Privacy Policy

Forever Home helps people find shelter dogs that fit their life, and helps shelters and rescues list dogs and receive adoption interest. This policy covers the personal information we collect through the site and what we do with it. It does not cover anything a shelter does on its own website.

We collect only the information needed to run the service.

Adopter accounts.

• Your name and email address.
• Your password, stored using secure one-way hashing (we never keep it as readable text).
• The dogs you save as favorites.
• Your questionnaire answers.
• An optional ZIP code, only if you choose to add one, used to estimate distance.

Shelter and rescue accounts.

• Your organization’s name, email, website, and address.
• A contact person’s name, title, email, and phone, plus an optional registration reference.
• The dog listings, descriptions, and photos you add.

Adoption applications. When you apply for a dog, the application includes your name, email, the dog you applied for, and an optional message.

Technical information. We use your device’s IP address for security and rate limiting (for example, to slow down repeated sign-in attempts), and we use the session and cookie information needed to keep you signed in.

We do not collect analytics data, advertising identifiers, precise or GPS location, or any payment, card, or bank information.

We use the information above to:

• Create and operate your account.
• Keep you signed in.
• Provide matching and show dog listings.
• Save your favorites.
• Process and route adoption applications.
• Let shelters manage their listings and read the applications sent to them.
• Keep the site secure.
• Review shelter registrations and moderate content.

We do not use your personal information for advertising, and we do not sell it.

• When you apply for a dog, your application goes to the shelter that listed that dog. It is not automatically shared with any other shelter.
• A ZIP code you provide stays private. It is never shown to shelters or other users, and the distance estimate is worked out in your own browser.
• On public pages, a shelter appears only through the information it chooses to make public. Anything it keeps private, including its exact postal code, is not sent to visitors.
• A shelter’s representative and contact details are not displayed publicly. They are visible only to administrators who review the registration.
• Administrators may access accounts, listings, and applications when needed to operate, review, moderate, or secure the platform.

Donations happen on a shelter’s own external platform, not on Forever Home. If a shelter adds an official donation link, a Donate button sends you to that external page, and any giving happens there, directly between you and the shelter.

• Forever Home does not process donations.
• Forever Home does not receive or hold donation money.
• Forever Home does not collect card or bank information through the donation feature.
• Forever Home does not take a percentage of donations.
• Forever Home does not operate the external donation platform.

A shelter may optionally display a donation total on its page. That figure is entered by the shelter and is self-reported. Forever Home does not verify or independently track it.

We take reasonable steps to protect your information. These include:

• Secure one-way password hashing, so passwords are never stored as readable text.
• Server-side authentication and session controls.
• Access controls that limit what each type of account can see and do.
• Protection against cross-site request forgery (CSRF) on actions that change data.
• Rate limiting to slow down abuse.
• Secure cookie settings where applicable.

No system connected to the internet can be guaranteed completely secure, and we cannot promise absolute security.

You can permanently delete your own account while signed in. Adopters do this from the account page, and shelters from the shelter dashboard. We ask you to re-enter your current password to confirm, and the deletion cannot be undone. Deleting your account signs you out and ends your active sessions.

• For an adopter, we remove your account information, including your favorites, questionnaire history, and ZIP or location information.
• For a shelter, we remove your private contact and representative information, and your dogs stop appearing publicly on Forever Home.
• An adoption application you already sent may remain as a record for the shelter, but your identifying information is redacted from it.
• A shelter’s organization name may remain where it is needed to preserve the context of an existing application.
• Administrator accounts are not deleted through this self-service feature.

We keep your information while your account is active, and sign-in sessions expire on their own after about a week. When you delete your account we remove your personal information as described above. In some cases we keep a limited amount of information, in a form that does not identify you, for legitimate operational and record-keeping reasons. For example, a redacted application record stays with the shelter so its own records remain intact, and internal moderation or audit records may keep a non-identifying reference to an action rather than to you.

Depending on where you live and the laws that apply to you, you may have rights over your personal information. These can include:

• The right to access or know what information we hold about you.
• The right to correct inaccurate information.
• The right to delete your information.
• Other rights that may apply under the privacy laws in your area.

Many of these you can act on yourself while signed in, including editing your details and deleting your account. For any other privacy request, use the contact page.[Which specific laws apply to Forever Home has not been determined and should be reviewed by a qualified attorney.]

Forever Home uses only the cookies it needs to sign you in and keep the site secure: one that keeps you signed in, and one that protects requests against CSRF. We do not use advertising or analytics cookies, and no third-party tracking cookies. There is nothing optional to opt in or out of.

We also keep a little information in your browser to make things work, such as your latest questionnaire results, a ZIP code you entered, whether you have dismissed the cookie notice, and whether you have seen the opening animation. This stays on your device and is not used to track you.

Forever Home is intended for users age 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we learn that we have collected personal information from someone under 13, we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

We do not use analytics, advertising, or tracking tools, and our fonts are served from our own site. The main thing loaded from elsewhere is images. Dog photos and shelter logos are loaded from outside image hosts, which today include a placeholder photo service and any image links that shelters provide. When your browser loads one of those images, that host can see your IP address, the same as visiting any site with outside images. We do not control those hosts.

Notification emails (such as telling a shelter about a new application) are not currently sent through a real email provider. In the current version they are recorded internally rather than delivered. Before we connect a real email provider, we will update this policy with the relevant provider and data-sharing information.

We may update this policy as the site grows or as our practices change. When we make a significant change, we will update the date at the top of this page. This document is a working draft and is pending review.

Forever Home is operated by [organization name, to be decided]. For any privacy question or request, please use the contact page, or email us at foreverhomefd@gmail.com.