Privacy policy

The National Adoption Service for Wales, launched in November 2014, is an innovative collaborative for the provision of adoption services.  It brought together Welsh local authority adoption services into a 3-tier structure which includes partnerships at all levels with Voluntary Adoption Agencies based in Wales, Health and Education Services as well as others.

This privacy policy will explain how the National Adoption Service Central Team (“we”, “us”, “our”) uses the personal data we collect from you when you use our website (https://www.adoptcymru.com).

What data do we collect?

The National Adoption Service collects the following data:

• Name,
• Email address,
• Telephone number
• Language preference

Individual child level data –

identifier, ethnicity, DOB, legal status, dates of significant events, support needs and services and local authority residing.

Individual prospective adopter level data –

identifier, date of application, ethnicity, date of approval to adopt, date matched with child, date child placed, support needs and services, date deregistered (where appropriate) and local authority residing.

Special Category Data

• Ethnicity

• Records considered to be relevant to any safeguarding and wellbeing concerns raised on children.
• The child’s needs and circumstances
• Professional opinions
• What the meetings were about and what happened in them
• Information that the child’s carer / other people they know have given to us
• Information provided by other services working with the child, e.g., Health, Education,
• Voluntary agencies
• Vulnerable Characteristics, e.g., Children Looked After (CLA), Asylum Seekers, English/Welsh as an Additional Language (EAL), Service Children, Young Carers, etc.

How do we collect your data?

You directly provide the National Adoption Service with most of the data we collect. We collect data and process data when you:

• Submit a form for making an adoption enquiry
• Use or view our website via your browser’s cookies.
• Submit a request to receive further information/news

Lawful Basis

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

Article 6 (1) :

(c) We have a legal obligation.

(d) We have a vital interest.

(e) We need it to perform a public task.

Our additional legal basis for using special category data information is

UK GDPR Article 9 (2) (g) processing is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest.

Substantial Public Interest Condition:

• Data Protection Act Schedule 1 Part 2 Paragraph 8 – Equality of opportunity or treatment

How will we use your data?

The National Adoption Service Central Team collects your data as a processor for the following purposes:

• Forwarding adoption enquires to regional and voluntary adoption agencies in Wales.
• To send information and news to those who request it

The National Adoption Service Central Team collects your data as a controller for the following purposes:

• Granting access to member only areas.

The organisations we may share your personal data with​

• Regional Adoption Agencies
• Voluntary Adoption Agencies
• Health Boards
• Education Departments
• CAFCASS

The agencies / organisations we share your data with externally include:

• Welsh Government (Data collection and information management) to help improve care and support in Wales
• Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA)
  

We will make you aware before sharing your information, usually at the time we collect it

• We will only share this information with an organisation if they need it to do their job.
• We will not pass on more information than we need to.
• We will share your information without your permission, only if the law says we should.  This could be to protect your vital interests, to prevent someone else being put at risk or to detect or prevent fraud.

How do we store your data?

National Adoption Service securely stores your data at a DigitalOcean UK datacentre certified to the international standard of ISO/IEC 27001:2013.

National Adoption Service will keep your name and email address for a period of twelve months.

Marketing

National Adoption Service may send you information we think you will find useful from time to time.

If you have agreed to receive marketing, you may always opt out at a later date.

You have the right at any time to stop National Adoption Service from contacting you for marketing purposes or giving your data to our partners.

If you no longer wish to be contacted for marketing purposes, please email us at contact@adoptcymru.com.

What are your data protection rights?

National Adoption Service would like to make sure you are fully aware of all your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:

The right to access – You have the right to request National Adoption Service for copies of your personal data.

The right to rectification – You have the right to request that National Adoption Service correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request National Adoption Service to complete the information you believe is incomplete.

The right to erasure – You have the right to request that National Adoption Service erase your personal data, under certain conditions.

The right to restrict processing – You have the right to request that National Adoption Service restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.

The right to object to processing – You have the right to object to National Adoption Service’s processing of your personal data, under certain conditions.

The right to data portability – You have the right to request that National Adoption Service transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.

You can request to access your information online. You can also request access to your information by completing the relevant form and sending it by post to:

The Data Protection Officer
Information Governance
County Hall
Atlantic Wharf
Cardiff
CF10 4UW

Further information and forms are available via https://www.cardiff.gov.uk/ENG/Your-Council/Data-protection-and-FOI/Data-protection/Pages/default.aspx#anchor_8

Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behaviour information. When you visit our websites, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology

For further information, visit allaboutcookies.org.

How do we use cookies?

National Adoption Service uses cookies in a range of ways to improve your experience on our website, including:

• Keeping you signed in
• Understanding how you use our website

What types of cookies do we use?

There are a number of different types of cookies, however, our website uses:

• Functionality – National Adoption Service uses these cookies so that we recognize you on our website and remember your previously selected preferences. These could include what language you prefer and location you are in. A mix of first-party and third-party cookies are used.
• Advertising – National Adoption Service uses these cookies to collect information about your visit to our website, the content you viewed, the links you followed and information about your browser, device, and your IP address. National Adoption Service sometimes shares some limited aspects of this data with third parties for advertising purposes. We may also share online data collected through cookies with our advertising partners. This means that when you visit another website, you may be shown advertising based on your browsing patterns on our website.

How to manage cookies

You can set your browser not to accept cookies, and the above website tells you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, in a few cases, some of our website features may not function as a result.

Privacy policies of other websites

The National Adoption Service website contains links to other websites. Our privacy policy applies only to our website, so if you click on a link to another website, you should read their privacy policy.

Changes to our privacy policy

National Adoption Service keeps its privacy policy under regular review and places any updates on this web page. This privacy policy was last updated in September 2024.

How to contact us

If you have any questions about National Adoption Service’s privacy policy, the data we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Email us at: contact@adoptcymru.com

Call us: 029 2087 3927

Or write to us at: Room 475, County Hall, Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff, CF10 4UW

How to contact the appropriate authority

Should you wish to report a complaint or if you feel that National Adoption Service has not addressed your concern in a satisfactory manner, you may contact the Information Commissioner’s Office: Make a complaint | ICO