Privacy

Your privacy is important.

This statement outlines Adopt Change’s policy on how Adopt Change uses and manages personal information provided to or collected by it.

Adopt Change is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (the APPs) contained in the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 (the Privacy Act) and is committed to complying with the APPs.

Adopt Change may, from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to take account of new laws and technology, changes to Adopt Change’s operations and practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing legal environment. The current Privacy Policy is available on our website www.AdoptChange.org.au (the Website) or by request to enquiries@adoptchange.org.au.

By providing us with your personal and/or sensitive information or by visiting and using our Website, you confirm your acceptance of the terms of this Privacy Policy and consent to the handling of your information in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy and in accordance with any other explanation you may be given at the time of providing the information. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not provide us with your information.

What is “personal information”?

“Personal information” is any information about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, regardless of whether the information is true or not.

“Sensitive information” includes, for example, the following:

• information or an opinion about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, membership of a professional association, trade association or trade union (which is also personal information);
• health information about an individual; and
• genetic and biometric information about an individual.

What kind of personal information does Adopt Change collect and how does Adopt Change collect it?

• Your name, address, email address and other contact details.
• Financial information, such as your credit card details.
• If you are, or are in the process or applying to become, an adoptive parent, foster carer, guardian or permanent carer.
• Your employment history and educational background if you are applying for employment.

Personal Information you provide:

Adopt Change will generally collect personal information about an individual by way of phone calls, online forms, emails and meetings etc.

Adopt Change may collect your personal information in a variety of circumstances including when you, for example:

• participate in research, campaigns or fundraising activities we organise and/or conduct; 
• purchase an item from us;
• join the Adopt Change community;
• provide feedback about our services;
• attend an event with which we are associated; 
• subscribe to our newsletter; or
• interact with us via one of our social media pages. 

While you do have the right to seek to deal with us anonymously or by using a pseudonym, in many circumstances it will not be practicable for us to deal with you or provide any services to you except for the most general responses to general enquiries, unless you identify yourself.

Personal Information provided by other people:

In some circumstances, Adopt Change may be provided with personal information about an individual from a third party. Third parties may include, for example, someone duly authorised to act on your behalf, [our research partners], referees providing information in support of a job applicant and organisations which assist us with our marketing and fundraising activities.

Your personal information will only be collected from third parties if it is unreasonable or impractical to collect that personal information from you directly. If and when we do collect personal information from third parties, we will take reasonable steps in the circumstances to inform you of this collection and obtain your consent, if required.

In relation to employee records:

Under the Privacy Act, the APPs do not apply to an employee record. As a result, this Privacy Policy does not apply to Adopt Change’s treatment of an employee record, where the treatment is directly related to a current or former employment relationship between Adopt Change and an employee.

How will Adopt Change use the personal information you provide?

Adopt Change will use personal information it collects from you for the primary purpose of collection, and for such other secondary purposes that are related to the primary purpose of collection provided that, for example, (i) you would reasonably expect such a secondary use or disclosure or (ii) you have consented to the secondary use or disclosure.

We may use your personal information for a number of purposes, including the following:

• to enable you to join the Adopt Change community;
• to send you updates, newsletters, event invites and information about how to support the Adopt Change cause;
• to process donations; 
• to conduct research, marketing and fundraising activities; 
• to respond to feedback and enquiries; and
• to assess job applications. 

In relation to direct marketing, Adopt Change will use your personal information for direct marketing where you have provided that information and you are likely to expect direct marketing.

If we use your personal information and it was obtained from a third party, we will still send you direct marketing information where you have consented.

We will always obtain your consent to use sensitive information as the basis for any of our direct marketing.

If at any time you would like to stop receiving direct marketing emails (or text messages), you can click the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any direct marketing email we send (or follow the opt-out instructions in any text message we send).

Job applicants, staff members and contractors:

In relation to personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors, Adopt Change’s primary purpose of collection is to assess and (if successful) to engage the applicant, staff member or contractor, as the case may be.

The purposes for which Adopt Change uses personal information of job applicants, staff members and contractors include:

• for insurance purposes;
• to satisfy Adopt Change’s legal obligations; and
• to administer and maintain the individual’s relationship with Adopt Change.

Where Adopt Change receives unsolicited job applications, these will usually be dealt with in accordance with the unsolicited personal information requirements set out in the APPs.

Volunteers:

Adopt Change also obtains personal information about volunteers who assist Adopt Change in its functions or conduct associated activities, such as to enable Adopt Change and the volunteers to work together. We may also collect volunteers’ next of kin details

Marketing and fundraising:

Adopt Change treats marketing and seeking donations for the future growth and development of Adopt Change as important. Personal information held by Adopt Change may be disclosed to an organisation that assists in Adopt Change’s marketing and/or fundraising activities.

Who might Adopt Change disclose personal information to?

Adopt Change may disclose personal information, including sensitive information, held about an individual to:

• government departments;
• people  and organisations providing services to Adopt Change, such as third parties who assist us with our fundraising and marketing activities as well as research; 
• our professional advisors including lawyers, accountants, tax advisors and auditors;
• regulatory or government bodies for the purposes of resolving complaints; and
• anyone you authorise Adopt Change to disclose information to such as referees and next of kin.

Sending information overseas:

Adopt Change will not send personal information about an individual outside Australia without:

• obtaining the consent of the individual (in some cases this consent will be implied); or
• otherwise complying with the APPs or other applicable privacy legislation.

Personal information is stored on servers located in Sydney and/or Melbourne.

Before Adopt Change does disclose any personal and/or sensitive information to a third party, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the third party will protect your personal and sensitive information in accordance with Australian privacy laws and in a manner consistent with this Privacy Policy. Third parties are required to restrict their use of this information to the purpose for which it was provided.

How does Adopt Change treat sensitive information?

Sensitive information will be used and disclosed only for the purpose for which it was provided or a directly related secondary purpose, unless you agree otherwise, or the use or disclosure of the sensitive information is allowed by law.

Management and security of personal information

Adopt Change’s staff are required to respect the confidentiality of personal information and the privacy of individuals.

Adopt Change has in place steps to protect the personal information it holds from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification, interference or disclosure by use of various methods including locked storage of paper records and the use of passwords to access computerised records.

Information is stored on secured networks consistent with industry standards which are only accessible by those employees who have special access rights to such systems.

Cookies

Our Website uses cookies. We may also use web beacons, Flash local stored objects and JavaScript.

Cookies collect information that includes the server your computer or device is logged onto, your browser type and how you gained entry to our Website. Therefore, when you visit our Website anonymously, details are recorded about your visit, such as time and date, pages accessed and time spent on the Website, in addition to the matters described above. This information is used in an anonymous form for statistical purposes and, as such, cannot be used to identify you individually. A cookie cannot retrieve any other information from your hard drive, pass on computer viruses or capture your email address or any other personally identifiable information.

When you use our Website, having your cookies enabled will allow us to maintain the continuity of your browsing session and remember your details when you return.

Check the “Help” menu of your browser for more information on how to change your cookie preferences.You may disable cookies or set your browser to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you do disable cookies, we may be unable to optimise your visit to our Website and you may experience some errors. Refer to your browser instructions or help screens to learn about these functions.

We may also collect information about your IP address, although this may not identify you.

Links

Our Website may contain links to websites operated and maintained by third parties over which we have absolutely no control. These third party websites are not subject to this Privacy Policy or our privacy standards and procedures. Any information you provide to third party websites will be governed by the terms of the websites’ privacy policies. We have no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the content, actions or policies of third party websites. The inclusion of third party links on our Website in no way constitutes an endorsement of such websites’ content, actions or policies.

Updating personal information

Adopt Change endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate, complete and up-to-date. A person may seek to update their personal information held by Adopt Change by contacting the Privacy Officer of Adopt Change at any time.

You have the right to check what personal information Adopt Change holds about you.

Under the Privacy Act and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (NSW), an individual has the right to obtain access to any personal information which Adopt Change holds about them and to advise Adopt Change of any perceived inaccuracy. There are some exceptions to this right set out in the applicable legislation. To make a request to access any information Adopt Change holds about you, please contact the Privacy Officer in writing.

Adopt Change may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require. Although no fee will be charged for accessing your personal information or making a correction, Adopt Change may charge a fee to retrieve and copy any material.If the information sought is extensive, Adopt Change will advise the likely cost in advance.

There are some circumstances specified by law where we may refuse your request for access to your personal information. However, if one of these circumstances applies, we will provide you with a written explanation of the reasons for refusal, unless it would be unreasonable to provide that notice.

Once we receive your request for access, we will endeavour to respond to your request within a reasonable period after the request is made.

How long will Adopt Change keep my information?

The APPs require Adopt Change not to store personal information longer than necessary.

When your personal information is no longer required for a purpose for which it may be used or disclosed (and we are not required to retain it by law), Adopt Change will take reasonable steps to de-identify or destroy the personal information.

Enquiries and privacy complaints

If you would like further information about the way Adopt Change manages the personal information it holds, please contact Adopt Change at enquiries@adoptchange.org.au.

If you have any concerns, complaints or you think that there has been a breach of privacy, please contact Adopt Change at enquiries@adoptchange.org.au and inform us of the nature of your concern or complaint. We will then investigate your complaint and endeavour to provide you with our response within a reasonable time.

If, after you have received our written response, you consider that we have not dealt satisfactorily with your concerns, please let us know in writing and we will then meet with you to discuss further. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint within 30 days from this meeting, then you can refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner via:

Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au
Tel:  1300 363 992
Fax:  +61 2 9284 9666

Contact Details
If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

The Privacy Officer
Adopt Change Limited
PO Box 595
Dulwich Hill NSW 2203