FosterWave Privacy Notice

1. Who we are

FosterWave™ is a national campaign created to help find the next generation of foster carers and enable individuals, community organisations and businesses to support fostering.

FosterWave is operated by:

FosterWave Ltd
Company number: 17243569
Registered office: 42 Garden Mill, Garden Street North, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX3 6BP

FosterWave Ltd is the data controller responsible for the personal information collected through the FosterWave website and campaign.

For questions about this privacy notice or how we use your personal information, contact:
Email: rolfe.pearce@fcrspecialist.com
Postal address: 42 Garden Mill, Garden Street North, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX3 6BP

2. Information we collect

The information we collect depends on how you use FosterWave.

Campaign supporters

We may collect:

• Your name.
• Your email address.
• Your postcode or general location.
• Whether you are registering as an individual, community organisation or business.
• Your organisation’s name, website and logo, where applicable.
• An optional message of support.
• Your communication and consent preferences.

Potential foster carers

When you ask to be contacted about fostering, we may collect:

• Your name.
• Your email address.
• Your telephone number.
• Your postcode.
• The fostering provider you select or the provider identified for your area.
• Any message or information you choose to provide.

Please do not provide sensitive personal or medical information through the initial enquiry form.

Fostering providers and professional contacts

We may collect:

• Names and professional contact details.
• Organisation and role information.
• Provider account and login information.
• Records of correspondence and activity on the platform.

Website information

When you use the website, limited technical information may also be collected, including:

• Internet Protocol address.
• Browser and device information.
• Website activity and timestamps.
• Security and system logs.
• Cookie preferences.

Further information is available in our Cookie Notice.

3. How we use your information

We use personal information to:

• Register and administer your support for FosterWave.
• Operate and improve the national FosterWave campaign.
• Send campaign information where you have agreed to receive it.
• Display approved information on the FosterWave Supporter Wall.
• Respond to enquiries and requests.
• Connect potential foster carers with an appropriate fostering provider.
• Administer provider accounts and business relationships.
• Protect the website, prevent misuse and maintain accurate records.
• Comply with our legal and regulatory responsibilities.

We will not use your information for purposes that are incompatible with those explained in this notice.

4. Our lawful bases

Under UK data-protection law, we must have a lawful basis for using personal information.

We rely on the following lawful bases:

Consent

We rely on your consent when:

• Sending FosterWave campaign and supporter emails.
• Publishing your name, organisation, logo or message on the Supporter Wall.
• Sharing a foster-carer enquiry with a fostering provider so that the provider can contact you.
• Using non-essential cookies or analytics technologies.

You can withdraw your consent at any time.

Legitimate interests

We may rely on our legitimate interests when:

• Administering and improving the FosterWave platform.
• Responding to ordinary correspondence.
• Maintaining website and information security.
• Preventing fraud, misuse or unauthorised access.
• Communicating with professional representatives of fostering providers and partner organisations.

When relying on legitimate interests, we consider the impact on your rights and do not use your information where your interests override ours.

Contractual and legal obligations

We may use information where necessary to manage an agreement with a fostering provider, supplier, sponsor or partner, or where we must retain information to meet legal, accounting or regulatory obligations.

5. Campaign emails

We will only send campaign emails to individuals who have actively agreed to receive them.

Our emails may include:

• FosterWave campaign updates.
• Information about how to support fostering locally.
• Resources you can share with family, friends, colleagues or followers.
• Important changes affecting your FosterWave registration.

Every campaign email will include an unsubscribe option.

We do not sell email addresses, use supporter information for unrelated marketing or use the FosterWave supporter database for fundraising.

6. The Supporter Wall

Joining FosterWave does not automatically mean that all your information will be published.

We will only display the information explained on the registration form and approved by you. This may include your:

• Name or organisation name.
• General area.
• Logo.
• Message of support.

Your email address, telephone number and account information will never be displayed publicly.

You may ask us to amend or remove your Supporter Wall entry at any time.

7. Foster-carer enquiries

When you specifically ask to be contacted about becoming a foster carer, FosterWave may share the information submitted through the enquiry form with:

• The fostering provider you selected; or
• An appropriate fostering provider serving your postcode area.

The provider will use the information to respond to your enquiry and will become responsible for its own use of your personal information.

FosterWave does not share ordinary campaign supporters’ contact details with fostering providers simply because they have registered their support.

8. Who we share information with

We may share limited information with organisations that help us operate FosterWave, including providers of:

• Secure website hosting.
• Database and cloud-storage services.
• Email-distribution services.
• Website maintenance and technical support.
• Analytics and security services.
• Professional legal, accounting or regulatory advice.

These organisations may only process information for the purposes agreed with FosterWave and must protect it appropriately.

We may also disclose information where required by law, regulation, court order or a competent public authority.

We never sell personal information.

9. International data transfers

Some of our technology suppliers may store or process information outside the United Kingdom.

Where this happens, we will only use suppliers and transfer arrangements that provide appropriate protection under UK data-protection law. This may include a UK adequacy regulation or approved contractual safeguards.

Further information about applicable safeguards can be requested by contacting rolfe.pearce@fcrspecialist.com.

10. How long we keep information

We do not retain personal information indefinitely.

Our intended retention periods are:

• Supporter registrations: retained while you remain registered with FosterWave and reviewed at least every 24 months.
• Campaign email records: retained until you unsubscribe or withdraw consent.
• Unsubscribe records: a minimal suppression record may be retained so that we can respect your request not to receive further campaign emails.
• Foster-carer enquiries: retained for 24 months after referral, unless a longer period is required to resolve an enquiry, complaint or legal matter.
• Supporter Wall information: retained until you withdraw permission, the campaign entry is removed or it is no longer required.
• Provider and contractual records: retained for the duration of the relationship and for any subsequent legal or accounting retention period.
• Security and technical records: retained for up to 24 months, unless needed to investigate a security incident.

Information that is no longer required will be securely deleted or anonymised.

11. How we protect information

FosterWave uses appropriate organisational and technical measures to protect personal information from unauthorised access, loss, alteration or disclosure.

These measures include:

• Restricting access to authorised people.
• Secure account authentication and access controls.
• Secure transmission of information.
• Separate protected database storage.
• Appropriate supplier agreements.
• Backup, monitoring and security procedures.

No online system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, but we continually review the steps used to protect FosterWave information.

12. Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

• Ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Ask us to delete your information.
• Ask us to restrict how information is used.
• Object to certain uses of your information.
• Receive certain information in a portable format.
• Withdraw consent at any time.
• Complain about how your information has been handled.

Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of anything done before consent was withdrawn.

To exercise your rights, email rolfe.pearce@fcrspecialist.com.

We normally respond to data-rights requests within one calendar month. The law permits additional time in certain complex circumstances.

13. Complaining to the ICO

Please contact rolfe.pearce@fcrspecialist.com first so that we have an opportunity to address your concern.

You also have the right to complain to the UK data-protection regulator: the Information Commissioner’s Office. Further information about making a complaint is available through the ICO’s official website.

14. Cookies

The FosterWave website may use necessary cookies to operate securely and remember essential settings.

Analytics, advertising or other non-essential cookies will only be used after the visitor has been given appropriate information and has made a choice.

Please see our separate Cookie Notice for details about the cookies and technologies used by FosterWave.

15. Changes to this notice

We may update this privacy notice when our services, suppliers or legal responsibilities change.

The latest version will always be published on the FosterWave website. Where a change materially affects how we use personal information, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to the attention of affected users.

16. Contact us

Questions, requests and privacy concerns should be sent to:

FosterWave Ltd
Email: rolfe.pearce@fcrspecialist.com
Address: 42 Garden Mill, Garden Street North, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX3 6BP