Think:Kids and Massachusetts General Hospital are committed to protecting the privacy and security of the users of this website and dedicated to working in your best interests and to conforming with the latest U.S., Canadian, and European privacy standards, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We want to be transparent in how and when we collect and use your data and to help you better understand how to control that data.
In plain language, we collect some data about visitors and newsletter subscribers through forms and cookies (small tracking codes) on our site. We use this information to keep in touch with you (if you fill out a contact form or newsletter subscription request, for instance) and to improve the content we provide (by identifying what articles get the most attention and to fix site usability issues, for example).
We don’t sell, rent, or otherwise share your personal data with anyone outside of Think:Kids except as necessary to provide a requested service (such as accepting payment for attending a training) or to fulfill legal obligations in the interest of the safety of Think:Kids, the users of our website, or the public.
Some of the tools on our site also collect information and use their own cookies in order to provide you with features and services, and you should review those companies’ privacy policies. These include our social sharing buttons (AddThis), our anti-spam service (Akismet), our online polling/feedback/user experience tool (HotJar), our contact submission form (Ninja Forms), our map tool (Google Maps), our social share tool (AddThis), and our newsletter subscription tool (Constant Contact). We also use Google Analytics and AddThis to track overall activity on our site.
If you ever have any questions, suggestions or concerns about your data privacy, including requests to have your data removed, please send an email to thinkkidsinfo@partners.org. You can also send letters to: Think:Kids, 151 Merrimac Street, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02114.
Read below for additional details about our policies and procedures.
This privacy policy (“Policy”) describes the practices of Think:Kids at Massachusetts General Hospital (“Think:Kids”) with respect to the gathering and use of personal information submitted to Think:Kids through the Think:Kids website (the “Think:Kids Site”).
This Policy does not cover Think:Kids’ confidentiality and privacy obligations to parents, clinicians, and organizations attending training or receiving consultation in connection with Collaborative Problem Solving services. Such obligations are governed by a separate written agreement between each of the individuals or organizations and Think:Kids. This Policy also does not apply to the practices of unrelated third-party service providers or companies accessed through links provided for your convenience from the Site. Protected health information” as defined under the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act and related regulations (collectively referred to as “HIPAA”), including information you provide to a Mass General facility while being treated as a patient of that facility or within the Patient Gateway portal, is separate and subject to the Mass General Brigham Notice of Privacy Practices.
Think:Kids and Massachusetts General Hospital, or a service provider operating on Think:Kids’ behalf, collects certain Nonpublic Personal Information (“NPI”) which is voluntarily submitted by Users on the Site. You may also submit NPI to Think:Kids and Massachusetts General Hospital when you apply through the Sites for a job opening at Think:Kids itself. You might be asked to provide personal information, such as demographic information, if you choose to complete any of the online forms used for event registration, special events and promotions, appointment requests, login to personal information and to provide feedback. The information required to complete the transaction is noted on each specific form. Additional questions might be included to help us improve the services we offer. Personal information is always stored in a secure database. The NPI may include, but may not be limited to:
In addition, when you visit the Site, we may collect technical and navigational information, such as computer browser type, Internet protocol address, pages visited, and average time spent on our Site. This information is gathered through the use of cookies. A cookie is a small data text file that a website server writes to your hard drive when you visit the Site. A cookie assigns a unique identification to your computer and may be used for security purposes, to facilitate transactions, to personalize the Site, or to gather information about the visit.
Think:Kids does not disclose NPI to any third party, except for the purposes of providing the Services to you, or as otherwise disclosed in this Policy. Specifically, we may share the NPI that we collect with the following entities:
To service providers with whom we subcontract, including those who host and maintain the Site, fulfillment companies who distribute our materials or handle billing for certain services
To government agencies and law enforcement officials, when we are required to do so to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims, or when Think:Kids in its sole discretion, believes it is required or appropriate in order to comply with the law
We also reserve the right to disclose NPI in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Terms of Use or other agreements, or as otherwise required or permitted by law. Think:Kids is a sub-program of Massachusetts General Hospital, if the hospital merges with another organization, your NPI will be acquired by that organization.
If you submit NPI, or other personal information not specifically listed here, to any other areas of the Site that can be accessed by Users or others (such as in questions, comments, postings, listservs, email threads, or other such places), then your submissions will be public and Think:Kids’ privacy obligations will no longer apply. If you submit NPI directly to one of our service providers, then such submissions are governed by the received service provider’s terms and privacy policy, and not Think:Kids. Please check the Terms for more information on this subject under the section called “Your Submissions and Activities.”
Think:Kid
s uses NPI collected from Users in order to administer the Services requested by you, to make the Site more useful, to respond to your queries, and to inform Users of new products and services offered on the Site. We also may use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our servers and administer the Site.
Your Internet Protocol address and information regarding the web pages on the Site that you visit, or that link to the Site, may also be used to gather broad demographic information, interests, and behavior so that we may better understand our Users. This information may be used, for example, to alert you to software compatibility issues, or it may be analyzed to improve the Site’s design and functionality. Think:Kids may share aggregated demographic, product usage, or traffic pattern information for marketing purposes with other organizations, but these statistics will include no NPI. Except as noted above, your NPI will not be shared with other organizations for marketing purposes without your consent.
Although the Site has security measures in place to protect against unauthorized access to and the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control, we cannot guarantee that such security measures will be sufficient, will not be breached, and that your NPI, Private Information, or other information may not be disclosed or otherwise accessed in an unauthorized manner. Certain information, including NPI and Private Information, may be transmitted by you and to you by unsecured electronic mail. Although it may be illegal to intercept or disclose these messages, these transmissions are not secured. To protect your privacy, please do not use online forms to communicate information that you consider confidential.
Think:Kids provides methods of updating your information and contact preferences. You may update your information and contact preferences online, or write, e-mail, or telephone us with changes to your information and contact preferences.
Email: thinkkidsinfo@partners.org
Physical address: Think:Kids, 151 Merrimac Street, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02114.
Phone: 617-643-6030
You may at any time request not to be contacted by Think:Kids. “Opt-out” requests should be sent to the address indicated on the materials sent by Think:Kids or by replying to the email in which such material was sent, or by telephone to Think:Kids. Please note that Think:Kids may ask you to follow up on your request in writing, for our records.
The Site provides hypertext links to and framed content from other websites that may be governed by privacy policies that are different from those provided herein. If you leave the Site, or if you are presented with a framed web page that is branded with the marks of a third party, this Privacy Policy will not apply. You should read the privacy policies of the websites reached through the use of links or reached through the interactions with framed content on the Site. Think:Kids is not responsible for the collection, use, or disclosure of information collected through those websites, and Think:Kids expressly disclaims any and all liability related to such collection, use, or disclosure.
The Site is published in the United States and is subject to laws of the United States. If you are located in a country outside the United States and voluntarily submit personal information to us, you thereby consent to the general use of such information as provided in this privacy policy and to the transfer of that information to, and/or storage of that information in, the United States.
As the Site grows and new features are added, or legal requirements change, this Privacy Policy may be amended by posting the amended Privacy Policy on the Site. The amended Privacy Policy, which will apply to all NPI held by Think:Kids, will automatically be effective 30 days after it is initially posted on the Site.
Effective Date of Privacy Policy: July 26, 2021.
