How we handle your family's information

Daycare Discoverer helps Metro Vancouver families apply to licensed child care waitlists. To do that we hold details about you and your child, so we want to be plain about what we keep, why, and who else touches it. We follow British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).

What we collect

When you build your family profile, we collect:

Your name, email and mobile number, and the same for a co-parent if you add one.
Your child's name, date of birth (or due date), the date you need care from, the days and hours you need, and languages spoken at home.
Anything you choose to tell centres, such as notes about your child's needs, a sibling already enrolled, or program preferences.
Your municipality and, if you add them, a home and work location, used to find programs near you.
The types of care you're open to and how far you're willing to travel.

As your search runs, we also keep the applications and check-ins sent for you, the replies centres send back, your waitlist positions and offers, the permissions you gave us (and when), and basic sign-in records.

When you first visit, a cookie notes the page you arrived on and the site that sent you (for example, a Google search or a guide). We keep that with your profile if you sign up, so we know which pages help families. It holds nothing else and isn't shared.

Payments go through Stripe. We never see or store your card number.

How we use it

To build your shortlist of licensed programs that fit your child's age, your schedule and your location.
To send applications to the programs you choose. Nothing is sent until you approve it. You see each application first, and you can take any program off the list.
To send polite check-ins so you stay active on each list, no more than once every four weeks per program, and only with your permission.
To sort replies from centres and alert you, by email and text, when a spot is offered.
To send you account emails, such as sign-in links, offer alerts and an optional weekly summary you can turn off in Settings.

We don't sell your information, and we don't use it for advertising.

Your family's sending address

Applications and check-ins go out from an address made just for your family at apply.daycarediscoverer.com, signed with your names. Centres reply to that address, and we file each reply against the right application so you see it in your inbox here. Every message to a centre says it was sent with Daycare Discoverer on your behalf.

How replies are sorted

When a centre writes back, we sort the reply automatically (for example: received, waitlist position, offer, or a question for you). This sorting is done by an AI model from Anthropic, and by simple keyword rules when the model isn't available. The reply text is sent to Anthropic only to be sorted. Replies the system isn't sure about are flagged for a person on our team to double-check and correct if needed, and you can always read the original message yourself.

Who else handles your information

We use a small number of service providers to run Daycare Discoverer. Each gets only what it needs to do its job:

Hosting and database, to run the app and store your profile.
Postmark, to send and receive email, including applications and centre replies.
Twilio, to send offer texts to your mobile.
Stripe, to take payments.
Anthropic, to sort centre replies, as described above.
Mapbox, if you enter a street address, to turn it into a map location.

Some of these providers store or process information outside Canada, including in the United States, where it may be subject to local law. And of course, the centres you apply to receive what's in your application.

Email and texts (CASL)

We only send applications and check-ins to centres with your express permission, recorded when you complete your profile, and every message includes a working way for the centre to change how often they hear from families or opt out. We send you messages about your own search (sign-in links, offers, replies). The weekly summary is optional and can be turned off in Settings, and offer texts can be turned off there too.

Seeing, downloading and deleting your information

You can view and correct your profile at any time in Settings.
You can download everything we hold about your family as a file from /api/export while signed in.
You can delete your account from Settings. When you do, we first send a withdrawal note to every program you're still on a list with by email, so you're taken off and other families move up, and then we delete your family's profile, applications and messages. Payment records that Stripe and tax law require are kept by Stripe.

How long we keep it

We keep your information while your account is open. When you delete your account, it's removed from our database. Copies already sent to centres in your applications are held by those centres under their own privacy practices.

Keeping it safe

Sign-in uses one-time email links, or your Google or Facebook account, instead of passwords. From Google or Facebook we receive only your confirmed email address. Data is sent over encrypted connections, and only a small number of team members can see family records, to help with replies that need a person.

Questions or concerns

Email us at privacy@daycarediscoverer.com with any question, to ask for a copy of your information, or to raise a concern. If you're not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.