from third parties, including verification services, payment processing services, and other online and offline sources. For example, this would include information we receive from a third-party verification service in response to a user requesting a background check on themselves. It would also include updated address or contact information that we might use to correct our records so that we can communicate with you more easily.

The information we collect may include: first name, last name, city, state, address, ZIP code, phone, email address and other information specific to the service requested or provided. If you become a registered subscriber we may collect your credit card information and billing address should you explicitly decide to participate in programs that require this information. Such programs may include becoming a Premium subscriber, running a background check, posting a job as a company recruiter, and other promotions that Parent Scout may offer from time to time. If you become a registered Parent Scout Service Provider, we may collect your date of birth, gender, resume, company name (if applicable), and ZIP codes served. If you are a company or agency registering as a Parent Scout Service Provider, we may also collect information about the company including the tax id, the year established, and the number of employees. If you request a background check on yourself we may collect your Social Security Number. In addition, if you request a background check on yourself we may obtain criminal background information from a third-party verification service. Use of such a verification service is voluntary.

We may also collect information about third-party references from Parent Scout Service Providers. This information may include the name, phone number, and email address of the third-party reference. This information is collected when a Parent Scout Service Provider creates or updates their profile. This information is collected so that a Parent Scout Parent or person acting on behalf of a Parent Scout Parent can contact the third-party reference to verify information provided by the Parent Scout Service Provider. The information collected about third-party references will not be used for other purposes including marketing. If a third-party reference would like to have their information removed from Parent Scout, they can contact support@ParentScout.com If you use our blog on this Site, you should be aware that any personal information you submit there can be read, collected, or used by other users of these forums, and could be used to send you unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for the personal information you choose to submit in this forum. We use the information we obtain to develop and deliver our services and to fulfill legal requirements. We limit the collection and use of customer information to the minimum we require to deliver superior service to our customers and to administer our business.

Providing your information is voluntary and you can always choose not to provide it by choosing not to use our Site, services, or features.

Cookies and Other Technical Data
Our web servers also use "cookies". A cookie is a small text file that is stored on a user's computer. We use cookies to administer and customize our service and to better understand, on an aggregate basis, how users interact with our Site. If you choose to disable cookies, you may not be able to use certain features of the Site. For example, we require that you have cookies enabled to enroll in our service or to log in to your account. We do not store any personal information in cookies.

As is true of most web sites, when you visit our Site we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. We gather technical information about your computer such as your IP address, operating system, browser type, pages visited, manner of connection to the Internet, and referring URL. We use this information in aggregate to analyze trends and administer our service. The information that we collect through log files is not tied to personal information.

We and/or advertising affiliates may employ "tracking pixels" (also referred to as "web beacons") to count the number of users that visit a page on our Site that includes these tracking pixels. Tracking pixels are used to analyze the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and to better understand the way that users interact with our Site. These tracking pixels do not identify individual users and analysis of data obtained by these tracking pixels is performed on an aggregate basis. Some, but not all, third party advertising affiliates provide a mechanism to opt-out of their technology. For more information and to identify advertisers that provide an opt-out mechanism, please click the following link: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/. The information collected by third party advertising affiliates is subject to the privacy policy of the third party.

We also employ a third-party service provider to assist in tracking site usage. This service provider uses cookies and "tracking pixels" to collect information on our behalf about the pages you visit while on our site. This service allows us to better administer the site and our service. The data collected by this service provider does not identify individual users and the analysis of this data is performed on an aggregate basis.

We may use third-party advertising companies, such as Google, to serve or track ads on our web site and other web sites. These companies may use non-personal information about your visits to this and other web sites in order to measure advertising effectiveness and to provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. To find out more about the use of cookies and the information-gathering practices and opt-out procedures of Google, please click here.

Third Party Information Sharing
The information collected by Parent Scout is used in the operation of the Site, including the sharing of certain Parent Scout Parent information with prospective Parent Scout Service Providers and vice/versa.

We do not share your personal information with other third parties except as permitted or required by law or as described within this privacy policy and including the following:

  • In order to provide our services, we may share any of the information we gather about you with agents and service providers to perform functions on our behalf, such as to send email, process background checks, host videos (if you decide to post one to your account), or process credit card payments. In addition, address information may be shared with a service provider to determine geographic information. These service providers may have access to personal information needed to perform functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
  • We may disclose personal information about you to third parties when we believe such disclosure is appropriate to comply with a legal requirement, such as a law, regulation, court order, subpoena or search warrant, or in the course of a legal proceeding. We may also disclose personal information, as we believe appropriate to enforce or apply our rights under our agreements with customers, to protect the rights, property or safety of Parent Scout, our customers and others, including exchanging information for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
  • If there is a change of control in Parent Scout's business (whether by merger, sale, or otherwise), its customer information could be sold as part of that transaction. If this occurs, the purchaser could potentially use your personal information. However, if that business materially changes this statement or the information-handling practices as described in this statement, you will be notified by email and/or through a notice posted on our Site, and you will have a choice as to whether your existing information is used in a new manner.

Your Choices
By becoming a Parent Scout member, you are consenting to receive certain email communications from us, including newsletters, special offers, and customer surveys. Parent Scout provides users the ability to opt-out of receiving such email communications. If you wish to cease future communications, you can opt-out by using the link on the bottom of an email that you receive from Parent Scout or by sending us an email to optout@ParentScout.com.

Parent Scout reserves the right to send you specific administrative notices that are required by law, regulation, or as needed to service your account. Administrative notices also include notifications of new messages or job postings in your area and responses to jobs that you have posted. You may not opt-out of receiving these administrative emails.

Parent Scout Service Providers have the ability to suppress certain information, such as their phone number(s), from displaying to Parent Scout Parents. Parent Scout Service Providers can set such preferences in the Profile section of their account.

Parent Scout provides the ability for a user to conduct a background check on themselves with a third-party verification service. If you decide to use this service, a summary of the background check results are made available to you on the Site. You have control over which other users can view the results of your background check. The results may include personal information, such as your first name and last name. Your use of such a service is voluntary.

Your Access to Personal information
If your personal information changes, you may update this information by logging into your account and accessing the "My Account" section. If you no longer wish to participate in our service you may send us an email [email to support@ParentScout.com, subject: please close my Parent Scout account] and request that your account be closed.

How We Protect Your Information
Parent Scout is committed to earning and keeping your trust and we understand the need to keep your information secure and private. As a result we have implemented industry-recognized safeguards to protect your information. These safeguards include:

  • We use SSL (Secure Socket Layer), the industry standard method for computers to communicate securely without risk of manipulation or recipient impersonation. We utilize SSL in the online registration process, in the login process, and in the account management section of the Site.
  • Parent Scout uses encryption technology to protect sensitive information such as credit card information, date of birth, and information related to background checks.
  • Parent Scout employs firewalls and system monitoring to protect against unauthorized access of our systems.

Please remember that you also play a valuable role in data security. You should never share your Parent Scout password with anyone. If you feel your password has been compromised, you should change it immediately by logging into your account and visiting the "My Account" section. After you have finished using our Site, you should log out of your Parent Scout account and exit your browser.

Privacy Policy Changes
This Privacy Policy may change, from time to time, due to changes on our Site, legal developments, business factors and ever-changing technology. Notifications to changes of our Privacy Policy will be posted on our Site, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. We reserve the right to modify this privacy statement at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on our home page.

Contact for Privacy Related Issues
If you have any questions on our Privacy Policy, you can contact us at:
Privacy Department
Parent Scout, Inc.
privacy@ParentScout.com