Privacy and Security Policy

Thank you for choosing to interact with Pinwheel, the community portal for the Maryland Infants and Toddlers Program ("portal"). We value your trust and are committed to protecting the privacy and the security of your personal information. The following statement outlines our commitment to managing, protecting, and respecting your data. It describes the types of information we may collect, how this information is used, who we share it with, and how we safeguard it. Our primary goal is to provide an environment where families and community stakeholders feel safe and confident as they interact with the early intervention resources available through the portal. Your privacy is our priority as we strive to create a meaningful and secure experience for all our users.

Your access to and use of the portal is conditional upon your acceptance of and compliance with this Privacy and Security Policy. This Privacy and Security Policy applies to everyone, including, but not limited to: visitors, users, and others, who wish to access or use the portal. By continuing to use this portal you will be deemed to have accepted this policy.

Use of personal information

In the context of this Privacy and Security Policy, “personal information” refers to any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked with a particular individual.

The personal information collected on this portal may include your name, contact details, and any other information provided during the registration or support request process, or through your interaction with members of a child's child team. This information is primarily used to provide you with the features and services you need for effective collaboration with team members, to improve the portal, and for other internal purposes such as security, analytics, and technical support. Please be assured that we adhere to strict data protection standards and employ robust security measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. We do not give, share, sell, or transfer any personal information to a third party.

Unless otherwise requested, personal contact information for community stakeholders (e.g., physicians, child care providers, social workers, etc.) is available to other signed-in portal users. This feature facilitates ease in adding community stakeholders to a child’s team and for other members of the community to reach out for collaboration. However, users can select what information (if any) to make available to others by changing the settings in their Profile and Account pages.

Personal information for children and families is only shared with their assigned Infants and Toddlers providers and administrators and with selected child team members of the guardian’s choosing. Child team access to this information can be revoked by the guardian at any time.

Log files

Like most standard website servers, we use website statistic packages such as Google Analytics to analyze trends in how the portal is accessed and utilized. Information monitored includes internet protocol (IP) addresses, geographic location of visitors (country, city), browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring and exit pages, platform type, date and time stamp, time spent on pages, and keywords used to find the portal via search engines. This information is anonymous and cannot be directly linked to individual users. We may use it to identify high-use or low-use areas of the site, pinpoint problem areas of the site, analyze broad demographic trends in our visitors, and make decisions about how to make it easier for people to find and navigate the portal.

To uphold the security and confidentiality of each child's information, the portal maintains a record of user access to each child's profile. This allows us to ensure that only authorized individuals are viewing sensitive data. In addition, these logs serve as a critical tool to facilitate any federal audits, if required. We consider these steps essential to our commitment to maintain the highest level of privacy and security for all information entrusted to us.

Links

The portal may contain links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave the portal and to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by the portal.

Security

The portal is fully compliant with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Part C Confidentiality standards, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). These strict standards ensure your information is handled with the utmost care and confidentiality. We further secure your data using multi-factor authentication, requiring users to provide at least two forms of valid identification before granting access. Additionally, we protect data integrity and confidentiality during transmission with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. These measures reinforce our commitment to provide a secure environment for our users, safeguarding your information at every step of your interaction with the portal.

Revisions to this Privacy and Security Policy

We may revise this Privacy and Security Policy from time to time. The most current version of this policy will govern our practices for collecting, processing, and disclosing personal data. We will provide notice of any modifications by posting a written notice on the portal and via a notification using your preferred messaging method.

Your use of the portal and services following the effective date of any modifications to it will constitute your acceptance of the Privacy and Security Policy, as modified. All changes to this policy automatically take effect on the sooner of the day you use the portal and services, or 30 calendar days after they are initially posted on the portal.

If you have questions or would like more details about our privacy and security practices, don't hesitate to submit a support request.