Children's Privacy Policy (COPPA Compliant)

Our Commitment to Children's Privacy

Carolina The Doodler is committed to protecting the privacy and safety of children using our website. We strictly adhere to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law that governs the collection of information from children under 13.

We do not collect personal information directly from children under 13 without first obtaining verifiable parental consent.

Information Collection from Children

What Information We Don't Collect

We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13. This includes:

• Full names or nicknames
• Home addresses or school addresses
• Phone numbers
• Photographs or images of children
• Chat messages or other personal communications

What Information We May Collect

In limited circumstances where a parent/guardian initiates contact on behalf of their child, we may collect the parent's/guardian's contact information (email address, phone number) to respond to the inquiry. We will not use this information to contact the child directly.

Parental Rights and Consent

Verifiable Parental Consent

If we ever need to collect personal information from a child under 13, we will obtain verifiable parental consent through one of the following methods:

• Email confirmation with follow-up verification
• Written consent via postal mail or email
• Credit card verification
• Phone call or video conference

Parental Access Rights

Parents and legal guardians have the right to:

• Review their child's personal information
• Refuse further collection or use of their child's information
• Request deletion of their child's personal information
• Refuse to permit any use of their child's information for marketing purposes

Age Verification and Access

We have implemented age verification measures to prevent children under 13 from accessing certain features of our website that may involve data collection:

• Clear age notices on pages that may collect personal information
• Restrictions on creating accounts for users under 13
• Content filtering where appropriate
• Parental consent mechanisms before account creation

Data Retention and Deletion

We retain personal information collected from children under 13 only as long as necessary to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected. When information is no longer needed, we delete it securely using appropriate methods.

Upon parental request, we will delete a child's personal information within the timeframe required by COPPA, unless retention is required for legal purposes.

Third-Party Services

Any third-party services we use are required to comply with COPPA and other applicable children's privacy laws. These services include:

• Payment processors (PayPal) - which may collect information directly from users
• Email service providers - with strict privacy safeguards
• Analytics services - configured to exclude children's data

We carefully review the privacy practices of all third-party services before implementation.

Security Measures

We use appropriate security measures to protect personal information collected from children, including:

• Encryption in transit and at rest
• Secure access controls and authentication
• Regular security audits and assessments
• Staff training on children's privacy requirements
• Secure deletion procedures

Changes to This Policy

We will notify parents of any material changes to this privacy policy through our website and email communications. Parents will have the opportunity to review the changes before they become effective.