Children's Privacy Notice
Our COPPA commitment for children under 13 · Last updated: [EFFECTIVE DATE]
Draft — pending review by legal counsel before launch. This notice is a working draft written in plain English. COPPA compliance is a legal requirement; bracketed items (for example [CONTACT EMAIL]) are placeholders, and this notice must be reviewed by an attorney before Encounter is offered publicly.
Encounter, operated by [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], is built for students in grades 7–12 — which means some of our users are under 13. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) gives parents and guardians control over the personal information collected from children under 13. This notice explains how we honor that, and it works together with our main Privacy Policy.
1. Verifiable parental consent comes first
When someone signs up and their date of birth shows they are under 13, we do not activate a full account until a parent or guardian has provided verifiable parental consent. Until that consent is given, the child cannot use the app's features. This means a parent is in the loop from the very beginning, not after the fact.
2. What we collect from a child
We collect the minimum needed to provide a discipleship app and nothing more. For a child under 13, that is:
- Name and email address (the email may be a parent's).
- Date of birth, used to confirm age and apply the right protections.
- Journal and reflection entries the child writes in the app.
- Which ministry or crew the child belongs to, and their assigned leaders.
- Basic usage information such as readings completed.
We do not collect location tracking, contacts, or advertising identifiers, and we do not condition a child's participation on disclosing more than is reasonably necessary.
3. How we use and protect a child's information
A child's information is used only to run the discipleship features described in our Privacy Policy — saving their reflections, connecting them to their leaders for encouragement, and keeping them safe. It is stored securely with our database provider (Supabase). We never sell a child's information, and we never show advertising.
4. Crisis detection
As with all users, Encounter scans reflection and journal text for language that may signal a child is in crisis, so a designated, caring adult can follow up. We disclose this openly to parents. Encounter is not an emergency service; if a child is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services or a crisis hotline right away.
5. Parents' rights
As the parent or guardian of a child under 13, you have the right to:
- Review the personal information we have collected from your child.
- Request a copy (export) of that information.
- Refuse to allow further collection or use of your child's information, and delete your child's account and information at any time.
- Withdraw consent you previously gave, which will deactivate the child's account.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us using the details below. We may need to verify that you are the child's parent or guardian before acting on a request.
6. We don't require more than necessary
A child is never required to disclose more personal information than is reasonably necessary to use Encounter, and we will not deny access to age-appropriate features as a way to pressure for extra information.
7. Changes to this notice
If we make material changes to how we handle children's information, we will update the “Last updated” date above and obtain new parental consent where the law requires it.
8. How to contact us
For any question or request about your child's information — including review, export, or deletion — contact us at [CONTACT EMAIL] or by mail at [MAILING ADDRESS]. We take these requests seriously and will respond promptly.