Privacy Policy

Last updated: 7 February 2020

1. Background

Our Children Australia Pty Ltd ACN 159 535 903 (Our Children, We, Our, Us and other similar terms) take all reasonable steps to implement processes and procedures for the responsible management of personal information. We may also operate under trading names including, Our Children, Separated Parents Orders Training Program, Family Law Services Online, Separation Made Easy and Mindful Mediation Services. These businesses are operated by Us, subsequently this Privacy Policy applies equally to each business and all Personal Information is available to each business.

We have implemented this Privacy Policy in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) and other data protection rules in order to be open and transparent about how We collect, hold, and use Your personal information, and under what circumstances We may disclose or transfer it.

This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information collected by Our Children in the course of providing services to Our customers (You, Your and other similar terms) regardless of its source and forms part of the terms and conditions of our various agreements with You.

2. Disclaimer

While Your Privacy is important to Us, nothing in this Privacy Policy constitutes a voluntary opt in to any privacy law's, anywhere in the world, which We are not statutorily bound to comply with.

3. Collection

3.1 Collection of personal information

We collect personal information:

  1. when You interact with us online, over the phone, by email, in person or through other means of communication; and
  2. in order to assist You with the provision of services and to provide any related assistance or for other purposes requested through such communication.

The type of personal information We collect includes Your name, address, telephone number, email, details about your family circumstances and any additional information You provide to Us. As is the nature of our service, You or other people you collaborate with on this service may provide us with information about your children, health information, details of legal proceedings and opinions which people hold about You and your family.

Where You contact Us on behalf of Your employer, the information You provide often contains information about Your employment, position and employers contact details. In those circumstances certain employment information is collected.

Information will only be collected directly from You unless You authorise another person to provide the information. By collaborating with other people on the Our Children platform, including ex partners, other parents of your children or family law related service providers (Collaborators), you are authorising us to collect information from those people.

3.2 Sensitive information

Our Children only collects sensitive information or sensitive personal information, as defined in s 6 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) or in Article 9 of the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) respectively, when it is provided to Us by You or Your Collaborators.

3.3 Device information and cookies

When You visit our websites, We may collect certain information about Your device, including details about Your Web browser, IP address, time zone, and some of the cookies that are installed on Your device. Additionally, as You browse, We collect information about the individual Web pages, the services You use, what Websites or search terms referred You, and information about how You interact with Us online.

We collect device information using the following technologies:

  1. "Cookies" which are data files placed on Your device or computer which may include an anonymous unique identifier;
  2. "Log files" which track actions occurring on the website, and collect data including Your IP address, browser type, internet service provider, referring/exit pages, and date/time stamps; and
  3. "Web beacons", "tags", and "pixels" which are electronic files used to record information about how You browse Websites.

Please note that We do not alter our Websites' data collection and use practices when We see a Do Not Track signal from Your browser.

Through Our use of Google Analytics, the information generated by the cookie about Your use of the website (including Your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating Your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.

Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf.

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on Your browser, however if You do, You may not be able to use the full functionality of Our website.

4. Consent

By agreeing to this Privacy Policy, You give us Your consent to use Your personal information as set out herein. You have a right to withdraw Your consent at any time and may do so by contacting Us via the details provided below.

By using our website, You consent to the processing of data about You by Google in the manner described in Google's privacy policy and for the purposes set out above. You can opt out of Google Analytics if You disable or refuse the cookie, disable JavaScript, or use the opt-out service provided by Google.

By using the Our Children Platform, you consent to Google processing the text for the purposes of providing you with feedback regarding the content of that text, which may subsequently be used to alter the algorithms which analyse text and including the sentiment and syntax.

5. Use

5.1 General use

We use personal information collected as part of Our business operations which are primarily associated with assisting families to address family breakdowns, promote positive parenting experiences and improving communication between separated parents. Examples of when Your information may be used include:

  1. informing You about Our services;
  2. providing You with the services requested;
  3. administration needs in relation to providing You with service, including managing Your account;
  4. dealing with requests, enquiries or complaints and other customer care related activities;
  5. facilitating communications between Yourself and Your Collaborators;
  6. marketing Our services generally; and
  7. carrying out any activity in connection with legal, governmental or regulatory requirements imposed on Us or in connection with legal proceedings (including proceedings under the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) and related legislation), crime or fraud prevention, detection or prosecution.

We may also use personal information for purposes, as would be reasonably expected by You, in connection with those activities described above. However, We will not use Your personal information for purposes, other than as described in this privacy policy or other agreement We have with You, unless You consent to that use or there are specific law enforcement, public health or safety reasons.

5.2 Direct marketing

Where You have elected to be included on our mail list or to receive other electronic communications, We may use Your contact details to send You those communications. To opt-out of receiving marketing material, You may contact Us via the details below or select the "unsubscribe" link provided in that communication.

6. Accessing Your information

Upon Your request and after satisfying ourselves of Your identity, We will provide access to the personal information We hold about You except in certain prescribed circumstances. These include, where:

  1. We believe giving access would pose a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or public safety;
  2. giving You access would be unlawful;
  3. granting access would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals;
  4. the request for access is frivolous or vexatious; or
  5. there are anticipated legal proceedings between You and Us.

7. Data integrity

We take reasonable steps to ensure the personal information We collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date. You have a right to correct incorrect information at any time and may do so by contacting Us using the details provided below.

You acknowledge and accept that, as is the nature of our services, where a Collaborator or other person forms an independent opinion about you, we are not obliged to alter that information simply because the opinion held by that other person is inconsistent with your view. Such opinions are not considered personal information, notwithstanding they may be inaccurate.

If You become aware Your information is no longer accurate, complete or up-to-date please contact Us.

8. Sharing information

We may disclose personal information to:

  1. employees, a related entity and Our professional advisors, such as Our lawyers and accountants;
  2. the Australian Family Courts, if presented with a subpoena;
  3. Your Collaborators;
  4. law enforcement agencies to assist in the investigation and prevention of criminal activities; and
  5. Our third party contractors or service providers with whom We have a business association, including:
    1. marketing service providers;
    2. accounting service providers; and
    3. information technology service providers including cloud application providers.

Finally, We may also share Your personal information to comply with applicable laws and regulations, to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other lawful request for information We receive, or to otherwise protect Our rights.

We will not disclose Your personal information other than in accordance with this privacy policy without Your consent.

9. Offshore transfers

The personal information We collect may be transferred out of the EU and Australia and to countries including the United States where it is processed by third party providers, of cloud-based services, who assist Us to manage promotional material, email, natural language processing and accounting services. Our Children relies solely on reputable service providers such as Google Cloud Services.

While We do not otherwise actively disclose Your personal information to other overseas entities, the service providers We engage may use international data centres and disaster recovery sites. Consequently, these providers may have access to Your information.

Regardless of where You reside Your right to Privacy is protected in Australia pursuant to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) which is administered by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). The OAIC is contactable via their Website at https://www.oaic.gov.au/.

10. Anonymity and use of pseudonyms

We may interact with You anonymously or through the use of pseudonyms if You have questions general in nature. However, You are required to provide true and accurate details when requesting the provision of services. You agree to provide accurate information if so required.

11. Security

We take commercially reasonable steps to protect the personal information We hold from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We do this by:

  1. maintaining and keeping our systems up to date;
  2. using secure servers protected from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure;
  3. using secure sockets layer (SSL) encryption to transfer data across public networks, such as the internet;
  4. relying on reputable service providers; and
  5. limiting the collection of Your personal information to that which We reasonably require.

12. Data retention

You acknowledge, that the information kept which is associated with Our 'Our Children Platform', is intended to be kept until all of Your children reach the age of eighteen (18) years old. You have entered into a legally binding agreement with us to provide the services and that agreement includes the rights to keep your Personal Information, held in that platform, until such time. You acknowledge and accept your Collaborators on that platform have the capacity to export all information and therefore requiring us to delete the information does not make it unavailable to your Collaborators.

Subject to the preceding paragraph, if We hold personal information about You, and We do not need that information for any purpose, We will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify that information, in accordance with the APPs and the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), unless We are prevented from doing so by law.

Under Australian law, financial records, such as those relating to financial transactions, must be retained for 7 years after the transactions associated with those records are completed.

You may make a request to Us in writing to remove Your personal information and We will do so subject to the agreements we hold with You, the APPs and the GDPR.

13. Use of de-identified data

The data We collect may have analytical value to Us and other third parties. We reserve the right to process information We collect through our services. However, We will only distribute data which has been deidentified. Deidentified data will not include personal information such as Your name, address, phone number, email address or other information which would reasonably allow You to be identified.

By way of example, the information we collect may be used by artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to improve the natural language processing capacities of our services via the Our Children Platform.

14. Additional rights under the GDPR

If You are an EU resident or citizen, You have the right to access the personal information We hold about You and to ask that Your personal information be corrected, updated, or deleted. You may also object to the processing of Your personal information.

If You would like to exercise these rights, please contact us through the contact information below.

15. Complaints procedure

Our Children is a customer service-oriented business. Therefore, if You have a complaint about Our collection or use of personal information pertaining to You, then We would ask You to contact Us. Our Privacy Officer can be contacted via the information provided below.

If after investigating Your complaint and reporting to You our findings, You are still not satisfied then We ask You to consult:

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 2001

Telephone: 1300 363 992

Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au

Alternatively, if You are an EU resident or citizen You may contact Your local supervisory authority.

16. Contacting Us

For more information about our privacy practices, if You have questions, or if You would like to make a complaint, please contact Us using the details provided below:

Privacy Officer
GPO Box 2324
Brisbane QLD 4001

Telephone: 1300 433 302

Email: support@ourchildren.com.au

17. Amendments

We may update this privacy policy from time to time in order to reflect changes to our practices or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons.