Do You Have a Privacy Policy?

Parents who enroll their children in your family child care program have a high expectation that their privacy will be protected. As a child care provider, you should assume that they don't want any information about their family to be shared with anyone, without their explicit permission.

Your state's child care licensing rules may address the issue of privacy and confidentiality. In Minnesota, the rule states, "The provider shall not disclose any records on children in care to any persons other than the parents of the child," and selected government agencies (police, health department, etc.).To show that you have the same concern as parents about privacy, I recommend that you adopt a privacy policy. Here's an example:

"The Busy Bees Family Child Care will keep all records and information about your family strictly confidential and private. I will abide by our state's privacy laws and will only release information about your family as required by law or with your written permission."

There may be several common practices in your program that affect privacy where you want parent permission:

* You post photographs of children around your home

* You have a photo album or scrap book that prospective parents can view

* The name of a child is listed on their artwork or cubbies that is visible to visitors to your home

To save you the time and effort to get written permission in each of these situations, include them as part of your privacy policy and ask parents to sign the policy.

Of course, the issue of privacy and confidentiality are extremely important if you use Facebook, Pinterest or other social media on the Internet.

Image credit: https://www.picpedia.org/post-it-note/p/privacy-policy.html

For more information about privacy, see my book Family Child Care Legal & Insurance Guide.