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Privacy and Cookie Policy 

This notice explains what personal data (information) we hold about you, how we collect, how we use and may share information about you.  We are required to give you this information under data protection law.

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Foster for Bradford is Bradford Children & Families Trust’s (BCFT) fostering service. BCFT was set up in 2023 to run children’s services for Bradford Metropolitan District Council. The Trust is owned by, but is independent from, the Council.

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The Foster for Bradford website is intended to provide information to those people interested in becoming foster carers with us. Any information collected from the general public is to enable us to contact you, with your agreement, to provide you with this information / discuss your interest in fostering further.

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​Privacy Notice

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Foster for Bradford, as part of Bradford Children & Families Trust, collects, uses and is responsible for certain personal information about you. We are regulated under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and we are responsible as ‘controllers’ of that personal information for the purpose of those laws.

 

Foster for Bradford assesses, approves, supports and pays foster carers, and provides them with ongoing support, guidance and training to ensure they are fully skilled to be effective foster carers. Foster for Bradford also works with the Trust’s employees and a range of fostering agencies to ensure that children are placed with the most appropriate family

​Personal information we collect and use

 

Information collected by us

In the course of approving and supervising foster carers we collect the following personal information when you provide it to us:

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  • personal information (such as name, address, contact details, date of birth, gender, language)

  • special category characteristics (such as ethnicity, disability, religion and medical information)

  • family network and relationship information

  • employment information

  • financial information

  • information relating to assessments and approvals for suitability to foster children
     

 

Information collected by other sources

We also obtain personal information from the following other sources:

 

  • the local authority in whose area you live

  • other Bradford Council and BCFT departments

  • Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

  • past and present employers

  • social media

  • references (personal and employment)

  • previous partners

  • health

  • schools

 

How we use your personal information

 

We use your personal information to:

 

  • process foster carer applications

  • assess suitability to become a foster carer

  • monitor the progress and stability of placements, to safeguard and support children

  • provide ongoing support, advice and training to foster carers

  • prevent or detect crime or fraud

  • assess and evaluate our services

  • inform future service planning and the commissioning of services

  • ensure that foster carers receive the correct payments

 

How long your personal data will be kept

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We keep your information securely in line with the retention periods shown below, after which time it is archived or securely destroyed, unless we are required by legal reasons to retain records for longer than the stated retention period.
 

Foster carers approved by Bradford Council - including any person with whom a child is placed (under Regulation 34 or 38 of the Fostering Services Regulations 2002) and records of foster carer applicants who are not approved

Date of last contact with foster carers plus 75 years

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Finance and procurement, financial services, payments: all records relating to the payment of foster carers

6 years

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Reasons we can collect and use your personal information

 

The legal basis for using your personal information is Legal Obligation (UK GDPR Article 6.1.c). We collect and use your personal information to comply with our legal obligations under The Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011.


If we need to collect special category (sensitive) personal information, we rely upon reasons of substantial public interest (equality of opportunity or treatment) for the provision of social care; for social security or social protection law; and for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims whenever Courts are acting in their judicial capacity.

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Who we may share your personal information with

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  • Certificate of good conduct checks (out of country checks)

  • Children and Families Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS)

  • Chief Probation Officer

  • Disclosure and Barring Service

  • Health visitors

  • Local safeguarding teams

  • Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (OFSTED)

  • Other local authorities 

  • Other fostering agencies

  • Online training providers, currently The Big Initiative, trading as The Foster Carer Training Hub

  • Schools, colleges and nurseries

  • Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA)

  • The Fostering Network and / or FosterTalk

  • your doctor

 

We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.

 

Your rights

 

Under the UK GDPR, you have rights you can exercise which allow you to:

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  • know what we are doing with your information and why we are doing it

  • ask to see what information we hold about you (subject access request)

  • ask us to correct any mistakes in the information we hold about you

  • object to direct marketing

  • make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office

  • withdraw consent at any time (if applicable)


Depending on our reason for using your information you may also be entitled to:

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  • ask us to delete information we hold about you

  • have your information transferred electronically to yourself or to another organisation

  • object to decisions being made that significantly affect you

  • object to how we are using your information

  • stop us using your information in certain ways


We will always seek to comply with your request, however we may be required to hold or use your information to comply with legal duties.


Please note, your request may delay or prevent us delivering a service to you.


For further information about your rights, including the circumstances in which they apply, see the guidance from the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) on individuals’ rights under the UK GDPR.


If you would like to exercise a right, please contact the Information Governance Team at DPO@bradfordcft.org.uk

 

Keeping your personal information secure

 

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost, or used or accessed in an unauthorised way.


We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.


We also have procedures in place to deal with any suspected data security breach. We will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected data security breach where we are legally required to do so.

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​What cookies/tracking technologies do we use?

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A cookie is a small text file that’s placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit our website.


We use a few different types of cookies. Some are persistent cookies (cookies that remain on your hard drive for an extended period of time) and some are session ID cookies (cookies that expire when you close your browser).


We also use other tracking technologies like web beacons (sometimes called tracking beacons or clear GIFs) and local storage.


These are tiny graphics files that contain a unique identifier that enable us to recognise when someone has visited our website or opened an email that we have sent them.


A popup will appear when you visit our website for the first time. Here, you can choose which types of cookies you wish to accept or reject. 

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Why do we use cookies/tracking technologies?

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Cookies and tracking technologies are important – they help us operate our websites and services; enhance and customise your experience across our websites and services; perform analytics and deliver advertising and marketing that’s relevant to you.


​There are also cookies set by third parties across our websites and services.


Third party cookies enable third party features or functionality to be provided on or through our websites and services, such as advertising, interactive content and analytics. They also enable us to use advertising networks to manage our advertising on other websites.


Finally, we also enable our users to employ cookies and similar tracking technologies in connection with their use of our services in order to allow us and our users to track their contacts.

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​Cookies used on this website

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Below is a list of cookies that we use on our websites and services. The types of cookies we use are always changing. Check back regularly to make sure you stay up to date. If you think we’ve missed a cookie, please let us know.

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  • Google Ads tracking cookies (used for remarketing)

  • Wix social media widget integration, (this lets you share our blog posts easily via Facebook, Twitter and Google)

  • Facebook tracking cookies (used for advertising and remarketing)

  • Encrypted Facebook ID and Browser ID (used for advertising) 

  • Google Analytics cookies (used to improve our website and our user experience)

  • LinkedIn: These cookies are used for the following purposes respectively: Store language preferences, Browser ID cookie, Secure browser ID cookie, Ad analytics and used for routing

  • Twitter: social media integration

  • Performance tracking: These cookies are used for analysing and improving website performance

  • Zoho: These cookies are used for analytic purposes and social media ad analytics. 

 

​User email campaigns

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We automatically place single pixel gifs, also known as web beacons, in every email sent by our users. These are tiny graphic files that contain unique identifiers that enable us and our users to recognise when their subscribers have opened an email or clicked certain links.


These technologies record each subscriber's email address, IP address, date, and time associated with each open and click for a campaign.


We use this data to create reports for our users about how an email campaign performed and what actions subscribers took.

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User sites

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If a user elects to use certain Services, the use of those may permit or require additional cookies or tracking technologies to be employed.


If a user connects his or her website to their account, we may install a piece of code called a JavaScript tracking snippet (“Snippet”) on that user’s website. This snippet allows cookies, pixels, and other technologies to be set on that user’s site to help them access features offered by us through the Services.


​The specific cookies, pixels, or other technologies that will be set on a user’s Site depend on the features that user has chosen as part of the Services. You should review the relevant user’s privacy notice and cookie disclosures for further information about the specific types of cookies and other tracking technologies used on the Site. These optional add-ons and features include:

 

Google Ads remarketing
We use Google Ads remarketing cookies and pixels to serve you advertisements and provide us with reporting and analytics.


To manage your Google cookies, please use the following links:
https://www.google.com/settings/ads/plugin.
https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated
https://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1 


Facebook Ads
Our Facebook feature lets our users create and manage ads on the Google Ads Network. When a user chooses to use this feature, we install a Facebook tracking pixel on that user’s Site through the Snippet. These bits of tech allow the placement of advertising campaigns on Facebook and help us provide reporting to our users about the performance of their ad campaigns.


You can manage your cookie preferences using the instructions at the bottom of this page.  Facebook does not provide an opt-out link for its cookies.

For more information about Facebook cookies, please click here. To refuse these cookies, please follow the instructions below under the heading “How can I control cookies?”

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How can you control cookies?

 

You can accept or reject cookies by amending your web browser controls.  If you decide to reject our cookies, our websites and services may not work like they’re supposed to, and in some cases, may not work at all.


Most advertising networks also offer you the option to opt out of targeted advertising.


For more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com.


You can also manage your cookie settings by following your browser’s instructions. 

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Contact

 

Please contact the Corporate Information Governance Team at dpo@bradfordcft.org.uk to exercise any of your rights, or if you have a complaint about why your information has been collected, how it has been used or ow long we have kept it for.

 

You can contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@bradfordcft.org.uk or write: Data Protection Officer, Sir Henry Mitchell House, 4 Manchester Road, Bradford, BD5 0QL

 

The UK GDPR also gives you the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, who are the supervisory authority responsible to regulate and monitor the legislative obligations within the UK and can be contacted on 0301 231113.

 

This privacy policy was last updated on 30 March 2023.

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